website years_active birth_place birth_date spouse article_title name occupation
michaelsenenterprises.com acting 1990 -- present -rrb- -lrb- 1970s -- 2001 -rrb- motivational speaking -lrb- manhattan , new york , u.s. 3 november 1961 david -rrb- waldock -lrb- 2002 -- 2009 ; 1 child kari michaelsen
 kari michaelsen actress , motivational speaker
kari michaelsen

kari michaelsen -lrb- born kari markussen on november 3 , 1961 -rrb- is an american actress and motivational speaker .
as an actress , she is best known for her role as katie kanisky on sitcom `` gim me a break ! ''
-lrb- 1981 -- 1986 -rrb- .
born in manhattan , michaelsen followed her parents into show business .
her father , arne markussen , is a singer .
her mother , roberta stevenson , was a dancer .
she sang on the soundtrack for `` sesame street '' and was performing in off-broadway plays by age 11 .
in 1975 her family moved to beverly hills and michaelsen -lrb- who changed her name from markussen -rrb- soon won guest spots on such shows as `` diff ` rent strokes '' and `` eight is enough '' .
her father is of norwegian heritage .
she graduated from beverly hills high school in 1979 and studied at university of california , los angeles .
she retired from television work in 2001 .
kari has been doing public speaking and hosting educational seminars since 1990 .
she married david waldock , a mercedes-benz executive , in july 2002 .
the couple had a son named nickolas .
michaelsen and david waldock were divorced in 2009 .
