Morans first acting role was at the age of five in a television commercial for First Federal Bank At the age of six she was cast as Jenny Jones in the television series Daktari which ran from 1966 to 1969 She made her featurefilm debut in How Sweet It Is 1968 with Debbie Reynolds and made regular appearances on The Don Rickles Show in 1972 and guest appearances in The Courtship of Eddies Father My Three Sons Bearcats and Family Affair As a young child she also appeared in the television series Gunsmoke In 1974 at the age of 13 Moran was cast to play her best known role Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom Happy Days the feisty younger sister of Richie Cunningham Ron Howard Moran continued the role in 1982 in the shortlived spinoff series Joanie Loves Chachi alongside Scott Baio although she later stated that she had only reluctantly agreed to star in the series she would have preferred to remain with Happy Days She won the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a New Television Series for her role After Joanie Loves Chachis cancellation in 1983 she returned to Happy Days for its final season In 1983 Moran said in an interview that the Happy Days producers had pressured her to change from about the age of 15 they had suddenly wanted me to lose weight and become this sexy thing
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