Joan Severance was born and raised in Texas. At the age of 18 and at the sole urging of John Casablancas of ELITE models she went to Paris, France to begin a modeling career. Her success was immediate and she graced the covers of magazines , walked the cat walks for all the top designers and landed campaigns for CHANEL, VERSACE and ARMANI to name a few. Success followed her in NYC with endorsements of famous brands like CLAIROL, L’OREAL, REVLON and MAYBELINE and high profile editorials in VOGUE and BAZAAR.
At the same time, Ms. Severance studied with Chef Roger Verge from the Moulin Du Mougin in the South of France. She was the Chef/Owner of a restaurant in upstate NY of which she also designed and renovated, part owner of the GOOD FOOD catering company which catered the closing party of the Statue of Liberty when it underwent renovations in the early 80”s and taught commercial acting classes.
Ms. Severance headed to Hollywood in 1986 and within 6 months she landed her first role on a major television series for CBS called WISEGUY, starring Ken Wahl and Kevin Spacey.
Hollywood took notice and director Arthur Hiller cast her in SEE NO EVIL HEAR NO EVIL with Gene Wilder and Richard Prior and her costar from Wiseguy, Kevin Spacey. That same year she did BIRD ON A WIRE with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. Since then she has starred in over 30 films with the likes of Mark Harmon, Ann Margret, Willie Nelson to mention a few.
Appearing in over 20 TV series; co-staring aside names like Robert Urich on UPN’s LOVE BOAT: THE NEXT WAVE , Tatum O’Neal on WICKED WICKED GAMES and guest appearances on many hit shows such as LA LAW, CSI:MIAMI, ONE TREE HILL. 2013 brings AMERICAN HORROR STORY in January and Showtime's "Masters of Sex" in September. Ms. Severance will also appear in the feature film Becker's Farm, shooting summer of 2013, details to come on this film.
Always active, Ms. Severance holds a Bachelors of Natural Health from CCNH, is a certified DNA Theta Healer and a Psyche-K® Facilitator and works with clients to transform limiting beliefs that hold them back from obtaining their goals both professionally and personally.
Most recently she created the phraseology game txTylz™ which is currently available at amazon.com, etsy.com and
www.txtylz.com. This patent pending game has players forming anything that makes sense within a time limit. Proper spelling and grammar are not necessary and phonetic use is encouraged. The game is multi-lingual and lends to language learning. This quick fast past game enhances creative, critical & logical thinking. txTylz™ is 100% hand crafted and made in the USA from biodegradable sustainable natural sources. A portion of sales from the game goes to help assist those with Vitiligo, a condition of hypopigmentation. Ms. Severance is passionate about lending support and information on Non-USA based treatments for Vitiligo as well as financial assistance to qualifying applicants for these treatments and /or assistance in obtaining the proper cover make-up.
