The Facts of Life
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$8 Million
"I love the industry. It's such a creative environment — I call it a playground. And I love to be able to play with different pieces of equipment or to participate in different activities. That's always fun to me and so, not being placed in a box is what keeps me going 45-plus years later." Kim Fields roller-skated her way into America's hearts with her portrayal of the sassy and adorable Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the long-running television sitcom The Facts of Life, and has stayed there ever since.
While many child stars find themselves dealing with the "child star curse," Kim Fields' has avoided this common pitfall. In fact, her only public drama occurred when she was let go from the cast of Real Housewives of Atlanta for being too boring. Wondering how Fields has navigated life as a celebrity so successfully for so many years? Here's a closer look at the career of this American icon.
From Harlem to Hollywood
Kim Victoria Fields was born on May 12, 1969 in Harlem, New York. Her mom, Laverne "Chip" Fields, was also an actress and a television producer. Fields's parents divorced when she was very young, and she relocated to Los Angeles with her mother and sister. Fields's first job was in a television commercial for Mrs. Butterworth syrup when she was just five. This led to appearances on television shows including Baby, I'm Back and Good Times.
She later said of her path into entertainment, "I was never pushed into the industry. I was a very shy child. I was not one to perform for friends and family at every get-together. When my mom started going to acting classes out here in New York, we couldn't afford a babysitter. And so she took me to the acting classes just because, well, what else was she going to do with me? And there were other kids there whose parents couldn't afford sitters either. We would keep ourselves entertained by imitating what we saw them doing, and that kind of birthed acting classes for the younger kids."
Fields's big break came when she was cast as Tootie on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. While she was only on five episodes of the show, this experience was hugely influential on Fields's life as it led to her casting on the Diff'rent Strokes spin-off, The Facts of Life. While her character, Tootie, was 12 on the show, Fields was just nine at the time and so short that the producers used roller skates throughout the first season to avoid challenging camera angles. The hit show ran from 1979 to 1988, and Tootie was one of its most popular characters. Her catchphrase, "We're in troooouble" is still part of pop culture today.
Of the tremendous impact of Facts of Life on her career, Fields has said, "Facts of Life was and continues to be a milestone on my journey. But when people act like the journey ended when Facts of Life ended, that's annoying. I could never and would never want to divorce myself from it because it was such a great experience from so many different facets. I got a tremendous education — my literal education from schooling but also the education from the on-the-job training. The fantastic group of people that I've worked with as cast members and crew members — we continue to be good friends."
During her days on Facts of Life, Fields also pursued her interests in music, and released two singles: "He Loves Me He Loves Me Not" and "Dear Michael."
Beyond the Facts of Life
Having been an actor herself, Fields's mother has unique insights into the industry. "Have a backup plan. You might not always be a cute kid that can do one-liners," she told her daughter. Fields took these words to heart, and took a hiatus from acting to study communication and films Pepperdine University after Facts of Life ended. "The truth of the matter is, I made sure that I learned my craft because I didn't want to be a has-been at 17," she explained.
After graduating from college, Fields enjoyed a career comeback with a starring role on the hit Fox sitcom Living Single. The show ran from 1993 to 1998 and was one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of the 1990s.
But Fields creative interests aren't contained to acting. She segued her educational experience into directing, and went on to work as a director on numbers shows, including Kenan & Kel, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, and Let's Stay Together. She has also performed with the rap and R&B group Impromp2,
Fields ventured into the world of reality television in 2015 as a cast member on the eighth season of the Bravo reality television show The Real Housewives of Atlanta. However, the program did not turn out to be a good fit for her and she soon exited. Not ready to give up on the reality trend yet, Fields signed on as one of the celebs on the 22nd season of Dancing with the Stars. While she and her partner Sasha Farber did not make it to the finals, they did finish in a respectable eighth place.
In 2018, Fields published a memoir, Blessed Life: My Surprising Journey of Joy, Tears, and Tales From Harlem to Hollywood. "I still love what I first fell in love with, which is creating characters, great storytelling, compelling stories. I'm so excited that I still have the fire in my belly for it," Fields shared.
Which begs the question: What's next for Fields? "There are tons of characters that are still inside of me that I haven't done. There are tons of scripts and stories to tell, both as a director and an actor. For me, it just becomes, "What haven't I done?" It's still a long list; even though I've been blessed to be in the industry for a long time, many of those years were playing one character…I would love to do sci-fi, I would love to do graphic novels, do more voice-overs, all sorts of things," she asserts.
And then there's the big question: Might a Facts of Life or Living Single reunion or reboot might be in the cards? While Fields subscribes to a "never say never" mindset, she's also aware of the challenges of bringing back a beloved show. "You want to make sure you recognize and have the reference for that lightning that was captured. The process of capturing lightning in a bottle — it's not just a case of let's build a barn and put on a show. You can't just go, 'Where are these characters now?' If you don't get that right, your fans will turn on you in a heartbeat because these are characters that they love, that they resonate with, that they recognize."
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