Who are Joey Lawrence parents? All we know as Actor reveals his real name

Joey Lawrence, a well-known child actor from the ‘80s and the ‘90s, has revealed his actual name. According to People, the Blossom star dropped the revelation around his and his brothers’ names during an appearance at a 90s Con panel at Hartford’s Connecticut Convention Center. The 48-year-old actor revealed,

“It [Lawrence] was my middle name. So I was named after our dad, and our grandfather on our dad's side.”

Joey Lawrence, born Joseph Lawrence Mignogna III, is the eldest of his siblings. The Gimme a Break! child star was born in a Philadelphia suburb in 1976 to Donna and Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr (aka Joe Lawrence Sr). Joey’s mother is a former elementary teacher, per People.

Joey, Matthew, and Andrew’s father, Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr, is an ex-insurance broker. According to IMDb, he was also the co-producer of the Lawrence Siblings starrer Brotherly Love with his former wife, Donna.

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Joey Lawrence felt lucky to have his parents around all the time during his child-acting days

The child actor, along with his family, spent his early years in Philly before they shifted to California. During the ‘80s and the ‘90s, show business earned notoriety for its scandals around child artists. Joey Lawrence opened up about the same in a chat with Page Six in 2024 and credited his parents for guarding him at that time. He said,

“So certainly in our industry — in the ‘80s and ‘90s, especially — a lot of stuff went down that was not OK. You see a lot of these people talking about it today.”

He continued,

“My parents were with me the whole time, so there were moments and they were averted because my parents were right there.”

Joseph Mignogna III told the outlet that he was “lucky” to have his parents around all the time, which assured his and his siblings’ safety. Lawrence also said,

“I was very close with my family. We went everywhere together and I had that support system. And it was sort of this impervious wall surrounding me at those very vulnerable moments, you know? I’m very grateful for that.”

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Joey Lawrence and his siblings used his middle name as their pseudo-surname

Joseph Mignogna III commenced his showbiz career in the ‘80s as a child artist with commercials. On the first episode of Brotherly Love Podcast, the actor revealed that he acted in a Cracker Jack commercial when he was five. Soon, Joey started acting in movies and TV shows and adopted Lawrence (his middle name) as his surname.

At a recent 90s Con panel, the actor shared the reason why he chose Joey Lawrence as his stage name. According to the Blossom star, he was told,

“No one can pronounce Mignogna. That's not a name people will say.”

Joseph added,

“Today, things like that are celebrated. In the '80s, it was like, 'We're going to need to water this down. There are silent Gs.'”

Like their elder brother, Matthew and Andrew also entered show business and started using his middle name as their pseudo-surname. Matthew revealed that their pseudonym helped them maintain secrecy around their private lives,

“There was an insulation factor. Some people might check in old school ways, but it would be very, very hard to find us. That was a great thing.”

Matthew Lawrence also believed that using two names became a nuisance subsequently,

“Now I'm just stuck with two different names and I can't travel internationally.”

Andrew Lawrence also chimed in and said,

“It [using the original name] would have made it easier. It's really a pain in the butt, honestly, like having two names. You have to prove you're both people.”

During the early days of their career, Matthew and Joey Lawrence co-starred on Gimme a Break! Andrew also appeared on Blossom, portraying the younger version of his eldest brother’s character for three episodes. Later, all three worked together on Brotherly Love, which ran for two seasons.