Tiffany Brissette

Tiffany Brissette is a former child star known for her role as Voice Input Child Identicant ("V.I.C.I.," pronounced "Vicki") the robot on the successful mid-1980s sitcom, Small Wonder. Brissette was born on December 26, 1974 in Paradise, California.

Brissette began her entertainment career in the late 1970s. Her mother was her biggest fan, entering her in many beauty pageants and talent competitions as a child. Such early exposure eventually led to television voice-over work and appearances in commercials for products such as the Care Bears, Florida Orange Juice, IBM, and Jell-O Puddin' Pops, to name just a few.

Brissette's first television role was in the made-for-TV move, A Woman Called Golda, where her voice was used, but she was not shown. She also had a minor voice role in the 1982 mini-series, Marco Polo. Brissette followed up with a minor role in the 1983 big screen movie, Heart Like a Wheel. In 1984 she appeared of several episodes of the hit sitcom, Webster. Her early roles led to her greatest success in 1985, when she landed a starring role on the hit sitcom, Small Wonder.

As previously mentioned in the profiles for Jerry Supiran and Emily Schulman, Small Wonder was a very usual show. Small Wonder was a hit in syndication and the show focused on the Lawson family. The parents of the Lawson family were Ted and Joan Lawson, played by Dick Christie and Marla Pennington, respectively. The son of the Lawson family was Jamie Lawson, played by Jerry Supiran. Ted Lawson worked as an engineer/inventor for United Robotronics, working on a robot for assisting handicapped children. Ted invented the V.I.C.I. robot, which was an android that looked like a 10-year-old girl. The Lawson family pretended that Vicki was the family's adopted daughter.





The show was generally focused on Vicki and her interactions with Jamie and other kids such as the annoying next door neighbor, Harriet Brindle (played by Emily Schulman). Even though Small Wonder was a weird show, I have to admit that I did watch it regularly during its initial run. I liked Brissette on the show - she was very cute and played a monotone robot with some skill. Granted, it probably was not that difficult to play a robot, but Brissette was good in her role and was undoubtedly the main draw of the show.

Brissette acted on Small Wonder until the show's cancellation in 1989. Unfortunately, Brissette's carrer practically ended with the cancellation of Small Wonder. Brissette made minor appearances on shows such as Teen Win, Lose or Draw and Parker Lewis Can't Lose between 1989 and 1991. She also appeared in a Debbie Gibson charity sci-fi play in 1991 with fellow sitcom actresses Josie Davis (from Charles in Charge) and Alyssa Milano (from Who's The Boss?), as shown in the picture below:

Unfortunately, Brissette has not managed to secure any acting roles since the early 1990s. I think it is a shame, as Brissette was a very attractive young woman and a decent actress, albeit for a sitcom. Brissette has apparently also shied away from publicity since the early 1990s as her acting roles dried up. I was, however, able to locate a few photos of her from the past decade. The picture on the left below was supposedly taken in 1999 - as shown, Brissette was still looking very good in her mid-20s. The picture on the right is of Brissette and her mother along with friends - this photo was supposedly taken in Hawaii in 2001.






In her personal life, Brissette has taken up running and is a good distance runner. On March 2, 1997, she participated in the Los Angeles Marathon and finished in 4:33:06. She placed 921st among 5,312 females, and 101st out of 545 in her age class. She placed 5,110th in an overall field of 15,899 entrants. In 2001, Brissette ran the Sunrise Stampede 10K race in a time of 46:52, which is a pace of 7:32/mile - for a female runner, that is a very good 10K time. Brissette is also supposedly the woman in the middle of the picture below on the right - this photo was apparently taken during fall 2002 at a charity marathon race.

Brissette has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Westmont College and currently lives in Boudler Colorado. She has worked as a nanny in the past and is studying to be a nurse. She is also an experimental dancer. In 2007 she appeared in a "Child Stars Revisited" video. Here are some pictures of Brissette that were taken in 2007:

As one can see from the pictures above, Brissette has changed quite a bit since her days on Small Wonder. She used to be absolutely adorable, but unfortunately her cuteness seems to have faded. She either had a really bad hair day when the pictures below were taken, or she has aged very poorly. For this and her effectively dead acting career, there can be no dispute that Tiffany Brissette is one washed-up celebrity!


*** Update - May 22, 2009 ***

I just discovered that Tiffany Brissette was interviewed on The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet in January 2009. She looks cute again, so maybe the 2007 photos were taken when she was having a bad day. During her appearance, Brissette mentioned that she currently lives in Boulder, Colorado and is still in nursing school. She also said that she enjoys skiing and biking. She is not yet married and does not have any children.


*** Update - May 31, 2012 *** 

Tiffany was interviewed by the New York Post after the story broke about Jerry Supiran being homeless and living under a bridge. Tiffany is apparently doing well - she mentioned that she voluntarily left acting herself to pursue a normal life after Small Wonder went off the air. She is still living in Boulder, Colarado and is now a nurse.

Tiffany Brissette seems to do well for herself. Accordingly, I no longer consider her to be washed up. I will, however, keep her profile up because I know that it is hard to find good information about her on the Internet and her fans like reading about her.

Emily Schulman

Emily Schulman , born August 17, 1977, is a former child star best known for her role as Harriet Brindle on the mid-late 1980s syndicated sitcom, Small Wonder. Harriet was the annoying neighbor of Jamie Lawson (played by fellow washed-up celebrity Jerry Supiran).



Harriet was one of the most annoying characters in television history. She was the "Screech" of Small Wonder, never saying anything funny and just serving to annoy everyone. (Harriet even wore Converse high-tops, just like Screech!) Her annoyingness notwithstanding, I will admit that some funny moments did occur when she would come to Jamie's kitchen door to see him and then he would slam the door right in her face.

Schulman somehow managed to land some other decent roles after the 1988 cancellation of Small Wonder, usually as an annoying little girl. She had roles in the motion picture Troop Beverly Hills, and small roles on TV shows such as ALF, The Wonder Years, and an ABC Afterschool Special. In 1995 she landed a major role in the drama Christy. (I have to admit I had never ever heard of Christy until I looked at Schulman's IMDB bio, although it must have been a fairly sucessful show.)

Schulman has not landed any roles since the cancellation of Christy. When acting roles dried up, Schulman became a theatrical agent and current works for the ACME Talent Agency in Los Angeles.

Schulman was never a cute kid on Small Wonder and the 19 years since the show was cancelled have not been kind, as Father Time has been giving her a good ass kicking. She did, however, marry a guy named Derek Webster a few years ago. Here is a picture from her wedding:

It's probably a good thing that she switched from acting to being an agent, because she easily looks a good 10 years older than her actual age of 29 and kind of resembles a witch in the picture on the lower right-hand side.





For the reasons discussed above, Emily Schulman is one washed-up celebrity!

Jerry Supiran

Jerry Supiran is a former child star best known for his role as Jamie Lawson on the mid-late 1980s syndicated sitcom, Small Wonder. Anyone who was a pre-teen during the mid-late 1980s probably watched Small Wonder from time to time. I personally did not have cable TV until I got to college, so I was at the mercy of whatever reruns or TV shows were available on the broadcast TV channels.

Small Wonder was one of the strangest TV shows ever created. A surprise hit in syndication, the show centered on the Lawson family. Jamie Lawson's parents on the show were Ted and Joan Lawson, played by Dick Christie and Marla Pennington, respectively. Ted Lawson worked as an engineer/inventor for United Robotronics, working on a robot for assisting handicapped children. He invented the robot called Voice Input Child Identicant ("V.I.C.I.," pronounced "Vicki"), an android the looked like a 10-year-old girl. (Vickie was played by Tiffany Brissette.) The Lawson family pretended that Vicki was the family's adopted daughter.

The show was generally focused on Vicki and her interactions with Jamie and other kids. Supiran's character, Jamie, was kind of annoying and very smarmy and appeared to be somewhat slimy. He seemed like the type of kid who couldn't be trusted. Apparently Supiran's character seemed like this because in real life, Supiran was a bit of a rascal.

The executive producer of Small Wonder, Howard Leeds, said the following about Supiran:

"Jerry Supiran was a mischievous tyke who bugged the crew but was a good little actor."

Supiran acted on Small Wonder from 1985 until its cancellation in 1988. Supiran was actually a fairly successful child and acted in many other roles during the 1980s. He had guest starring roles in several noted sitcoms of the era such as Little House on the Prairie, Mr. Belvedere, Newhart, and Archie Bunker's Place. He also had roles in the motion picture Uncommon Valor and in various TV movies such as Policewoman Centerfold and Love Thy Neighbor.

Despite his success during the 1980s, Supiran has not had even a single acting role since the cancellation of Small Wonder in 1988. I've searched long and hard to find recent info of Supiran to find out what he has been up to. Unfortunately, most of what I found are merely unverified rumors. According to one rumor, Supiran hates the Small Wonder show and refuses to even talk about it and has moved to New England where he does graphic design for a major food retailer. There are other rumors that he has been a roadie for the band Alice in Chains, was actually Billy Corgan from the rock band Smashing Pumpkins, or that he encountered financial difficulties and now works at a Taco Bell somewhere in California (one can only wonder if he's ever run into fellow washed-up celebrity Dustin Diamond at the same Taco Bell).

Regardless of what he's doing right now, there should be no doubt that Jerry Supiran one washed-up celebrity!


*** Update - May 20, 2009 ***

Jerry Supiran seems like a decent guy and recently contacted me and sent me a blurb to let me know what he's been doing. He mentioned that rumors of his death have been greatly exaggerated that that he is very much alive. He also mentioned that he quit acting in 1987 because he wanted to go back to school. Jerry has had several different jobs over the years. Three years ago he broke his back when he was thrown from a racehorse at a ranch that he was managing. Jerry was also a chef at an upscale Mediterranea restaurant in California for awhile.

Jerry says that he is in love with a girl named Kelly Boland. He also loves to golf and if anyone really wants to find him, they should look for him on a golf course. He also mentioned that he does not sing in the Smashing Pumpkins, although he wishes that he could sing like the lead singer, Billy Corgan.

Jerry says that someone stole his identity twice and ruined his credit rating. Jerry spends his free time helping charitable causes and playing with his niece and nephew, Brody and Kelsey.

Jerry Supiran has a Twitter account. Jerry also sent me this recent picture of himself:




*** Update - May 31, 2012 ***

Jerry is apparently homeless and living under a bridge in central California.  He claims to be broke as a result of various incidences - when he was 18 years old a stripper stole his trust fund and that one of his advisers stole $500,000 from him.  Jerry worked at steakhouses for much of the past 15 years until he was laid off in 2010 from a restaurant in Henderson, NV and has been unable to find work since then. 

Jerry told the National Inquirer,

I had to move back to central California, where my brother lives with his family, and while he helps me with hot meals and a shower, he doesn't have the room for me to stay there. So I either sleep at the homeless shelter I volunteer at, or under a local bridge.

Here is a photo of Jerry living on the streets that was published by the National Inquirer:

*** Update - August 19, 2013 ***

TMZ tracked down Jerry Supiran a few months ago and broadcast a video.  [Edit - unfortunately, this video has been deleted.]