Jodie Sweetin has come to be associated with the Hallmark Channel in recent years. In fact, she’s starred no less than 10 Hallmark features, ranging from such Christmas movies as”Finding Santa” to headlining her own “The Jane Mysteries” franchise for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.
Of course, she’ll always be remembered for her childhood role on “Full House,” and in a new interview she reveals that another former child star is at least partially responsible for her landing the gig on the beloved family sitcom.
She Was Cast on ‘Full House’ Thanks to Another Child Actor
Appearing in a new episode of the “Hyperfixated with Joseph Shepherd” podcast, Sweetin was asked a series of rapid-fire questions that she answeed quickly and succinctly.
One of these asked whether appearing in an episode of another sitcom landed her the job, and if “Jason Bateman deserves partial credit for your career.”
She responded affirmatively to both questions.
Her First Onscreen Led to ‘Full House’
As it happened, Sweetin was just getting started as a child actor when she landed her very first onscreen role, on the sitcom “Valerie.” That show was a vehcile for “Mary Tyler Moore” alum Valerie Harper, but when Harper got into a contractual scuffle with the network, she was replaced and Sandy Duncan; the show was then retitled “The Hogan Family.”
In both iterations of the sitcom, the family was included three young boys, one of whom was played by Bateman.
When she made a guest-starring appearance on the show, producers of “Full House” looking to cast a young actor in the role of Stephanie Tanner were so impressed by her performance that she was offered the job — without even having to audition for it.
The rest, as they say, is history; Sweetin went on to play the role throughout the series’ 1987-1995 run, and then reprised Stephanie in the Netflix “Fuller House” reboot, which premiered in 2016 and ran until 2020.
She’s Fine With Being ‘Forever’ Associated with Her ‘Full House’ Character
In a 2025 interview with People, Sweetin discussed how viewers still see her as Stephanie Taner, 30 years after “Full House” was cancelled.
“I will be Stephanie Tanner forever,” she declared. “And I’ve come to be really okay with that over the last 20 years.”
It Took Some Time to Make Peace with ‘Full House’
As Sweetin explained, the years after “Full House” were not easy as she tried to transition to more adult roles, only to discover that casting directors could only see her as Stephanie. Eventually, she decided to press the pause button on her acting career.
“I kind of walked away from the business at some point in my late 20s and was working in other fields, and I was totally fine. I was happy. I would’ve continued on that, but getting the chance to come back and do ‘Fuller’ and bring Stephanie back to life was amazing and wonderful,” she explained.
“It also gave me the opportunity to do other things because I think finally people were like, ‘Oh, you’re an adult now,'” she added.
