Joan Severance (born December 23, 1958, in Houston, Texas) is an American actress and former fashion model.
Joan's family moved often while she was growing up. The family had to leave Libya during the Six Day War in 1967. They moved back to Houston, where Joan, at the age of 15, started modeling to make money for university. Joan attended Westbury High School while she modeled. Her aspiration was to become a veterinarian although she didn't make enough for tuition. She was then hired on at the Elite modeling agency which allowed her to travel again. It was in Paris where she would marry Eric Milan in 1977. They divorced in 1984.
Her most notable role is as a villainess on the TV series Wiseguy where she played half of a brother/sister crime team (the other half was played by Kevin Spacey) to great acclaim.
Joan was on the covers of the January 1990 and November 1992 issues of Playboy magazine, both featuring her in a nude pictorial. Her pictures are considered some of the most distinctive examples of nude modeling of the actresses of her generation.