Joan Van Ark guests stars on ‘My Name Is Earl’ … and Mr. Media Interviews

Joan Van Ark joins “My Name Is Earl” as a guest star this week, put don’t expect it to be like anything you’ve ever seen her do before!

She is perhaps best known for her role as Valene Ewing beginning on "Dallas" and then on the spin-off series, "Knots Landing." During 13 seasons as Val, she earned six nominations and two Soap Opera Digest Awards for Best Actress. Joan also starred in the TV comedies, "Temperature Rising" and "We've Got Each Other." In May 1997, she reprieved her role of Valene in the CBS mini-series, "Knots Landing Reunion: Back to the Cul-de-sac," and again, in December of 2005, Joan appeared in a second reunion with the other cast members of the long running CBS Television hit.

Van Ark's television movie credits include "When the Darkman Calls," "Moments of Truth: a Mother's Deception," "In the Shadows: Someone's Watching" (actor/producer), "Boys Will Be Boys" (actor/director, Humanitas nomination), "Terror on Track 9," "Tainted Blood," "Menu for Murder," "Always Remember I Love You," "My First Love" and "Shakedown on Sunset Strip."

She was also one of the voices for CBS-TV's Saturday morning cartoon series "Santo Bugito," and she provided the voice of "Spider Woman," on another Saturday morning series. In 1997, Van Ark directed a short documentary on homelessness and domestic violence for the Directors Guild of America, which was nominated for an Emmy.

“My Name Is Earl” airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. on NBC.