Candace Cameron Bure became a household name as she starred as DJ Tanner in the sitcom Full House. It was the start of a long and very successful career in show business, and today she’s happily married to a former NHL star, as well as being a loving mother.
Cameron Bure grew up in front of the camera. However, like most of us, she’s also gone through some very tough times. These days, after starring in the spinoff Fuller House as DJ Tanner, she’s living her best life.
DJ Tanner became a household name, and her face was recognizable all over the world after she burst onto the scene. This is what she looks like now!
Full House premiered in 1987. The funny, yet emotional show, starred actors like Bob Saget, Lori Loughlin and John Stamos, but viewers would also see a certain set of twin sisters making their on-screen debuts.
Full House – DJ Tanner
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were only 9 months old when they became beloved of TV audiences and famous all over the world. There weren’t many viewers who didn’t fall in love with the charming duo. They stayed on the show until its conclusion in 1995, and during the last couple of years, they were given two new friends to have fun with on set.
Twins Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit made their entrances on the show, playing Lori Loughlin’s character, Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis, and John Stamos’ Jesse Katsopolis’s identical twin boys, Nicky and Alexander. They are now grown up – and very successful.
Full House is the ultimate 1990s nostalgia time capsule. However, it wasn’t filmed in San Francisco where the series was set. Everything – except the opening credits and some smaller scenes – was filmed at the Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles.
Full House won several TV awards, including four straight ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, and four consecutive BMI Film & TV Awards.
Many of the actors are still to this day famous for their parts in the show. One who is probably one of the most recognizable is Candace Cameron Bure, who starred as DJ Tanner on Full House.
Candace Cameron Bure was born April 6, 1976 in Panorama City, California. Her mother worked as a talent manager and her father as a gym teacher.
Candace Cameron Bure – early life
Candace older sister, Kirk Cameron, was an actor, starring in the 80’s popular sitcom Growing Pains. It didn’t take long before Candace grew inspired by her sister, and herself started pursuing a career in the business.
By age 5, Candace Cameron Bure landed several national commercial gigs, and also several guest roles on smaller television series. In 1987, she got her film debut in Some Kind of Wonderful.
1987 would become a very special year for Candace. Describing herself as “an average, American girl” at the time, she landed the role that changed her life.
Starring as “DJ Tanner” – one of three sisters in a household run by widower Bob Saget, as well as on-screen brother-in-law John Stamos – on the sitcom series Full House. Candace played a charming character, and soon was an American sweetheart on television.
We’ve heard several tragic stories on child actors and actresses in Hollywood. But for Candace Cameron Bure, her experience filming the show was nothing short of amazing.
“There wasn’t a big focus on image and beauty from producers, so I didn’t pay that much attention to it [on set],” she told Good Housekeeping.
“It was the same with my family and my agents. I never had people around me telling me that I had to look a certain way or be a certain weight, and I think that’s half of the battle.”
Candace Cameron Bure as “DJ Tanner”
Bob Saget and Lori Loughlin became very good friends to Candaces. Being a young girl on a big set sure can be frightening, but Bob made sure that she always felt comfortable.
“Bob was my mentor growing up on the set. Not just because he played a dad, but because he is a dad, so he was very nurturing to us kids and making sure we were protected and everything was great,” Candace explained.
Cameron Bure starred in all 193 episodes of Full House. The show ended in 1995, but years later, she returned to the role of DJ Tanner.
Even though her time on Full House was over, Candace will always be remembered as “DJ”. No matter what she does, she will always be the charming girl.
For Candace herself, that’s pretty comforting.
“If I am forever known as D.J. Tanner and everyone’s big sister, I will be thrilled and happy,” she said. “Full House and Fuller House have brought so much joy, comfort, and love to so many people.
“There’s nothing more I want to be associated with than wonderful and positive things. I embrace the show as an adult just as I embraced it back when I was 10 years old.”
During filming of the show, she would also meet her future husband, Valeri Cameron Bure.
Candace Cameron Bure – family
All the way back in 1994 – when Candace was 18 years of age – she and her Full House co-stars attended a charity hockey game. NHL superstar Pavel Bure was playing, but Candace took more notice of his brother, Valeri, playing for the Montreal Canadiens at the time.
“We were looking at these two cute men on the ice, and I was like ‘I wanna meet that one, the blonde one,’ which was [Valeri],” she told Us Weekly.
She was instantly drawn to Valeri, and her co-star Dave Coulier introduced her to him. The rest, pretty much, is history. Candace was about to find out that Valeri already knew who she was.
“He would watch ‘Full House’ because it helped him learn English,” she said, laughing.
“We hit it off.”
The next day, Candace and Valeri went out on a date, and less than a year later they were engaged. On June 22, 1996, the couple married.
Candace continued to star in television series. However, in 2001, she decided to take a short break from acting. The talented actress took a step away from the spotlight to focus on her personal life and her family.
She moved to Canada with her husband, and soon the couple welcomed their first daughter, Natasha. A few years later, she gave birth to sons Lev and Maksim. Today, her daughter Natasha is 22, Lev is 20, and Maksim is 18.
According to herself, Candace was a ”proud” and ”overprotecting” mother. While raising her kids, she kept a close eye on her children’s computers and cellphones.
“I am so overly protective when it comes to technology because there are so many dangers associated with it,” Candace told People in 2020.
Married for 25 years
Valeri and Candace have now been married for 25 years. The two have been through a lot and recently got to see their son Lev get engaged.
Candace and Valeri have had two very different careers, but have always made sure to save time for each other. Since their days as newlywed teenagers, the couple still holds love for each other.
“There have been several tough years, in a row, ups and downs, bad attitudes and bad decisions, but we’ve persevered. We rode them out. We loved each other through them,” she wrote on Facebook in 2016.
They’ve always made sure to put each other “on pedestals” and at the same time, never argue in front of the children. This, at least according to Candace, has been key for their long and happy marriage.
“When a man feels respected, that is love to him,” she said. “For example, my husband does 98% of the cooking and I remind the kids to say thank you or I specify what I appreciate, whether it’s a new ingredient or recipe.”
“It’s worth it to make it a priority, otherwise, you see how it affects a marriage,” said Cameron.
“Friendship is the foundation of marriage but you also need private time…You need that intimacy — not just romantic but also through conversation.”
New picture on Full House co-stars
Last year, the couple celebrated their 25th anniversary.
Through Instagram, Candace shared a sentimental post to Instagram, with pictures of the day the couple met for the first time back in 1994.
The pictures also feature some of her co-stars on Full House, Dave Coulier, Bob Saget and Lori Loughlin.
“In light of our 25th wedding anniversary, I did some internet digging. The first photo is the night I was introduced and met my future husband, Valeri Bure. This photo was taken in 1994 at the Luc Robitaille charity hockey game,” she wrote.
Candace is a loving wife and a caring mother. But what did she do after her break, once the Full House hysteria had passed?
Candace continued working in television and films following her break in 2001. She’s been in plenty of hallmark movies, but maybe the biggest thing for her fans was her return to Full House. Or Fuller House, as the spinoff was named.
Candace Cameron Bure – “Fuller House”
Cameron Bure starred in a total of 75 episodes of the show, which ran over five seasons and ended in 2020.
Full House and Fuller House have played a huge role in Candace’s life. For her, ending the spinoff in 2020 was hard.
“[With Full House] I was 18 [when the show closed] and ready to move on and go into adulthood. But now being a seasoned mom and woman, you realize how grateful you are for all the things in your life and Fuller House and all the people that work on the show and these ladies are one of them. They mean the world to me.
“It was such a gift in my life to be able to reprise the show and do a whole new show based on the same characters, she added.
“They will always be beloved in my life. It really was an amazing gift.”
Starred alongside her daughter
So have her children been watching their mother in the shows? Well, according to Candace, no. However, her daughter, Natasha, is actually also an actress. And in one of the episodes of Fuller House, the two starred together.
“That was also a highlight — to work on the show that’s meant the most in my life and have my daughter be a part of it as a working actor,” she said. “That was incredible.”
Candace was amazing in the role as DJ Tanner in Full House. We are so happy to see that she’s doing well, and has a wonderful family and healthy life. Also, doesn’t she look stunning?!
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