Staci Keanan became familiar to television audiences through roles in My Two Dads and Step by Step. She later left acting, completed her education, earned a law degree and entered public service as a prosecutor. Her legal work appears under the name Anastasia Sagorsky, while her screen credits generally use Staci Keanan, with some older records spelling her first name as Stacy.
In a 2024 interview, Keanan said she had long wanted to return to school and entered law with the specific goal of becoming a district attorney. Her subsequent education, California Bar record, prosecutorial work and teaching position are documented by official institutions.
From Pennsylvania to Television
Keanan is originally from Devon, Pennsylvania. Recalling her early route into acting, she said she attended charm school and was connected with a local talent agent. That relationship led to professional opportunities in Philadelphia before she began traveling to New York for additional work.
Los Angeles eventually became part of the process when she went there for television pilot season. Her account describes a gradual progression through regional and larger entertainment markets rather than a single sudden discovery. Those early opportunities established the acting career for which she first became publicly known.
Step by Step and the Sitcom Years
Keanan played Nicole Bradford in My Two Dads, which ran from 1987 to 1990. She then appeared in Going Places during its 1990–1991 run. Both roles came before the television part most closely associated with her name.
In 1991, she began playing Dana Foster in Step by Step. The family sitcom ran for seven seasons through 1998, with 160 episodes produced. Some individual databases list 159 appearances for particular performers, meaning the 160-episode production total does not establish Keanan’s individual episode count.
Her selected screen credits also include the title role in Lisa, released in 1990, and a 1996 guest appearance on Boy Meets World. These projects provide context for the range of her acting work, although her years as Dana Foster remain the clearest link between her television career and her present public recognition.
Why She Chose a Different Direction
During a January 2024 appearance on Pod Meets World, Keanan discussed why she moved away from acting. She said she was dissatisfied with aspects of both the work and the business surrounding it. Networking and self-promotion were particularly uncomfortable parts of maintaining an acting career.
Education had already been on her mind. Keanan explained that she had wanted to return to school for a long time, and law offered a practical professional direction. She did not describe becoming a prosecutor as an accidental opportunity after graduation; she said that working as a district attorney was her goal when she entered law school.
She also spoke about the mixed effects of working in television. The experience was enriching in several ways, but the industry’s appearance standards created body-image pressure that lasted beyond those years. Her account presents the career change as a considered decision shaped by professional dissatisfaction and a clear interest in another field.
Preparing for a Career in Law
Keanan completed a bachelor’s degree at UCLA in 2002, majoring in art history with a minor in French. Southwestern Law School’s official faculty profile states that she graduated cum laude and was recognized by Golden Key and Phi Beta Kappa.
She later attended Southwestern Law School and earned her Juris Doctor in 2013. During that period, she completed a clerkship with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. A Riverside County Bar Association profile also reported that she won a closing-argument competition in 2012, giving her courtroom-focused experience before graduation.
Keanan discussed her prosecutorial career directly in 2024, while the corresponding bar and faculty records use Anastasia Sagorsky. The State Bar of California lists Anastasia Love Sagorsky as admitted on December 2, 2013, with an active license when reviewed in July 2026; those institutional pages do not also list her screen name, which entertainment records spell as Staci or Stacy Keanan.
Building a Career as a Prosecutor
After qualifying as an attorney, Keanan began working as a prosecutor. Her Southwestern profile places the start of that work in 2013 and states that she joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in 2016.
Her documented assignments have included domestic violence, sex crimes, gangs and homicide. An official 2019 announcement from the district attorney’s office identified Sagorsky among the prosecutors involved in a fatal hit-and-run case.
Keanan offered a more immediate view of her responsibilities during the 2024 podcast interview. At that time, she said she was in court regularly and was carrying demanding homicide, domestic-violence and assault matters. That account describes her workload in January 2024 and does not establish her assignments after the interview.
Her comments also explained how she approaches prosecution. Keanan said the purpose is to seek justice rather than simply to win a case. She emphasized listening to victims and ensuring that they have an opportunity to be heard while the prosecutor fulfills broader legal responsibilities.
How Acting Supports Her Courtroom Work
Although acting and prosecution involve different duties, Keanan has identified practical skills that transfer between them. Training in voice, movement, and physical awareness helped her become more conscious of how she communicates in a courtroom.
She has also connected legal education with greater precision and critical thinking. Acting gave her experience presenting information before an audience, while law school required careful reasoning and exact language. In her account, the useful overlap lies in communication and preparation rather than treating courtroom proceedings as entertainment.
Teaching and Legal Education Work
Keanan returned to Southwestern Law School as an adjunct faculty member in 2021. She has taught a course on DUI prosecution and defense, bringing experience from criminal practice into a classroom focused on how such cases are handled from opposing legal perspectives.
Southwestern materials have used both Adjunct Professor and Adjunct Associate Professor for her while consistently identifying her as a member of the school’s part-time law faculty.
Her official profile also lists involvement with Project LEAD and Teen Court. It connects her work with a clerkship opportunity involving the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Animal Protection Unit. These activities extend her public work beyond individual prosecutions and into legal education and student experience.
Revisiting Television Without Returning to Acting
Keanan has said that she generally does not miss acting, although voice-over work remains an area she could imagine revisiting. Her more recent entertainment-related appearances have largely focused on discussing past work rather than announcing a return to acting on screen.
On February 28, 2024, she and former Step by Step colleague Christine Lakin launched Keanan and Lakin Give You Déjà Vu. The podcast gave them a format for revisiting their television history and related experiences. The podcast’s public feed listed new episodes through July 10, 2026.
Keanan also joined other Step by Step cast members at 90s Con in March 2024. During the reunion, the group remembered their late co-star Suzanne Somers. In June 2026, Keanan appeared as a contestant on the podcast Go Fact Yourself.
A Deliberate Path From Performance to Public Service
Staci Keanan’s professional record covers two established careers. Her television work included leading roles in multiple sitcoms, most notably Dana Foster in Step by Step. She then completed undergraduate and legal education, became a licensed California attorney, joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and returned to Southwestern as an adjunct professor.
Her own explanation makes the connection between those careers clearer. Acting provided communication skills that remain useful in court, but the move into law came from a long-standing educational goal and a specific desire to become a prosecutor. Her recent podcast and cast reunion appearances have revisited her television years as she continues her legal and teaching work.