Joosten was born in Chicago.Her first career was as a psychiatric nurse at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, living in nearby Lake Forest, Illinois, where she married a psychiatrist and raised two sons. Following her 1980 divorce, she began acting in community theater in 1982, at age 42.

• Bedtime Stories (2008)

  
• Best Men (1997)

  
• Breaking Dawn (2004)

  
• Rails & Ties (2007)

  
• Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011)