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Margaux Kramer
Friendship crosses some odd boundaries sometimes. We've seen friendship between old and young, cat and dog, lovable human and crude, hedoistic robot. So, I guess Margaux and Punky being friends isn't that odd, but when you find out a little more about Margaux, the general reaction does end up being, "Okay, run that by me again; they're friends?"That reaction is perfectly justified, because (especially in some of the earlier episodes) Margaux is just as often a rival for Punky as she is a friend. Yeah, they generally hang out during Margaux's first appearance, but after that, look at their track record. They compete directly through beauty pageants, doll claimings, video shoots, the meaning of Valentine's Day, the meaning of parenthood (I swear), and that's the highlights. It even got to the point where the writers had to tone down her personality, lest people think that Punky should just lay her out and get it over with. Of course, looking at some of the descriptions on Seasons 3 and 4, maybe they just did it for long enough to get NBC off their backs. Evil must be fun to write for. So far in the life of the bios, I've usually written some token paragraph about the character's past as depicted in the show. Here's Margaux's; she has a rich family. Heck, if one of the screenshots I saw is any indication, they don't even use the same actor for her father during the two appearances he has during the series (seperated by around three seasons worth of episodes). Margaux's mother appears a handful of times, but she doesn't get too mixed up in the plot herself. No, if you're writing about Margaux, you're not going to be writing long paragraphs on family or subtle nuance; you're going to be writing about how she's a hammier actor than Miss Piggy. (And the series has used that exact joke quite a few times, too.) Let's face it, if you're getting someone for a part who looks like a miniature cheerleader and presumably has a good sense of humour, it's nearly impossible to not use that character trait. Heck, how often does Pamela Anderson play a shaky actor? At least the series gives a few examples of how you could actually justify that kind of attitude; we do see some good singing in "Miss Adorable" and a tap performance in "Tap Your Troubles Away". So, back to the question I unintentionally raised at the beginning; why are Punky and Margaux friends? Actually, the funny thing is that the series never does say why. She just pops up all of a sudden during the episode when Henry is walking Punky's friends to school. Maybe Punky likes to have a rival around to keep sharp, maybe Margaux needed to see how the little people lived, or maybe no one else would hang out with her. Who knows. Maybe's she was Cherie's friend and got into the clique through connections. So, Margaux Kramer; friend, rival, actor, and occasional menace to society. Sounds about right. 
Ami Foster, like about 150,000 other hopefuls, originally auditioned for the part of Punky before someone decided to have her read for Margaux. It proved to be a good fit, and Ami would go on to be one of the main cast for the show's entire run. After Punky, she had a fairly quiet career. She has since retired from acting to concentrate on parenthood.
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