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Joyce Meadows, a blue-eyed brunette, was one of three siblings born as Joyce Johanna Burger in Alberta, Canada, to Joseph Henry Burger (1908-1989) and Johanna Louise Schelske (1913-1972), of German descent. Raised on a farm, she learned to ride horses from a young age, a skill that proved valuable in many television westerns such as Tombstone Territory (1957), The Texan (1958), Cheyenne (1955), and Tales of Wells Fargo (1957). After her family relocated to California, Joyce attended school in Sacramento. There, she formed a song-and-dance duo with a friend, won consecutive Miss Sacramento and Miss Hollywood titles, and made her stage debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the Little Eaglet Theater. She completed her musical education at the Geary Conservatory in San Francisco (now the American Conservatory Theater) and taught herself guitar.
Joyce further honed her acting skills under Jeff Corey in Hollywood and Stella Adler in New York. She performed on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse and later in Glendale, where an agent discovered her during a performance and offered her a contract. Her film debut was opposite John Agar in the low-budget AIP western Flesh and the Spur (1956). She reunited with Agar in the cult sci-fi The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) and the western Frontier Gun (1958). Primarily, Joyce found steady work on television, with recurring roles such as the assistant to George Nader's scientist in The Man and the Challenge (1959) and a saloon owner in Two Faces West (1960). From 1958 to 1965, she frequently guest-starred on shows including Markham (1959), Sea Hunt (1958), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), and Perry Mason (1957).
Reportedly disillusioned with Hollywood, Joyce took an extended break from screen acting in the mid-1960s to tour in classic theater productions such as King Lear, The Glass Menagerie, Richard III, and The Rainmaker. She also conducted drama workshops across various states. In the early 1990s, she returned to screen acting, making repeat appearances on soap operas like Santa Barbara (1984) and Days of Our Lives (1965).
