Joan Valerie (born Helen Vlahakis;[2] July 15, 1911 – January 30, 1983) was an American actress, who appeared mainly in B movies in the late 1930s and 1940s.

In 1928, she was the leading lady in Yukon Trails, a Rex Pictures production that was filmed in Valerie's hometown, Rhinelander, Wisconsin, with an all-local cast.

[11] Vlahakis's performance as the lead in Edward Elsner's Not So Long Ago in Hollywood led to two film studios' giving her screen tests, one of which resulted in a small part in Reckless (1935).

[13] She played ingenues in two musical westerns with Dick Foran, and appeared in Confession, The Prince and the Pauper, Day-Time Wife, and Sergeant Murphy, among others.

In 1938 she freelanced, landing a role in a Gene Autry western and a lead in a low-budget animal adventure (for which she used the pseudonym Helen Hughes).