Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress, singer, and director.

Biography

Early life

Hart was born in Smithtown, New York, on Long Island, the daughter of Paula, a producer and talent manager, and William Hart, a clam hatchery worker, entrepreneur, and shellfish purveyor.¹ Hart grew up in Sayville, New York. Her stepfather (since 1994) is television executive Leslie Gilliams, and her stepmother is Lisa Hart. Hart was named after the Allman Brothers song "Melissa", while her middle name, Joan, came from her maternal grandmother. Hart chose Catherine as her confirmation name when she was in eighth grade.

Hart has five sisters, and two brothers, all younger than her. Sisters Trisha, Elizabeth and Emily, brother Brian, and half-sisters Alexandra Hart-Gilliams and Samantha Hart have all acted. Her younger half-sister, Mackenzie Hart is not in show business.

Melissa Joan attended Saint Anthony's High School and graduated in May of 1994. She was a member of the cheerleading squad.

Career

Hart's career began at age three, when she made a television commercial for a bathtub doll called 'Splashy'. From then on, she appeared regularly in commercials, making 25 of them before the age of five. Other early television work included a small role in the miniseries Kane & Abel in 1985, a guest-starring role in an episode of The Equalizer in 1986, and a starring role alongside Katherine Helmond in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Christmas Snow, also in 1986.

In 1989, she auditioned for a Broadway production of The Crucible starring Martin Sheen, becoming an understudy to three of the young girls in the play. This paved the way for her to land the title role in the TV show Clarissa Explains It All. The Nickelodeon series, a comedy about a teen girl in everyday situations, became a big hit during its four-year run. The show made her a household name among American teenagers and brought her four consecutive Young Artist Award nominations, of which she won three.

Hart also recorded two albums as Clarissa, This is What 'Na Na' Means and a recording of Peter and the Wolf (Sony Classical SK 64079). The former, a rock/pop album in the style of a garage band, did not receive much attention from critics or the public. The latter album won a Parents' Choice award.

After the television series was canceled, Hart attended New York University. She did not complete her degree, however, since she soon resumed her acting career when she got the lead role for the 1995 TV movie Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. This was followed by the television series of the same name which lasted seven seasons; she later collaborated on an animated version that featured Melissa voicing the two aunts Hilda and Zelda while sister Emily Hart starred in the title role. In between, she also guest-starred on the series Touched by an Angel and starred in several TV movies.

In 1998, Hart landed a small part in the movie Can't Hardly Wait, and then started filming Drive Me Crazy, starring alongside Adrian Grenier. Hart asked friend Britney Spears to do a remix of her song "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and add it to the movie's soundtrack. To capitalize on the song's success as a top-ten hit, the title of the movie was changed to Drive Me Crazy and Hart joined Spears in the music video for that song. Around the same time Spears also did a guest role, playing herself, on an episode of Sabrina.

Hart appeared in lingerie in a series of photographs² and accompanying article³ featured in the October 1999 issue of the men's magazine Maxim. Hart continued her acting career in the 2000s. Her work included the film Rent Control, which was produced in 2002 and later aired in 2005 on the ABC Family cable network. Hart continued her role on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which finished in 2003, and also performed several voice-over roles for animation.

In 1999, Hart made her directorial debut in an episode of Disney Channel's So Weird called "Snapshot" which starred her sister, Emily. She later directed an episode of Nickelodeon's Taina in 2001. In 2001-2002, she directed 6 episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, including the season finale. In 2005, Hart directed her first movie, a 15-minute live-action short called Mute, starring her sister Emily.

Hart guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: SVU that aired on October 9, 2007 titled "Impulsive" as a teacher accused of statutory rape.⁴ In late 2007, she directed the "Anger Cage" video for her husband Mark Wilkerson's band Course of Nature. She also starred in the ABC Family Original Movie Holiday in Handcuffs, opposite Mario Lopez. The movie premiered on December 9, 2007, and was the highest rated program in the history of the network, with 6.7 million viewers.⁵

Personal life

On July 19, 2003, Hart married musician Mark Wilkerson.⁶ The preparations for the ceremony, which took place in Florence, Italy, were documented in a TV miniseries titled Tying the Knot, produced by Hart's production company, Hartbreak Films. Hart and Wilkerson have two sons: Mason Walter Wilkerson, who was born on January 11, 2006 weighing 9lbs;⁷ and Braydon Hart Wilkerson, born on March 12, 2008, weighing 7lbs, 3oz.⁸ Both boys were born in Los Angeles where the couple reside.

Hart and Wilkerson were featured in People's April 7, 2008 issue, introducing Braydon to the world.⁹ Hart wrote a diary, including video entries, to document toilet training her son, Mason, for Pull-Ups brand diapers.¹⁰

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

• Melissa Joan Hart at the Internet Movie Database
• Melissa Joan Hart at TV.com
• Melissa's Official MySpace.com
• Melissa's Official Facebook page
• Melissa's Official iLike