Melissa Joan Hart Biography and Pictures

Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress, singer-songwriter and director best known for her title roles in the teenage sitcoms Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Biography

Melissa 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. Melissa grew up in Sayville, New York. Her stepfather (since 1994) is television executive Leslie Gilliams, and her stepmother is Lisa Hart. Melissa was named after the Allman Brothers song "Melissa", while her middle name, Joan, came from her maternal grandmother. Melissa chose Catherine as her confirmation name when she was in the eighth grade.

Melissa 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 Melissa have all acted. Her younger half-sister, Mackenzie Hart, is not in show business.

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. Her role in the series also led to her starring in the FMV video game Nickelodeon's Director's Lab as a tour guide that takes the player around a movie studio.

Melissa 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, Melissa 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 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, Melissa landed a small part in the movie Can't Hardly Wait, and then started filming Next to You, starring alongside Adrian Grenier. Melissa 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 Melissa 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.

Melissa appeared in lingerie in a series of photographs and accompanying article featured in the October 1999 issue of the men's magazine Maxim. Melissa 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. Melissa continued her role on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which finished in 2003, and also performed several voice-over roles for animation.

In 1999, Melissa 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, Melissa directed her first movie, a 15-minute live-action short called Mute, starring her sister Emily.

Melissa guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: SVU that aired on October 9, 2007 titled "Impulsive" as a teacher accused of statutory rape. 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. Melissa followed this with another ABC movie with a similar premise, My Fake Fiance, in 2009.

On July 19, 2003, Melissa married musician Mark Wilkerson. 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. Melissa and Wilkerson have two sons: Mason Walter Wilkerson, who was born on January 11, 2006 weighing 9lbs; and Braydon "Brady" Melissa Wilkerson, born on March 12, 2008, weighing 7lbs, 3oz. Both boys were born in Los Angeles, California.

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