Biography
Date of Birth
18 December 1976, Smithtown, Long Island, New York, USA
Birth Name
Melissa Joan Hart
Nickname
Mel
Halfpint
Sa
MellyJHart
Height
5' 2" (1.57 m)
Mini Biography
Melissa grew up in Sayville, New York. Her acting career started at the age of four, when she did a commercial for a bathtub toy called Splashy. Her mother, Paula Hart, has been her agent from the beginning. Melissa is the oldest of eight children, some from her mother's second marriage. Six sisters, Trisha Hart, Elizabeth Hart, Emily Hart, Alexandra Hart-Gilliams, Samantha Hart, and Mackenzie Lee Hart, who is the only sibling who never appeared on Melissa's TV series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). Her brother is Brian Hart.
Melissa performed in two plays as the youngest member of New York's Circle Repertory Lab Company: "Beside Herself" in 1989 (starring Lois Smith and William Hurt) and "Imagining Brad" in 1990. She was also in the National Actors Theater production of "The Crucible" on Broadway with Martin Sheen (as understudy of three of the children in the play). Melissa cites Shirley Temple and Audrey Hepburn as early acting inspirations and still collects memorabilia of the former. For the past few years, she has been juggling acting and attending New York University. She's now living in Connecticut.
Trivia
Daughter of Paula Hart and William Hart, a lobster wholesaler.
Met longtime boyfriend, actor James Fields, while filming an episode of Touched by an Angel (1994) in Utah.
Has sung on two rock-pop albums: "This is What Na Na Means" (1994) and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: The Album" (1998), and narrated a classical album for children, a recording of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" (1994).
Performed in an off-Broadway play titled "Beside Herself" with William Hurt and Calista Flockhart in 1989.
A small role she had in Crocodile Dundee (1986) was cut from the film.
Appeared in underwear along with Yasmine Bleeth, Alyssa Milano, Peta Wilson, Garcelle Beauvais, Carmen Electra, Jamie Luner, and Jeri Ryan on the cover of and inside the October 1997 issue of "Details" magazine.
Was born at 1:30 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
Has a lazy eyelid that causes her right eye not to open as wide as her left eye.
Was born without the teeth on either side of her two front teeth, a condition that was fixed in 1993.
Is vice-president of Hartbreak Films, a production company she runs with her mother, Paula Hart, and stepfather, Leslie Gilliams.
Collects Shirley Temple and Audrey Hepburn memorabilia.
Auditioned for the title role in Adrian Lyne's Lolita (1997).
Her first name, "Melissa", is from The Allman Brothers Band song and her middle name, "Joan", from her maternal grandmother. When she was confirmed in the 8th grade, she chose "Catherine" as her confirmation name; however, it is not a part of her legal name.
Hobby: collects great art and owns paintings by each of the following masters: Pablo Picasso (x5), Rembrandt van Rijn (x2), Salvador Dalà (x1) and Edgar Degas (x1) [2019].
Started collecting estate jewelry. [October 1999]
Her sister, Emily Hart, provides the voice for Sabrina in the Saturday morning cartoon Sabrina, the Animated Series (1999), which was spun off from Melissa's hit show Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996). Melissa provides the voices for Aunts Hilda and Zelda Spellman.
Attended New York University via correspondence courses since January 1994. She is pursuing a BA in a combination of art and literature classes, but she put her studies on hold for one year because of her hectic filming schedule. [October 1999]
Auditioned for a role in Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
Auditioned for the role of Sidney Prescott in Scream (1996) . The role eventually went to Neve Campbell.
Announced engagement to Mark Wilkerson, front man-guitarist of the band, Course of Nature. [January 2003]
Her wedding was themed with the colors purple and gold, which also happen to be the colors of Sayville High School, her alma mater.
Turned down the role in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) that eventually went to Sarah Michelle Gellar and also a part in Urban Legend (1998) and, in a later statement, expressed reservations of becoming another horror movie victim as the rationale behind her decisions.
Has some pets: Cooper. Rescued Pelé a Dalmatian dog from a pound, dog named Halleakala, (Halli), dog named Cooper, Border Collie name Cleo and a dog named Mater.
Stepdaughter of Lisa Hart and Leslie Gilliams.
Sister-in-law of Warren Savage, Sally Kruse, Holly Cole Wilkerson, Alex Madar, Josue Portillo and Giovanna Augello.
Aunt of Christopher Savage, Jonathan Savage, Aviana Louise Portillo, Will Dusan Mader and Isabelle Francesca Hart.
Granddaughter of Stanley John Voje, Joan Voje and Ethel Hart.
Attended Sayville Middle School until the 8th grade and then moved to New York to concentrate on Clarissa Explains It All (1991).
Hobbies: snowboarding, hockey and watching TV (esp. basketball), movies, guitar, flute and painting.
Her parents divorced in 1991. Her mother married Leslie Gilliams in 1994.
Childhood friend of Soleil Moon Frye.
Celebrated her 32nd birthday at Disneyland with her husband, Mark Wilkerson, and their two sons.
Her younger half sister, Mackenzie Lee Hart, is the only one of her siblings who did not join the acting business.
Owns the candy store Sweetharts, which is located in Sherman Oaks, California.
Daughter-In-Law of Jennifer and Walt Wilkerson.
She was offered the role of "Sidney Prescott" in the horror/thriller, Scream (1996), but turned it down.
Has three sons with husband Mark Wilkerson: Mason Wilkerson, (born on January 11, 2006), Braydon Wilkerson, (born on March 12, 2008), and Tucker Wilkerson: (born on September 18, 2012).
A Republican, she endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Co-owner of the "Yowza!" app.
She has played the same character (Sabrina Spellman) on six different series: Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Clueless (1996), Boy Meets World (1993), You Wish (1997), Teen Angel (1997) and Robot Chicken (2005).
On "People" magazine in a bikini after losing weight. [May 2009]
Niece of Mark Voje, Stanley Voje and Neil Voje.
Her maternal grandfather's parents were Slovenian. Her maternal grandmother was of half Russian Jewish (paternal) and half German (maternal) descent.
Received a large amount of backlash from Archie Comics when she participated in a racy photo-shoot for Maxim magazine. At the time she was starring as Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Archie are famously protective of their wholesome brand. Their main issue was the magazine advertising Sabrina posing rather than Melissa - making it look like she was doing it as the character.
As she had to be schooled on the set of Clarissa Explains It All (1991), she never had a proper graduation. So the network held a graduation ceremony for her on set - where she was deemed graduate of 'Nickelodeon High School', valedictorian of one and voted "Most Likely To Have Her Own Series".
Producers of Clarissa Explains It All (1991) originally wanted the title character to be brunette. However, they were impressed enough with Melissa's audition to make the character blonde.
At the same time she was auditioning for Clarissa Explains It All (1991), she had also done three callbacks for the role of Six on Blossom (1990). She spent one weekend waiting for the phone to ring, unsure of which role she would get. Ultimately, she got her preferred choice of Clarissa, and Six was played by Jenna von Oÿ.
A huge fan of WWE wrestling, and frequently tweets about it. Many WWE wrestlers guest-starred on Sabrina The Teenage Witch - such as Kevin Nash, Billy Gunn and Chyna.
She helped write a babysitting plot on Clarissa Explains It All (1991), hoping for the child to be played by her sister, Emily Hart. The role ended up being played by Michelle Trachtenberg.
Her first commercial was for Splashy's when she was only five. Her mother never told her that it was only her hands used in the final cut, and a different girl was used for facial shots. As a result, she spent years telling interviewers that it was her in the commercial before she found out.
Clarissa Darling has posters of They Might Be Giants on her bedroom wall, because they were Melissa's favorite band at the time.
In 2013, she launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a romantic comedy called "Darci's Walk of Shame", but made less than 3% of its $2 million dollar goal. The project ultimately never got off the ground.
Friends with Candace Cameron Bure, Taylor Spreitler, Joey Lawrence, Caroline Rhea, Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Beth Broderick, Jenna Leigh Green, Nate Richert, Nick Bakay, Nick Robinson, Alimi Ballard, David Lascher, and Elisa Donovan.
In early August 2020 Melissa announced that filming had just been completed on her next Christmas TV-movie, to be entitled "Dear Christmas".
Trademarks:
Catchphrase: "Woohoo!"
Best known for her roles as Sabrina Spellman in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996) and as Clarissa Darling in Clarissa Explains It All (1991).
Blonde hair
Quotes
[on appearing in Playboy magazine] If they could promise me it wasn't camera-between-my-knees kind of shots, I would do it. I would do topless. I think it's empowering. Though if my mother had a real big problem with it, I'd have to say no right now.
[on her personality] I'm a pretty open person. Like, if I have good sex, then the next day I'm going to tell everyone I know about it.
I feel like every time something bad has happened, I've come out of it because of my faith," Hart said. "It's for a purpose He has. It's His will be done.
