Melissa Joan Hart

Melissa Joan Hart (born 18 April 1976 in Smithtown, Long Island, New York, USA) is an actress best known for her role as Sabrina Spellman in the successful American television situation comedy series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

Biography

Melissa Joan Hart, the first of five children (four girls and one boy) born to William and Paul Hart. She grew up in Long Island, New York, first appearing in commercials as a child before landing her big break as the title character in the Nickelodeon television series Clarissa Explains it All, which ran from 1991 to 1993. In 1996, following her parents' divorce and a move to Los Angeles, California (along with her siblings, mother and stepfather, television executive Leslie Gilliams), she landed a role in the Showtime movie Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, playing the title character, which was adapted to television in the fall as part of ABC television's Friday night line-up. The show was produced by the production comnpany founded by Hart and her mother, called Hartbreak Films. After four successful seasons on ABC, the show was picked up for an additional three seasons by the now defunt WB Newtork.

While still working on Sabrina, Miss Hart appeared in such films as Can't Hardly Wait and Drive Me Crazy, named after the Britney Spears song of the same name (Hart had appeared in the music video with Spears, whom she declared herself a fan of). Following the end of the show's seven-year run, she landed roles in such films as Jesus, Mary and Joey and The Race. In 2003, she married musician Mark Wilkerson, and, in January 2006, she gave birth to their son, Mason Walter Wilkerson.

Miss Hart lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and son. She is a Christian.