Line #8 Creator/MelissaJoanHart


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/699776b50725daa48384ad4a621d5114.jpg]]
2	-> ''"Woo-hoo!"''
3
4	Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress, producer, director and novelist born in Smithtown, New York. How familiar you are with her will depend a lot on what particular era you were born in.
5
6	If you were a child in the early 1990s, then you'll best know her as Clarissa Darling on the classic Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} sitcom ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll''. If you were born in the late '90s or early 2000s, you'll probably know her more as CuteWitch Sabrina Spellman on the FantasticComedy series ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' -- as well as the three {{Made For TV Movie}}s alongside it and the AnimatedAdaptation where she provides the voices of both Aunts Hilda and Zelda. If you're part of TheNewTens demographic, you might know her as Mel Longo on the sitcom ''Series/MelissaAndJoey''. And yes, that's also her in Music/BritneySpears's video for "(You Drive Me) Crazy".
7
8	A hugely successful child and teen star in the '90s, Hart also appeared in several films such as ''Film/DriveMeCrazy'', ''Film/TheSpecials'', and ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''. She produced and directed many episodes of her latter two sitcoms, in addition to other TV movies. She also competed on the ninth season of ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' in 2009, released an autobiography titled ''Melissa Explains It All: Tales From My Abnormally Normal Life'' in 2013, became the first celebrity winner of the million-dollar top prize of ''[[Series/WheelOfFortune Celebrity Wheel of Fortune]]'' (and the fourth overall; all of the prize money went to the charity Hart was playing for, Youth Villages) in 2021, and participated in the ninth season of ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'' in 2023.
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10	She's also the daughter of Paula Hart, who acted as producer on three of Melissa's sitcoms. [[ItRunsInTheFamily Her little sister Emily Hart was also an actress in the 2000s]].
11
12	!!Selected filmography:
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14	* ''Series/TheEqualizer'' (1986) - Laura Moore
15	* ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll'' (1991-1994) - Clarissa Darling
16	* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost" (1993) - Daphne.
17	* ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' (1995)- Claire Latham.
18	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' (1996-2003) - Sabrina Spellman.
19	** ''Sabrina The Movie'' (1996)[[note]]A PilotMovie in a different continuity with the series that followed.[[/note]]
20	** ''Film/SabrinaGoesToRome'' (1998)
21	** ''Film/SabrinaDownUnder'' (1999)
22	* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' (1997) - Saturn Girl (voice)
23	* ''Film/CantHardlyWait'' (1998) - Yearbook Girl (uncredited)
24	* ''Film/DriveMeCrazy'' (1999) - Nicole Maris
25	* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' (1999-2000) - Hilda Spellman/Zelda Spellman (voices)
26	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' (2000) - Delia & Deidre Dennis / Dee Dee (voices)
27	* ''Film/TheSpecials'' (2000) - Sunlight Grrrl.
28	* ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' (2001) - Becky Detweiller (voice)
29	* ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'' (2001) - Slow Clapper's Instructor (uncredited)
30	* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' (2005) - Delia & Deidre Dennis / Dee Dee (voices)
31	* ''Film/NineDead'' (2010) - Kelley
32	* ''Series/MelissaAndJoey'' (2010-2015) - Melanie 'Mel' Longo
33	* ''Film/TheSantaCon'' (2014) - Rose [=DeMarco=] (also director and producer)
34	* ''Film/GodsNotDead2'' (2016) - Grace Westley
35	* ''WesternAnimation/PickleAndPeanut'' (2017)- Herself (voice)
36	* ''Series/NoGoodNick'' (2019 - Elizabeth “Liz” Thompson
37	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'' (2019) - Becca Chang (voice)
38	* ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'' (2023)- [[spoiler:Lamp]]
39	----
40
41	!! Melissa Joan Hart and her works provide examples of:
42	%% Remember, creators don't get trivia pages. Trivia items on this page should stay here.
43	* ActorAllusion: ''Series/MelissaAndJoey'' drops a few:
44	** A HalloweenEpisode has Joe suggest Mel dress up as a witch. She replies that she's done that before.
45	** Mel's "five stage plan" is to have kids named Mason, Brandon and Tucker. Those are the names of her children in real life.
46	** In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'', an argument between Sabrina and Chloe has one of them saying "who needs Melissa Joan Hart's autograph anyway?"
47	* ActorInspiredElement:
48	** Clarissa Darling has posters of Music/TheyMightBeGiants on her wall, because they were Melissa's favourite band at the time.
49	** The Violent Femmes and Blondie guest starred on ''Sabrina'' because Melissa was a fan and lobbied for them to be on the show.
50	* ContractualPurity: She was an adult by the time ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll'' finished, and her mother didn't want her to go straight for adult roles in order to preserve her kid fanbase. That didn't stop Archie Comics from going mad when Melissa posed in lingerie for ''Maxim'' - as they are infamously protective of their wholesome brand - never mind that Melissa was twenty-three when the shoot was done. She did however keep her partying and drug use hidden while on ''Sabrina'', claiming "it's not that I wasn't a bad girl; I just didn't get caught." She related the stories in her autobiography, saying she didn't like people seeing her as "a goodie two shoes".
51	* CreatorBacklash:
52	** Didn't like acting alongside James van der Beek on ''Clarissa'' and actually asked producers not to choose him to play her love interest.
53	** While grateful for the impact ''Sabrina'' had and the longevity of the show, she's admitted that she didn't enjoy playing Sabrina; finding her too different from her own personality. She was somewhat creatively frustrated at how Sabrina would often have to be the anchor to everyone else's more exaggerated mannerisms, and indeed her condition for doing ''Series/MelissaAndJoey'' was that she not have to be the OnlySaneMan.
54	* DawsonCasting:
55	** She was fifteen playing the preteen Clarissa Darling, and nineteen when it ended. In her autobiography she claims she felt slightly embarrassed to be a teenager and the star of a children's show whenever she was recognised.
56	** Sabrina Spellman was a teenage witch, but Melissa was twenty when the first season aired. This is especially noticeable in Seasons 5 and 6 where Sabrina is only nineteen-twenty but looks at least four years older.
57	* DirectedByCastMember:
58	** Directed nine episodes of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''.
59	** Directed six of ''Series/MelissaAndJoey''.
60	* FormerChildStar: Played with. While she had more success in her youth, she enjoyed the biggest success of her career in her twenties as Sabrina. She's hardly been stuck for work afterwards either thanks to ''Series/MelissaAndJoey''. She has confessed to experimenting with drugs and that she "fell in with a bad crowd" for about a year in her early twenties.
61	* FriendshipOnTheSet:
62	** She continues to be close with her on-screen aunts Creator/CarolineRhea and Creator/BethBroderick, and describes them as "like family".
63	** In contrast to Libby and Sabrina's on-screen rivalry, Melissa and Jenna Leigh Green were good friends, as they were with Lindsay Sloane, who played Valerie.
64	* HostilityOnTheSet:
65	** In her autobiography, she says she didn't like working with William Hurt in a play called ''Being There'' - claiming he was very distant and complained about her mother a couple of times.
66	** She hated James Van Der Beek when he guest starred on ''Clarissa'' and called it her least favorite kiss scene.
67	* IAmNotSpock: She's probably going to be best remembered as Clarissa Darling or Sabrina Spellman for the rest of her life. Whichever one it is depends on how old the person is - though Sabrina did have more spin-offs and lasted longer. She also appeared as Sabrina on crossovers with ''Series/TeenAngel'', ''You Wish'' and ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld''.
68	* MagnumOpusDissonance: She's said that Mel Longo from ''Series/MelissaAndJoey'' was her most fun character to play.
69	* RealLifeRelative: Sabrina's cousin Amanda was played by her little sister Emily Hart, who also voiced Sabrina in the animated series (where Melissa voiced the two aunts). Amanda's sister Allie was played by their other sister Alexandra Hart-Gilliams. All three, along with Brian Hart and Elizabeth Hart star together in the TV movie ''The Right Connections''. Her mother, Paula, served as the executive producer for ''Sabrina''.
70	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: ''Film/DriveMeCrazy'' was given its title because Melissa had appeared in Music/BritneySpears's music video for "(You Drive Me) Crazy". Ironically Melissa didn't like the name change because she was worried [[AndYouThoughtItWouldFail Britney Spears's career wouldn't take off]].
71	* RealitySubtext:
72	** Music/BritneySpears has a quick guest appearance AsHerself on ''Sabrina'', where she gets a brief break from touring to hang out with Sabrina. According to Melissa, this parallels her situation on set where she and everyone else would invite Britney to lunch but her entourage wouldn't allow her because she had to do more work.
73	** Years later, she and Nate Richert admitted to having a mutual crush on each other while filming ''Sabrina'', which explained the chemistry between Sabrina and Harvey. They never actually got together however, because they were always with other people.
74	* StarMakingRole: ''Series/ClarissaExplainsItAll'' of course. She had only done commercials and stage work before, as well as a couple of miniseries and TV movies.
75	* ThrowItIn: 'OBKB' became one of Clarissa's slang terms because it was a word Melissa and her friends used a lot.
76	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
77	** In her autobiography she recalls going to an audition and bragging to the other girl in the elevator that she was sure she got it. This girl was Soleil Moon Frye and the audition was for ''Series/PunkyBrewster''. Despite this inauspicious beginning, the two became good friends.
78	** At one point Melissa was hovering between the opportunity to do ''Clarissa'' or to play Six on ''{{Series/Blossom}}'' - which she had done callbacks for. Ultimately ''Clarissa'' was the one she got.
79	** Melissa was offered a role in ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' but turned it down because she felt it was just a rip-off of ''Film/{{Scream}}''.
80	** She could have potentially played Sailor Moon if a live action film adaptation Disney was exploring around 1997 had gotten off the ground.

Context Creator / MelissaJoanHart