Biography for
Danica McKellar More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

3 January 1975, La Jolla, California, USA

Birth Name

Danica Mae McKellar

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Together with her younger sister, Crystal McKellar, she began acting at a young age in her mother's dance studio. In 1982 the family moved to Los Angeles and a few years later she appeared in her first commercial. A few guest appearances in "The Twilight Zone" (1985) was followed by her breakthrough in "The Wonder Years" (1988). She has had good grades in math and French. In her spare time she likes to go skiing, swimming and surfing.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Mattias Thuresson

Mini Biography

Best known as America's alluring dream girl from her days as Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years" (1988), Danica McKellar made her breakthrough at the early age of 12. After that show ended, she went on to graduate Summa cum Laude from UCLA with a degree in Mathematics, and even proved a new math theorem, the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.

Since returning to acting, Danica became familiar again to audiences from her year-long turn as the sardonic, dry-witted Elsie Snuffin on "The West Wing" (1999) in its 4th season. Since then, Danica made guest appearances on shows such as "NYPD Blue" (1993), "Jack & Bobby" (2004), "Eve" (2003), "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service" (2003), and she played a strung-out heroine addict on Lifetime's "Strong Medicine" (2000).

Danica got her feet wet as a filmmaker with her award-winning short film Speechless... (2001) (co-starring "The Wonder Years" (1988) pal Dan Lauria), which she wrote, directed, and produced.

Danica made her debut lingerie spread in the July 2005 issue of Stuff Magazine, in which she appears on the cover. Her pictures can also be seen on its Web site. Talk about allure.

IMDb Mini Biography By: HLR

Spouse

Mike Verta

(22 March 2009 - present)

Trivia

Sister of Crystal McKellar, whom she considers her best friend.

Graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a BS in mathematics in June 1998.

Had a 1998 paper published in Britain's "Journal of Physics A: Mathematics & General" with UCLA professor Lincoln Chayes and student Brandy Winn that provided a mathematical proof for a theorem dealing with magnetism in two dimensions. Her Erdos number is, at most, four; her Bacon number, by comparison, is two.

Is fluent in French.

Was a member of the Alpha Chi chapter of Alpha Delta Pi sorority at UCLA.

Attended Jason Marsden's nuptials, October 2004.

She is of Scottish and Portuguese descent.

Celebrity Judge for UCLA Spring Sing 2005.

Played the role of "Catherine" in a San Diego production of David Auburn's play "Proof". Catherine is an unlikely mathematical genius who writes a groundbreaking proof at a very young age; McKellar is also an unlikely mathematical genius (she was the only undergraduate invited to speak at Rutgers University's biannual Statistical Mechanics) who wrote a proof at a very young age.

Daughter of Mahaila McKellar and Christopher McKellar.

Stepsister of Christopher McKellar Jr. and Connor McKellar.

"ABC Evening News" (1953) named her "Person of the Week" for her book, "Math Doesn't Suck".

Did all her own dancing and lifts in "21 and a Wakeup" with partner Jamie Bayard, of "So You Think You Can Dance" fame.

Is now a two-time New York Times bestselling author with books "Kiss My Math" (2008) and "Math Doesn't Suck" (2007).

Personal Quotes

I learned my French through school. I was lucky in that the tutor on "The Wonder Years" (1988) set spoke fluent French.

My main concern with the condition of mathematics in high school is that there's a lot of fear involved! Math is not, generally speaking, presented in a fun way. The concepts, as I see them, ARE fun, and that's the way I'd like to convey them myself.

When I originally entered UCLA, I had planned to go for a film major, but I kept finding myself taking math classes for fun, 'cause I missed them from high school!

Where Are They Now

(October 2003) Starring as Catherine in the stage play "Proof" at the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

(October 2002) Continues to recur on NBC's "The West Wing" (1999).

(January 2004) Reprised her role as Frieda Goren on the Kids WB series "Static Shock" (2000).

(August 2007) Release of her book, "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail."

(August 2008) Release of her book, "Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss". Also, releasing a Yoga DVD by Danica and her mother.

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