Melissa Joan Hart biography
Date of birth : 1976-04-18
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Smithtown, New York, U.S.
Nationality : American
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2011-09-30
Credited as : actress, television director,
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Hart's career has mixed movie work with television including appearances in the popular TV shows Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and That '70s Show. Hart is married to musician Mark Wilkerson since 2003; together, they have two children.
Hart was born on April 18, 1976 in Smithtown, New York, on Long Island, the daughter of Paula, a producer and talent manager, and William Hart, a shellfish purveyor, clam hatchery worker, and entrepreneur. She grew up in Sayville, New York. Her stepfather (since 1994) is television executive Leslie Gilliams, and her stepmother is Lisa Hart. Hart was named after the Allman Brothers song "Melissa", while her middle name, Joan, came from her maternal grandmother. She chose Catherine as her confirmation name when she was in the eighth grade.
Hart is the eldest of eight children with six sisters, and one brother. Sisters Trisha, Elizabeth and Emily Hart, brother Brian, and half-sisters Alexandra Hart-Gilliams and Samantha Hart have all acted. Her half-sister Mackenzie Hart is not in show business.
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.
