subscribe to newsletter

Melissa Joan Hart is an American actress best known for her starring roles as the title characters in the sitcoms CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL (1991–1994), SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH (1996–2003), and MELISSA & JOEY (2010–2015) for which she won a People's Choice Award. She appeared as ‘Liz’ in NO GOOD NICK (2019). She competed on DANCING WITH THE STARS in 2009. In 2021, she became the first celebrity in the history of CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE to win the $1 million top prize, for her charity Youth Villages. In 2023, she competed on THE MASKED SINGER.

Melissa recently starred in Lifetime film THE BAD GUARDIAN (May 2024). Her feature film credits include DRIVE ME CRAZY (1999), NINE DEAD (2009), and GOD'S NOT DEAD 2 (2016). She has been a Christmas queen starting with her Lifetime film HOLIDAY IN HANDCUFFS which launched a new genre for holiday TV movies. She has a picture deal at Lifetime that has included producing 10 movies, directing 4, and acting in 6.

Her career began at age four when she made a television commercial for a bathtub doll called Splashy. From then on, she appeared regularly in commercials, making 25 of them before the age of five. 

Also a director, Melissa and her mother Paula founded Hartbreak Films. Melissa has become a go-to for directing network sitcoms, including YOUNG SHELDON, THE GOLDBERGS, and SCHOOLED. She has directed several episodes of iCarly.

She recently hosted podcast WHAT WOMEN BINGE. She authored her memoir MELISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL: TALES FROM MY ABNORMALLY NORMAL LIFE (2013).

Since 2019, she has been an ambassador with World Vision, a worldwide Christian humanitarian organization that supports the critical needs of children and families around the globe. An activist and advocate for gun control reform, she spoke at a Senate roundtable about her close encounters with school gun violence in January 2024. 

She resides in Nashville with her husband and three sons.