Melissa Joan Hart

Hart's career began at age four when she made a television commercial for a bathtub doll called Splashy.[3] From then on, she appeared regularly in commercials, making 25 of them before the age of five. Other early television work included a small role in the miniseries Kane & Abel in 1985, a guest-starring role in an episode of The Equalizer[5] in 1986, and a starring role alongside Katherine Helmond in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Christmas Snow,[3] also in 1986. She appeared on the April 22, 1986 episode of the NBC daytime soap opera Another World. She also auditioned for the lead role Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, losing the role to Danielle Harris.

In 1989, she became an understudy in a Broadway production of The Crucible starring Martin Sheen.[6] That same year, she appeared in an off-Broadway production of Beside Herself with William Hurt and Calista Flockhart.[7]

Hart on the set of Clarissa Explains It All at Nickelodeon Studios in 1991

In 1991 Hart landed the starring role on the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All, a comedy about a teenaged girl in everyday situations, which was successful during its four-year run.[8][9] The show brought her four consecutive Young Artist Award nominations, winning three.[10] Her role in the series also led to her starring in the FMV video game Nickelodeon's Director's Lab as a tour guide who takes the player around a movie studio.

Initially, after first being recognized in public, Hart felt embarrassed to be acting in a children's show while being a teenager. Nevertheless, she was enthusiastic about the role, and "all [she] hoped for that [she] would get to do it for a while."[11]

Hart also recorded two albums as Clarissa: This Is What 'Na Na' Means[12] and a recording of Peter and the Wolf.[13]

In 1995, a year after the end of Clarissa Explains It All, Hart filmed a pilot episode for a spin-off show featuring a college-aged Clarissa explaining it all about her foray into the professional world as an intern at a newspaper. As its musical theme, the show featured a slow, jazz version of its predecessor's theme song, and also starred Robert Klein as her boss.[14]

Hart appeared on Nickelodeon's anthology show Are You Afraid of the Dark?, in the Season 2 episode "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost" (1993).[15]

After the television series ended, Hart attended New York University.[16] However, she dropped out after she earned the title role for the 1996 TV film Sabrina the Teenage Witch,[17] which was followed by the television series of the same name, which lasted seven seasons on ABC and The WB.[18] She later collaborated on an animated version that featured Hart voicing the two aunts Hilda and Zelda, and Hart's younger sister Emily starring in the title role. She also guest-starred on the series Touched by an Angel and starred in several TV movies. She guest starred on the Boy Meets World episode "Witches of Pennbrook" as her character Sabrina Spellman; the episode also guest starred Hart's closest friend Candace Cameron-Bure as a witch named Millie.

Hart participates in a March of Dimes event with her Melissa & Joey co-stars Joey Lawrence and Taylor Spreitler.

In 1998, Hart had a small role in the film Can't Hardly Wait;[19] shortly afterwards Hart began working on a theatrical film project titled Next to You, in which she acted alongside Adrian Grenier.[20] Britney Spears released a remix of her song "(You Drive Me) Crazy" to promote the movie's soundtrack. To capitalize on the song's success as a top-ten hit,[21] the name of the movie was changed to Drive Me Crazy. To promote the film, both Hart and Grenier appeared in the song's music video.[22] Around the same time, Spears made a guest appearance as herself on Sabrina, in the season four episode "No Place Like Home".[23]

Coinciding with the release of Drive Me Crazy, Hart appeared wearing lingerie on the cover of Maxim magazine's October 1999 issue, as well as in a photo shoot and an accompanying article,[24] which resulted in an attempt by the publisher of the Sabrina comic book series to sue her for breach of contract.[25] Hart continued her acting career, starring in the film Rent Control,[26] which aired in 2005 on the ABC Family cable network. Hart also continued to star on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch until 2003. Hart was also a primary voice-actress on Sabrina: The Animated Series, which ran for 65 episodes in 1999 on ABC and UPN.

In 1999, Hart made her directorial debut in an episode of Disney Channel's So Weird called "Snapshot" which guest-starred her sister Emily. Hart directed an episode of Nickelodeon's Taina in 2001. In 2001 and 2002, she directed six episodes of Sabrina.

After Sabrina ended in 2003 after 7 seasons, Hart directed her first movie, a 15-minute live-action short film called Mute (2005), starring her sister Emily. In 2007, Hart guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled "Impulsive" as a teacher accused of statutory rape.[27] In late 2007, she directed the "Anger Cage" video for her husband Mark Wilkerson's band Course of Nature. She also starred in the ABC Family original movie Holiday in Handcuffs, opposite Mario Lopez. The movie premiered on December 9, 2007, and was the highest rated program in the history of the network, with 6.7 million viewers.[28] Hart followed this with another ABC movie with a similar premise, My Fake Fiancé, in 2009.

It was announced on August 17, 2009, that she would compete in season nine of Dancing with the Stars.[29] Hart was paired up with two-time reigning champion, Mark Ballas. She was eliminated from the competition in week six out of a possible ten.[30] In 2010, Hart starred as Kelley in the horror thriller film Nine Dead.[31]

In 2010, Hart returned to a new weekly television series, starring with Joey Lawrence in the ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey.[3][32][33] In the series Hart plays a woman who hires Lawrence as a nanny to help care for her incarcerated sister's children.[34] In the second season, she occupied the director's chair for an episode, for the first time since Sabrina.[35]

Hart (center) with her mother (right) and moderator Damian Holbrook (left) promoting The Watcher in the Woods at the 2017 New York Comic Con

Hart joined the cast of an off-Broadway production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore for a four-week run that started in March 2010 and ended April 25, 2010.[36][37]

In March 2010, Hart took part in an ad campaign for Gain detergent with Sabrina, the Teenage Witch co-star and friend Soleil Moon Frye.[38]

On November 22, 2010, Hart participated as a presenter in the International Emmy Awards.[39]

In June 2012, St. Martin's Press announced that it had made a deal with Hart to publish her memoir Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life in the fall of 2013. In the memoir, Hart wrote about growing up, being a child actor and her rise to fame, her rebellious teen years, and her efforts to balance a career as an adult with motherhood and family life.[40]

In 2013, Hart attempted to use crowdfunding (via Kickstarter) to fund a romantic comedy movie to be titled Darci's Walk of Shame, but was only able to garner $51,605, or just 2.6% of the expected $2 million goal. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped.[41]

Melissa & Joey concluded in August 2015 after 4 seasons and 104 episodes.

In 2016, Hart starred as the lead, Grace Wesley, in the film God's Not Dead 2.

In 2018, Hart was cast as Liz in the Netflix comedy series No Good Nick. The series premiered on April 15, 2019.[42] She directed one episode from The Goldbergs, "Hail Barry" and the Young Sheldon episode "Cowboy Aerobics and 473 Grease-Free Bolts".[43] Hart also made her return to Nickelodeon 25 years after the end of Clarissa Explains It All when she joined the voice cast of The Casagrandes, a spinoff of The Loud House.[44]

In 2022, Hart starred in the Lifetime film Dirty Little Secret as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature film where it was inspired by true events and the book Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omolulu.[45]