Biography - Danica McKellar

Who is Danica McKellar?

Danica McKellar is a professional actress, mathematics writer, author, education advocate, and American national. Aside from her career as an author, she is best known for playing Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years, Miss Martian in Young Justice, Project Mc2, and numerous Hallmark films.

Danica McKellar – Age, Parents, Siblings

Danica McKellar’s birth took place on January 3, 1975, in La Jolla, California, USA. She was born Danica Mae McKellar to her mother Mahaila Tello, a homemaker, and her father Christopher McKella, a real estate developer. 

She is not the only child of her parents and has a sibling, younger sister Crystal McKellar, who is now a successful lawyer.

Education, Ethnicity

After graduation from high school, Danica McKellar went on to study at the University of California, Los Angeles. She graduated from the same in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree summa cum laude in Mathematics. She also attended Harvard-Westlake and Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Her ethnicity is Scottish, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese.

Danica McKellar – Boyfriend, Husband, Children, Divorce

Danica McKellar married her longtime boyfriend Michael "Mike" Verta, a composer on March 22, 2009, in La Jolla, California. The couple had been dating since 2001. With Verta, she welcomed her first child, son Draco McKellar Verta on September 7, 2010. However, after years of relationship and marriage, they divorced in 2013.

She went on to date Scott Sveslosky, a partner in the Los Angeles legal firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, and became engaged to him on July 16, 2014. They tied the knot on November 15, 2014, in Kauai, Hawaii.

Danica McKellar – Career

Early Days

McKellar was seven years old when she started acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Institute. 

Her debut role was at the age of 10 in a 1985 episode of The Twilight Zone followed by the main role of Winnie Cooper in the TV series The Wonder Years (1988-1993). This role established Danica McKellar as a child actress, which she, later on, found difficult to transition to an adult actress.

Films, Series

In her adult roles, she has had appearances in the films Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2002), Raising Genius (2004), Hack! (2007), Heatstroke (2008), Where Hope Grows (2014), and The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania! (2017), among others.

Moreover, McKellar has guest-starred in TV series Babylon 5 (1994), Impractical Jokers and recurring roles in Static Shock (2000-2004), The West Wing (2002-2003), Game Over (2004), Inspector Mom (2006-2007), to name a few. She also has landed the main roles in Young Justice (2010-2013; 2019-percent) as Miss Martian, and Project Mc2 (2015- present) as The Quail. 

Also, Danica McKellar has starred in around a dozen Hallmark movies My Christmas Dream (2016), Coming Home for Christmas (2017), Christmas At Grand Valley (2018), and Christmas at Dollywood (2019), among others.

Co-stars

On Project Mc2, Danica McKellar has starred alongside Mika Abdalla, Antonio Marziale, Sarah Desjardins, Genneya Walton, and Ysa Penarejo.

Others

McKellar also has authored several books that are related to mathematics. Her first book Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail (2008) was a New York Times bestseller. Since then she has released eight books including The Times Machine! Learn Multiplication and Division... Like, Yesterday! (2020), and Bathtime Mathtime (2018), among others.

In addition, her paper was published in the Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General in 1998.

Danica McKellar – Awards, Nominations

She was awarded the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award in January 2014.

Danica McKellar – Net Worth, Salary

Her net worth is estimated to be around $6 million while the figure on her annual salary is under review.

Danica McKellar – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media handles including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Danica McKellar is followed by several hundred thousand followers and counting. She also has two official websites-  mckellarmath.com and danicamckellar.com.