Danica Mae McKellar is a famous American television actress known for portraying the role of Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper on the hit American Television show ‘The Wonder Years’. She is also known for her work on the television shows ‘The West Wing’ and ‘Game Over’ on which she had recurring role.
McKellar is also a renowned mathematics writer and has authored several books which include the best seller ‘Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail’ published in 2008. She has since written three other books on mathematics that aim to encourage middle and high school children to succeed in the subject.
Early Life and Education
Born in La Jolla, San Diego, California on 3 January, 1975 and raised in Los Angeles, McKellar is the daughter of Mahaila McKellar, a homemaker and Christopher McKellar, a real estate developer. McKellar’s parents divorced in 1982. She has one biological sibling, a sister named Crystal McKellar, who is corporate lawyer and actress and two half-brothers named Christopher and Connor from her father’s second marriage.
When she was 7, McKellar enrolled into the Lee Strasberg Institute from where she took acting lessons. She later attended and graduated summa cum laude from UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics with a specialization in Analytical Mathematics.
Career Rise
McKellar is best known for her work on ‘The Wonder Years’ where she essayed the character of Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper, playing the love interest of the male lead Kevin Arnold portrayed by Fred Savage. She essayed the role for its entire 6 seasons run. Her character Winnie is referred to by television host Jimmy Fallon as “the coolest girl on any TV show ever”.
After ‘The Wonder Years’ went off-air in 1993, McKellar appeared in several films, television films and television shows. She had recurring roles on the popular shows ‘The West Wing’ where she played Elsie Stuffin and ‘Game Over’, where she played the character of Elsa/Renee. She also appeared in a recurring role on the show ‘Inspector Mom’ from 2006-2007. Besides these, McKellar has appeared in episodes of various successful television shows such as ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘NCIS’, ‘Babylon 5’, ‘Impractical Jokers’ etc. In 2015, she starred in Project Mc2, a Netflix original series where she portrayed the character of ‘The Quail’. She has also acted in many TV serials and TV films for the Hallmark Channel, while never losing track of academics.
Movies
The actress has worked in quite a few films, her first being in a 1992 movie called ‘Sidekicks’. Post 2000, Danica McKellar was a part of movies like Good Neighbor, XCU- Extreme Closeup, Speechless, Jane White is Sick and Twisted, Raising Genius, Hack! Quiet Kill, Heatstroke, 21 and a Wake Up, Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo, Mancation, Where Hope Grows, My Christmas Dream (TV Movie) and The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania!
Danica McKellar – Books
Also a best-selling author, McKellar has written 4 books on Math titled ‘Math Doesn’t Suck’ in 2008, ‘Kiss My Math’ in 2009, ‘Hot X: Algebra Exposed’ in 2010 and ‘Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape’ in 2012.
Danica McKellar – Husband
McKellar began dating composer Mike Verta in 2001 and married him in March 2009. Together they have one child, a son called Draco Verta born in 2010. Although the couple had a very long court-ship, their marriage was short lived. McKellar and Verta separated and filed for divorce in June 2012 and their marriage officially ended in February 2013.
McKellar announced that she had gotten engaged to Scott Sveslosky, a partner at the Sheppard Mullin Richter legal firm in July 2014. She married Sveslosky on 15 November 2014 in Kauai, Hawaii.
Danica McKellar- Pictures
Danica McKellar – Net Worth
McKellar has an estimated net worth of approximately $6 Million.