BIOGRAPHY

From the East Coast of the USA. The first child of William and Paula Hart. Melissa hails from Smithtown Long Island, New York. Born with the name; "Melissa Joan Catherine Hart" on the 18th April 1976, 1:30 PM on an Easter Sunday, she is the oldest of her 6 siblings. The name "Melissa" was inspired from a Allman Bothers song. Lyrical content of the song seemed to have been the influence, perhaps it was just the simple statement of the name "Melissa" throughout the song that persuaded Melissa's parents to choose it. Two middle names then came into play, Joan and Catherine. The decision to middle name the little Hart, "Joan" was named after her maternal grandmother. "Catherine" was named at a later date.

Her childhood years have been spent with patience, hard work and growing hopes of a successful future in TV and entertainment. There was no specific goal except for success. The young Melissa Hart started showing her face on the TV at the age of 4. Now revealing blonde haired, and green/blue eyes One of her first pieces of work involved starring in a TV commercial for Connecticut Gas in 1980. The formula for the child star during the 70's to 80's shared one common maxim - get the kid to do something out of the ordinary to get the attention. Just like Jodie Foster on Taxi Driver. However, whether Paula Hart knew about this and avoided it, or had no idea about the possible returns in this form of talent showcasing is unclear. The 1980's was the start of Melissa Hart's career - Melissa was under a less is more approach - slowly grow and glow, or flare out fast but burn out fast. It happenned to child star Gary Coleman (Diff'Strokes)

What if that happenned to Melissa? Prior to any considerable form of public exposure, Paula Hart (Melissa's mother) has been looking out for young Melissa - finding opportunities for Melissa to gain public recogition. After the damage being done to various other young aspring stars, it shows that the cut throat ways of the TV studios and Hollywood has no moral ground however young its hopefuls might be. Paula Hart not only playing mother, but agent for Melissa. Had this been faith in Melissa to be a huge success in the future right from the start - or by offering a choice for her (when she grows) between conventional career to an extrordinary one, however, whatever the outcome - it was better than having no choice or future at all. Having acumulated upto 20 commercials since 4 to age 5, the baby future star of Sabrina had moved on to more sophisticated but less frequent roles in the TV studios. Major studios such as ABC and NBC has welcomed Melissa, and her mother to another step up the ladder. Productions such as The Adventures of Con Sawyer, Hucklemary Finn in 1984 - 1985. Further mid 80's work got her to appear on Kane and Abel and 1986's Christmas Show.

Closing towards the end of the 80's, Melissa grew and grew, shedding off another layer of baby youth. Only after the apperances in NBC and ABC productions had established that Melissa's main craft was of acting for now. There has not been any real story about her development of acting, or that of any acting schools. But this did not stop Melissa and Paula from entering even more demanding roles. 1989 - 1990, Melissa performed in a play "Beside Herself" "Imagining Brad" and the more familiar "The Crucible" along side thespian Martin Sheen. It seemed to be a brave move to pitch a young, and untrained and suddenly assumed as actress into the professional world of theatre. Perhaps, Paula wanted and tried to guide Melissa through the more "talent" based road to success. The baby girl in Melissa was fading day by day - the image that got her started in TV was dying.