Danica McKellar
I love Danica McKellar. Yes, I am a female. No, I am not gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (FYI, my girl crush is Michelle Obama.) I think Danica is such a great role model for young ladies. She’s beautiful, successful, strong, hard-working, and smart. Most people know her as Winnie Cooper from the TV show The Wonder Years. I know her as my math idol.
Danica Mae McKellar was born on January 3, 1975 in La Jolla, California. She starred as Winnie Cooper for six years on The Wonder Years playing Kevin Arnold’s (Fred Savage) love interest. After The Wonder Years ended, Danica attended college at UCLA. She received her BS in mathematics and has been kicking butt ever since.
In addition to the occasional acting gig and voiceover work, Danica has written four math books. “Kiss My Math”, “Math Doesn’t Suck”, “Hot X: Algebra Exposed”, and “Girls Get Curves” (geometry) have all done very well. Her books target middle school girls and lets them know that it’s okay to be smart. It helps kids realize that math isn’t the scary thing many of them think.
Danica McKellar was married to composer Mike Verta from 2009 to 2013. Their son Draco was born in 2010. Danica is now married to Scott Sveslosky.
Trivia
- Graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a BS in mathematics in June 1998.
- Fluent in French.
- Attended Jason Marsden’s wedding in 2004.
- Is a three-time New York Times bestselling author with her math books. Math doesn’t suck, kids. And you’ll use it every single day of your life, so suck it up and learn. I should write my own math book. I’ve already got my title. “Math Doesn’t Suck. You Do!”
- Danica entered UCLA planning to be a film major but kept taking math classes for fun. That sounds like me. I took math classes for fun too. It just added to my weirdness.
- Both Danica and her sister Crystal were actresses. Danica became a mathematician and Crystal a lawyer. Their parents must be proud.
- Her first kiss was with Fred Savage in an episode of The Wonder Years.
I think Danica is one of the most successful former child actors ever. She definitely has not gone the way of Danny Bonaduce, Todd Bridges, Leif Garrett, Adam Rich, Corey Haim, and others who are either dead or have been close to death and/or have been in trouble with the law. I think she is such a great role model for so many people. I hope she continues to write math books. Math is groovy…..and so is Danica McKellar.