Danica
Mae McKellar
see below for high resolution scans of photos I own
Danica's monthly
TV schedule (US only) |
In "The Wonder Years":
Gwendolyn (Winnie) Cooper
-
She does not appear in episodes 12-16, 20+21, 25-27, 35, 38, 41, 44, 49,
52, 55, 59-65, 67, 70, 72-77, 79-84, 88-91, 95, 111, 113. Her appearance
dropped very much in the forth and fifth season. The reason was that Danica
wanted to have more money (by Time Warner via Dennis Barron):
First season |
100% |
only 6 episodes |
Second season |
57% |
|
Third season |
73% |
|
Forth season |
50% |
|
Fifth season |
26% |
minor appearance in ep. 87 and 92 |
Sixth season |
86% |
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-
Also she is nearly always called "Winnie", her actual name is Gwendolyn.
Quote from episode 1:
WINNIE: Gwendolyn. I don't want to be called Winnie anymore,
my real name is Gwendolyn.
-
Young Winnie is played by Jenny Drugan 22.
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Winnie's family:
-
Mr. Cooper, Winnie's father (played by H. Richard
Greene) 23, 28,
40,
46,
66
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Mrs. Cooper , Winnie's (played by Lynn Milgrim)
23,
28, 46, 66
-
Winnie's older brother, Brian, (played by Bentley
Mitchum) was killed in Vietnam (see episode 1),
buried in episode 2 and shown in a flashback in
episode
23.
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Winnie's boyfriends and love interests except Kevin: |
Landes, Michael |
(Kirk McCray, Winnie's first boyfriend) |
7, 9,
10,
11,
17,
69 (only from former episodes) |
Jacoby, Bobby |
(Eddie Pinetti) |
18 |
- |
(Chip, "just one of those summer things" (quoting Winnie), a
lifeguard, never shown on screen but mentioned in her letter to Kevin) |
24 |
Josh Saviano |
(Paul Pfeiffer) ? |
36 |
Hoffman, Art |
(Roger (Dikovian)) |
57, 58 |
Renfro, Jason |
(Matt Stevens) |
85 |
Anthony, Bret |
(Phil Stephens (only studies with Winnie)) |
100 |
Naso, Brad |
(Eric) |
114 |
In real life:
Danica Mae McKellar
Birthday: |
January 3rd, 1975, in La Jolla, California |
Family: |
-
daughter of Maihaila (a homemaker who was a professional dancer before
her marriage and whose parents were of Portuguese descent) and Chris McKellar (a real estate developer, related to the prominent Scripps
publishing family)
- with whom she had a younger sister, Crystal, who appeared as Becky Slater, on "The Wonder Years."
-
Her parents divorced in 1982 and her dad married Molly.with whom he has two sons, Christopher and Connor.
|
Danica spent five years at UCLA (University of California
at Los Angeles) and got a degree in Analytical Math. She graduated
summa cum laude in June 1998. Her research project was "Percolation
and Gibbs-states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models
in two dimensions." She did not continue for graduate school but started
acting again, see interview (March 1998)
and interview (September 1998). |
Trivia:
- Danica means "the Danish" in Latin and "morning star" in some Slavic
languages. Her parents picked her name
out of a book for baby names (according to her on Celebrity Sightings
(link defunct) Chat, 18 June 1998).
- Danica took dancing lessons together
with her sister crystal even before she moved to Los Angeles with her
mother in 1982, see article.
- At age 9 Danica did her first commercial. At age 11, she did a Mountain
Dew commercial. In 1986 she appeared in a Volkswagen commercial.
- At age 10 she appeared in two episodes of the TV series The Twilight
Zone.
- The first kiss in her life was
with Fred Savage on "The Wonder Years" pilot, when she was 12.
See interview with Danica.
- Danica was nominated for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television
Series for the 11th Annual Youth in Film Awards 1988-1989 for her role
in "The Wonder Years."
- Danica and her sister Crystal were students of Diane
Hill Hardin's Young Actors Space (like Leonardo Di Caprio).
- On December 23, 1989, Danica appeared alongside Josh Saviano, Nicole
Eggert and Jeremy Miller as a guest on "Wide World Of Kids."
- There are reports that Danica was an extra in the movie "The
Nutty Professor" with Eddie Murphy. She was the girl dressed
in a blue jean outfit in the halls of the college eddie murphy's character
teached in. (she walks by real quick). She is not listed in the
titles, so can anybody confirm this?
- In March 1998 Danica and Fred Savage appeared together in an episode
of "Working," a show in which he plays
the regular character Matt. There were some funny lines recalling "The
Wonder Years" like when co-workers as him if he plans to see her anymore.
MATT:" I don't even like her! She reminds me of a girl I knew growing
up." (Audience truly laughs). See transcript,
anouncement of NBC and article
from TV Guide about this episode of "Working." Jason
Hervey was also a guest star in this TV series but in a different
episode.
- On May 4, 1998, Danica appeared on a one-hour episode of the new
LOVE BOAT: The next wave series.
The same day she was interviewed on a segment of "American Journal".
- It was in a third-year abstract algebra class that she met her
boyfriend Jason Richard, now 25 (1998) and a computer software
product manager.
- Danica McKellar can be seen in the Debbie
Gibson video "No More Rhyme" which was released in mid-1989.
It can be found on the A*Vision video release "Live Around The World".
- Danica McKellar is NOT in the Paula Abdul video "Forever Your Girl".
I have looked closely at every frame on a PAL high-resolution screen.
The young dancing girl with the electric guitar looks a bit like her.
But the shape of their faces are different when I compare with Danica
in 1989, the production year of that video. Danica McKellar is also
not mentioned in the end titles.
- Danica likes to ski and has participated
in several charitable ski tournaments.
- Danica supports the organization Earthtrust.
- There is a rock band called "Winnie".
Bass player/drummer Jason had a crush on a girl at his school who looked
like Winnie Cooper. He would always refer to this girl as "Winnie,"
and one day he suggested that the band be called Winnie. Visit their
homepage.
- Danica appeared on "Home & Family"
on March 17, 1998 and on "Eyewitness News"
on May 6, 1998.
- On January 30, 1999, Danica had her musical
debut as Rizzo in GREASE. This happens
at The Grove Theater in Upland, which is half hour east of downtown
LA. The show ran on weekends until Feb.28th.
- Danica will star in a movie that is filmed
at the moment in Georgia, USA, by Channel 12 Productions in Winder,
GA. The movie is titled "Good Neighbor"
and is a thriller or murder mystery. Look for it out in video stores
near you in six months or so. (August 2000)
- Danica is very actively supporting
math teaching in schools.
- Danica gives online advice about math problems,
see her
website.
- On Thursday, July 13, 2000, Danica gave a
personal testimony at a hearing of the California Committee on Science,
Subcommittee on Technology to discuss a Review of the Morella Commission
Report: Recommendations to Attract More Women and Minorities into
Science, Engineering, and Technology.
- She talked to an audience of math teachers
on April 12, 2000, Chicago, at the press conference announcing
the release of "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics".
- Danica has written, directed and played in
a new short film,
"speechless..." She
won as Best First Time Director Short Films at the Hollywood
Underground Film Festival 2002.
- Danica is starring as the young mathematician Catherine in the Tony
and Pulitzer Prize winning play
"Proof" at the
San Diego Repertory Theater.
The show runs Sep 27 to Oct.26, Tue-Sun nights and Sunday matinees.
- There is a new Official Danica McKellar website.
- On July 19, 2005, a full article appeared on her in The New York Times and on November 18, 2005, another full article in The Los Angeles Times.
- Danica worked as a writer, director and producer of the short movie Broken.
- Danica appeared on the
Food Network
as part of their new show "Celebrity Diet Secrets" on January 1st, 2006, at 9pm and 11pm, January 7th at 4pm, and January 8th at 5pm. She'll talk about her healthy eating habits and how yoga keeps her in shape.
- In 2007 Danica wrote a book with the title "Math doesn't suck",which ranked 6th in the LA Times bestseller list and 4th in the Amazon bestseller list in September. In December Amazon put it in the list of the Best Book of 2007. There is also her website Math doesn't suck.
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Filmography:
Guest Star in:
TV Series |
as |
in Episode |
Date |
"How I Met Your Mother" |
|
|
11/21/05 |
"Strong Medicine" |
|
|
06/19/05 |
"The
West Wing" |
Elsie Snuffin, an associate campaign manager/speech writer |
|
10/30/02
11/06/02
11/13/02 |
"The Division" |
Wendy; Tim's girlfriend |
Don't Ask (1.8) |
02/25/01 |
"Sirens" (not the movie!) |
(a young prostitute) |
? |
1993- |
"Love Boat: The Next Wave" |
Mary |
How Long Has This Been Going On? (1.4) |
05/04/98 |
"Working" |
Jolie |
As Bad As It Gets (1.16)
She loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah (2.16) |
03/13/98
1999 |
Walker, Texas Ranger |
Laurie |
Stolen Lullaby (#27) |
05/21/94 |
Babylon 5 |
Aria Tensus |
The War
Prayer (1.7) |
03/09/94 |
"The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" |
Patty |
Day of the Orphan |
09/05/89 |
Win Lose or Draw |
herself |
- |
1988 or 1989? |
The
Twilight Zone |
Nola
Deidre Dobbs |
Her Pilgrim Soul (1.28)
Shelter Skelter (2.16) |
12/13/85
05/21/87 |
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