Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Gilbert
Gilbert in 2010
President of the Screen Actors Guild
In office
October 15, 2001 – February 22, 2005
Preceded byWilliam Daniels
Succeeded byAlan Rosenberg
Personal details
Born
Melissa Ellen Gilbert

(1964-05-08) May 8, 1964 (age 60)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouses
Bo Brinkman
(m. 1988; div. 1994)
(m. 1995; div. 2011)
(m. 2013)
Children2
Parent
RelativesHarry Crane (grandfather)
Jonathan Gilbert (brother)
Sara Gilbert (sister)
Known forLittle House on the Prairie
The Miracle Worker
Occupation
  • Actress
  • author
Years active1967–present

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964)[1][2] is an American actress. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest-starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second-oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. During the run of Little House, Gilbert appeared in several television films, including The Diary of Anne Frank (1980), and The Miracle Worker (1979). As an adult, she continued her career mainly in television films. From 2009 to 2010, Gilbert appeared as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring production of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical. In 2012, she was a contestant on season fourteen of the popular reality dance competition show Dancing with the Stars on ABC.

Gilbert served as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 2001 to 2005. She briefly ran for the U.S. Congress in 2016, but withdrew her candidacy before the election. She is the author of several memoirs, a children's book, and a cookbook.

  1. ^ "Melissa Gilbert Interview | Archive of American Television". Emmytvlegends.org. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  2. ^ (Gilbert 2009, pp. 228)