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Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born on May 8, 1964) is an American actress.
The naturally red-headed Gilbert is best known as a child actor who starred as Charles Ingalls' (played by Michael Landon) middle daughter, Laura Ingalls, on the television series Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983). Not long after that she played Gerda in the Faerie Tale Theatre adaptation of The Snow Queen. She also provided the voicework for the roles of Clara in the Sanrio film, Nutcracker Fantasy and later Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Animated Series. More recently, she served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild.
Family and early career
Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Jewish family. She was adopted by actor Paul Gilbert (born Paul MacMahon) and his wife, Barbara Crane. Her younger brother, Jonathan Gilbert (a New York stock broker), was also adopted. Melissa and Jonathan worked together when he portrayed Willie Oleson in Little House on the Prairie and in the movie The Miracle Worker. When Melissa was eight, her parents divorced, and when she was 11, her adoptive father died. Her adoptive mother married Harold Abeles and gave birth in 1975 to Sara Abeles, who became an actress. In 1984 Sara Abeles changed her name to Sara Gilbert. Sara would later star in the American television series Roseanne.
Career after Little House
Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and played Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 in 1996.
Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a competitive election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term. She was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd. In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis and sometimes best friend "Nellie Oleson" on Little House on the Prairie.
Marriage
* Bruce Boxleitner (1 January 1995 - present) 1 son
* Bo Brinkman (21 February 1988 - 1992) (divorced) 1 son
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