McKellar, Danica

Danica McKellar, (born January 3, 1975, La Jolla, California, U.S.), American actress, mathematician, and author who first garnered attention for her role on the television series The Wonder Years (1988–93) and later promoted math education, especially for girls.

From about age seven McKellar lived in Los Angeles, where she studied at the Diane Hill Hardin Young Actors Space, a performing arts academy. She appeared in commercials and in two episodes (1985, 1987) of The Twilight Zone before being cast as teenager Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years, a popular comedy-drama that celebrated the minutiae of American suburban life in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

After the series ended, McKellar attended the University of California, Los Angeles, from which she graduated summa cum laude (1998) with a B.S. in mathematics. In her senior year she did advanced course work in mathematical analysis and, with a fellow student, conducted research into the statistical mechanics of magnetic fields, the results of which were published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General. She advocated math education and testified in 2000 before a U.S. congressional subcommittee on ways of increasing the number of women in mathematics-related fields. Focused on promoting an interest in math among girls, she wrote Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail (2007), Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who’s Boss (2008), Hot X: Algebra Exposed! (2010), and Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape (2012). The popular books were written in the style of a teen magazine and contained examples that were chosen to be accessible and appealing to many girls. McKellar also published Goodnight, Numbers (2017), Ten Magic Butterflies (2018), and Bathtime Mathtime (2018), books for young children, and Do Not Open This Math Book! (2018) and The Times Machine!: Learn Multiplication and Division…Like, Yesterday! (2020), for elementary-school students.

McKellar also continued acting, with the roles of White House communications assistant Elsie Snuffin (2002–03) on The West Wing and crime-solving Maddie Monroe, the title character in Inspector Mom (2006–07). She also played the lead role in a 2003 production of Proof, David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a mathematically gifted but troubled young woman. McKellar later provided the voice of a superhero in the animated TV series Young Justice (2010–13, 2019).