Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Melissa Joan Hart, comes from a large acting family

  Melissa Joan Hart                                                                         (Photo/wiki)

Melissa Joan Hart is an actress, writer, television director, singer and businesswoman best known for her title roles in the television series Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 

Hart has many family members who act.  She has seven younger siblings, five sisters, and two brothers. Sisters Trisha, Elizabeth and Emily Anne, brother Brian, and half-sisters Alexandra Hart-Gilliams and Samantha Hart have all acted. Her younger half-brother, Mackenzie Hart, is not in show business.

Hart's acting career began at age three when she made a television commercial for a bathtub doll called 'Splashy'. From then on, she appeared regularly in commercials, making 25 of them before the age of five.

Other early television work included a small role in the miniseries Kane & Abel in 1985, a guest-starring role in an episode of The Equalizer in 1986, and a starring role alongside Katherine Helmond in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Christmas Snow, also in 1986.

In 1989, she auditioned for a Broadway production of The Crucible starring Martin Sheen, becoming an understudy to three of the young girls in the play. This paved the way for her to land the title role in the TV show Clarissa Explains It All.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was the television series that lasted seven seasons. Later she collaborated on an animated version that featured Melissa voicing the two aunts Hilda and Zelda while sister Emily starred in the title role. In between, she also guest-starred on the series Touched by an Angel and starred in several TV movies.

In 1998, Hart landed a small part in the movie Can't Hardly Wait, and then started filming Next to You, starring alongside Adrian Grenier. Hart asked friend Britney Spears to do a remix of her song "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and add it to the movie's soundtrack.

In 1999, Hart made her directorial debut in an episode of Disney Channel's So Weird called "Snapshot" which starred her sister, Emily Anne. She later directed an episode of Nickelodeon's Taina in 2001. In 2001-2002, she directed 6 episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, including the season finale. In 2005, Hart directed her first movie, a 15-minute live-action short called Mute, again starring her sister Emily.

Hart has also guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: SVU as well as starring in the ABC Family Original Movie Holiday in Handcuffs, opposite Mario Lopez. Hart followed this with another ABC movie with a similar premise, My Fake Fiance (2009).

In season 9 of Dancing with the Stars she has danced with two-time reigning champion, Mark Ballas. ~ Other Dancing with the Stars' talent: Kelly Osbourne, Donny Osmond, David Alan Grier, Mario Lopez