After a lifetime in southern California’s eternal sunshine, Danica McKellar made the move to rural Tennessee last year. It appears she’s taken a page right out of her Hallmark and Great American Family movies, which often take place in a small town filled with kindhearted people and blessed by seasonal beauty.
Since her move, the actress and producer has indeed been marveling at “the most amazing Bob Ross painting at every turn,” she said.
Ms. McKellar is widely known for playing the character of Winnie Cooper in “The Wonder Years.” The comedy-drama, which ran from 1988 to 1993, followed the highs and lows of young Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage). Set in suburban, middle-class America in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the series, and the messy and complex affairs of the heart it depicted, kept viewers coming back episode after episode. For many, their coming of age happened alongside the protagonists’—including McKellar’s character.
Etched onto the public consciousness, she became the epitome of the sweetness of first love. Late-night show host Jimmy Fallon once referred to Winnie Cooper as “the coolest girl in any TV show ever.”
Math Whiz
On-screen Winnie Cooper was smart and sweet, and because Ms. McKellar knew that young people were looking up to her character, she felt the need to live up to being a role model.
She went on to graduate summa cum laude from UCLA with a major in mathematics, with the distinction of co-authoring a mathematical physics theorem called the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.
No one ever told me I couldn’t do math or science; I just saw it as inaccessible and foreign. The strange thing is, at the same time that I harbored all of these self-doubts and feelings of alienation in regards to math, I was graduating high school with really good grades in math. True, I had struggled in middle school to even get a ‘C’ in math, but now I was in the top 3 percent of my high school, graduating with honors and an A+ in the highest AP Calculus course offered in the U.S.She went on to write 11 math books for kids spanning ages 0 to 16. She knew that she had to change the stereotype about math and make it not only accessible but also cool, initially targeting girls at the middle school stage, a time when math gets harder and new social factors also come into play. Because of this, her bestselling books incorporate confidence-boosting messages.
As a homeschooling mom, she also dispenses inspiring tips. Her enthusiasm is infectious, whether she’s talking about the intriguing properties of cornstarch or making volcanoes.
On social media, she has posted a video of herself dressed as a fairy, reciting the first 139 numbers of pi for Pi Day (yes, March 14), set to the music of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”
Acting and Dancing
The challenge of math has always been a draw, but another side of her personality is her love of performing. She went on to make appearances on shows such as “The West Wing,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “The Big Bang Theory.”On the Hallmark Channel and at Great American Family, she has gravitated toward rom-coms “where everything works out.”
(Meantime, as a nod to the staying power of her popularity, her name was dropped twice in the 2019 hit film “Knives Out,” in reference to the plot of a fake Hallmark murder mystery movie she was supposedly in. All this, to Ms. McKellar’s surprised delight.)
And then, there’s the dancing.
Ms. McKellar has made no secret of her love of dancing. She has said that dancing is in her DNA, as her mother was a professional dancer. She trained intensively for the 18th season of “Dancing With the Stars,” placing sixth. Ice baths were par for the course at the end of the day, but she became a pro at making dancing look graceful and effortless.
That foundational training was incredibly handy when it came to her recent film “Swing Into Romance,” which was released on Great American Family earlier this fall. Portraying a former dance pro, Ms. McKellar puts on her dancing shoes with co-stars David Haydn-Jones and Gleb Savchenko, the latter hailing from “Dancing With the Stars.” You can tell she’s genuinely enjoying every minute on the dance floor.
“It’s a dream come true,” she said.
This Christmas season, she stars with Damon Runyan in “A Royal Date for Christmas,” while another film, “Royal Christmas Ball” (there’s lots of waltzing involved), is in the works and likely to run Christmas 2024.
Christmastime
Ms. McKellar enjoys preparing the house for Christmas, and although not a regular baker (healthy cooking is her modus operandi), this is the one time a year that she tackles her mom’s four-page recipe for a chocolate Yule log, which she and her son Draco, 13, festoon with marzipan figures and candy.More importantly, Christmas has had a new meaning for her since last year. Ms. McKellar grew up in a household where universal values like honesty and doing the right thing were valued, but not a religious one. But in April 2022, she embarked on a faith journey when her friend, actress Candace Cameron Bure, invited her to a Passion play at church. It changed her life.
“The relationship that matters the most is the one we have with God; that is the one that will carry us through anything. That’s the one that gives that feeling of happiness and bliss that is simply not dependent on things of this world,” she said on “Bits of Joy With Danica McKellar” on Great American Community, where she muses on Biblical stories and themes such as forgiveness and humility.
Not one to shy from a challenge, whether in math or baking, she brings that to her faith as well.
“Doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing is challenging—when you’re not going to get credit for it, for example. Loving your neighbor when it’s hard—I embrace that challenge,” she said, adding that she would “keep messing up” but would keep striving.
As a mathematician, she’s been reading the Bible and observing patterns, such as the recurring theme of ego versus humility. For example, if we don’t acknowledge that there’s a great deal we don’t control, she explained, “it’s cutting God out of the equation.”
It’s all very personal and authentic, and all drawn from her own experience.
As with her Christmas movies, she loves that she gets to inspire others.
The bottom line is simple: “I want to be useful,” she said.
Recent Works
“Domino Masters” (2022)Ms. McKellar was one of the judges on this competition series, where teams of domino enthusiasts faced off by building and toppling intricate creations.
A novelist (Ms. McKellar) jumps at the chance to be a caretaker at an empty chateau to overcome her writer’s block—until the owner, a prince (Neal Bledsoe), shows up.
In the role of Christine Sims, Ms. McKellar tries to save her parents’ general store by entering a dance competition with a large monetary prize, despite having hung up her dancing shoes years earlier. But who will step up as her partner?
In this children’s book about the surprising power of doubling, a little girl’s magic wand, which enables her to double things, gets stuck when she points it at a puppy. Multiple puppy antics ensue.
Bella Sparks (Ms. McKellar) of Bella Sparks Couture takes on a demanding new client (Damon Runyan) after his luggage goes missing before a week of high-stakes meetings. She acquiesces to outfit him, later finding out that he is the Duke of Tangford.
6 Questions for Danica McKellar
If you weren’t an actor, what would you be?Can I say math book author? Maybe a dancer.
I love so many styles of music. If it had to be one artist, it would be Billy Joel. He’s not one of these artists where all the songs sound the same.
Whether it’s swing or cha-cha or waltz, partner dancing.
I like canned mackerel, rice cakes, and sliced avocado. Really healthy, really tasty, and super fast.
I love Hawaii.
Christmas.
