Not all child stars end up as dysfunctional adults. Melissa Joan Hart seems, at this point in her life, to be doing quite nicely.

Born April 16, 1976 in Smithfield,Illinois and named for an Allman Brothers song, Hart first appeared on camera at three, had a major role in an Emmy Award winning TV movie ("Christmas Snow") at 10, and segued into a hit Nickelodeon show, "Clarissa Explains It all," a few years later. She also recorded two albums as Clarissa, making her the precursor to Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana.

Some mothers might be taken aback at their daughter's early fame, but not Paula Hart - she became Melissa's agent almost from her birth. And of Melissa Joan Hart's six siblings (she's the oldest child), all but one went into show business in one form or another.

The high point of Hart's career has been the movie and TV series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch."  She had the starring role in each, and even directed several "Sabrina" episodes. A few years earlier, after landing a spot in a movie with her friend Brittney Spears, she convinced Spears to pitch a remix of her hit "You Drive Me Crazy" to the producers as part of the sound track. Not only was the song accepted (with Hart appearing on the video), but its success led to a name change for the film: "You Drive Me Crazy."

Never shy, Hart has appeared in a lingerie photo shoot for Maxim and topless in Playboy. Yet she turned down roles in the popular horror movies "I Know What You did Last Summer" and "Urban Legends" because she didn't want to be portrayed as a victim.

When Hart decided to marry Mark Wilkerson, guitarist for the band Course of Nature, in 2003, preparations for the ceremony in Florence, Italy, became a TV mini-series. And later, Hart started a blog about potty-training the couple's first of two children on behalf of Pull-Ups diapers.

She chose Italy for the wedding because she had become infatuated with the country while filming a "Sabrina" episode there. And the color theme was purple and gold, the colors of her alma mater, Sayville High School on Long Island.

Most recently, Hart shed some weight and announced she would compete in "Dancing with the Stars" with two-time champion Mark Ballas.

Hart continues to act (her next movie will be "Nine Dead," scheduled for a September '09 release) and direct (among other things, a video for her husband's band), and she also opened a candy store in New York.