Melissa was an early starter in showbusiness - she'd starred in 22 commercials by the age of five! She made her first series of Clarissa Explains It All when she was 13.
Melissa is now 18. She lists her hobbies as hanging out on the beach, going to concerts and watching her fave TV shows, Roseanne and the Simpsons.
Melissa was recently mobbed by fans at a water park in New York. "I felt like Luke Perry or something," she says.
Melissa says she's quite different to Clarissa. "I change my voice when I'm Clarissa and I get more hyper," she says.
"I think I lift my eyebrows too. We think alike about being your own person but I don't dress as outrageously as she does."
So does Melissa use Clarissa's pearl of wisdom in real life? Seems not. "Once in a while I quote Clarissa," says Melissa, "but I don't remember the lines. When people ask me to do a piece of it I can't."
Clarissa has her own book, Clarissa's All-In-One Complete Book of Everything Important (Until I Change My Mind), which lists everything from the mysteries of life to the yuckiest foods of all time. "I think it's a good kid's book," says Mel.
Melissa took her first on-screen kiss, with best pal Sam (played by Sean O' Neal), in her stride. "We were kind of nervous but we were so concerned on acting the part we didn't even think about it."
Clarissa Explains It All has been such a massive success that Melissa filmed a pilot for her own TV series Clarissa. The series will see Clarissa move to New York to work on a newspaper and has been compared to Blossom.
Want to write to Mel? Her contact address is Melissa Hart, Viewer Services Department, Nickelodeon US, MTV Networks, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, USA.
Catch Clarissa Explains It All every Saturday on Live and Kicking! on BBC1.
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