Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress, producer, and director best known for her starring roles in the Nickelodeon sitcom Clarissa Explains It All from 1991 to 1994 and the ABC and WB series Sabrina the Teenage Witch from 1996 to 2003.

Raised in Sayville, New York, as the eldest of eight siblings in a family managed by her mother Paula Hart, who served as her agent, she began her career at age four with a commercial for a bathtub doll called Splashy, followed by over 25 advertisements and early television appearances in miniseries like Kane & Abel, guest spots on The Equalizer, and the TV film Christmas Snow by 1986.

She gained stage experience as an understudy in the Broadway production of The Crucible in 1989 and in an off-Broadway play with William Hurt, before landing her breakthrough as the witty teenager Clarissa Darling, earning three Young Artist Awards during the show's four-season run.​

Transitioning to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, she reprised the role from a successful TV movie into a seven-season series that blended live-action with animated spin-offs like Sabrina: The Animated Series, solidifying her as a 1990s teen icon while winning Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Television Actress.

Post-Sabrina, she starred in films such as Drive Me Crazy opposite Adrian Grenier in 1999 and appeared in ABC Family holiday movies including the record-breaking Holiday in Handcuffs in 2007, which drew 6.7 million viewers, alongside My Fake Fiancé in 2009.

Melissa Joan Hart returned to series television with Melissa & Joey opposite Joey Lawrence from 2010 to 2015, serving as an executive producer and director on the sitcom, which ran for four seasons and 104 episodes.​

Expanding into directing through her company Hartbreak Films co-founded with her mother, she helmed episodes of shows like Young Sheldon, The Goldbergs, and iCarly, as well as Lifetime films such as The Santa Con and Santa Bootcamp, while continuing acting in projects including God's Not Dead 2 in 2016 and No Good Nick in 2019.

Her filmography also features voice work in The Casagrandes and a 2021 Celebrity Wheel of Fortune win of $1 million for Youth Villages charity.

Married to musician Mark Wilkerson since 2003, with whom she has three sons, she has received honors like the 2013 Young Artist Award Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement and maintains a versatile career across television, film, and production.​