Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest-starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second-oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. During the run of Little House, Gilbert appeared in several television films, including The Diary of Anne Frank (1980) and The Miracle Worker (1979). As an adult, she continued her career mainly in television films. From 2009 to 2010, Gilbert appeared as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring production of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical. In 2012, she was a contestant on season fourteen of the reality dance competition show Dancing with the Stars on ABC.

Gilbert served as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 2001 to 2005. She briefly ran for the U.S. Congress in 2016, but withdrew her candidacy before the election. She is the author of several memoirs, a children's book, and a cookbook.

Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 8, 1964, to a newly engaged couple, Kathy Wood, an exotic dancer, and David Darlington, a stock car racer and mechanic. She was placed for adoption immediately after birth. She was adopted the next day by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane, the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane.