Danica Mae McKellar (born January 3, 1975), is an American actress and mathematician.

She’s 33!

As a result of this unusual combination of interests, McKellar has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years.

Born in La Jolla, California, McKellar moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was eight. McKellar and sister Crystal McKellar have maintained a friendly competition to see who gets more acting jobs. Indeed, when the actress who would play Winnie had to be chosen, the last two actresses under consideration for the role were the McKellar sisters.

McKellar had a leading role in The Wonder Years, an Emmy Award winning American television dramedy created by Carol Black and Neal Marlens that ran for six seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1993. The pilot aired on January 31st, 1988 after ABC’s coverage of Super Bowl XXII.

McKellar played Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper, Fred Savage’s main love interest on the show. In an episode entitled “The Accident” and in the final episode, it is stated that every important event in Kevin’s life somehow involved Winnie. She lives on the same block as Kevin. Their first kiss plays an important part of the pilot episode, as does her older brother’s death while serving as a soldier in the Vietnam War. In one episode her parents decide to get separated because of their grief over the death of their son. According to the epilogue in the final episode, Winnie studies art history in Paris. Kevin and Winnie write one letter to each other every week for eight years until her return. Despite their life-long romance, they never marry.

McKellar’s first kiss was with Fred Savage in an episode of The Wonder Years. She later said, “My first kiss was a pretty nerve-wracking experience! But we never kissed off screen, and pretty quickly our feelings turned into brother/sister, and stayed that way.”

On August 1, 2007, Don and Mike Show, a radio program out of Washington D.C. on WJFK-FM, McKellar announced plans that the producers of How I Met Your Mother were planning to bring her back for a recurring role (she guest-starred on the show in late 2005). She appeared in the October 8th episode titled “Third Wheel.”

McKellar appeared in lingerie for a pictorial for the July 2005 edition of Stuff Magazine. The magazine asked readers which ’90s star they would most like to see in lingerie and McKellar was the reader’s choice. “I’m guessing most people are going to be like, ‘Oh, look, it’s Winnie Cooper!” Danica said at the time. One reason McKellar made the shoot is that she hoped that after the pictures come out “people will start giving me grittier roles.”

Other January 3rd Birthdays:

Dabney Coleman-Actor -76
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Mel Gibson-Actor/Director -52
Jason Marsden-Actor -33
Nicholas Gonzalez-Actor -32
Kimberley Locke-American Idol -30