Danica McKellar starred as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years from 1988-1993. Entertainment Tonight has an exclusive interview where Danica talks about why she pulled back from acting for school. I didn’t need that part explained to me, I’m all for anyone who pursues their education. It was that Danica left acting for math. Math. I still have nightmares where my survival depends on my being able to solve a word problem (hint, I always die). I’m just jealous of anyone who understands math.
Danica’s explanation is kind of fascinating. Danica told her son, Draco, 11 (which is about the age she was on The Wonder Years), that she studied math to find something that separated her from her fame. So, when she went to UCLA, she became a math whiz.
Danica McKellar is opening up to her 11-year-old son Draco about her life as a child actress, and her unexpected career path.
While Danica still acts, the talented entertainer is also an acclaimed mathematician and has penned 11 children’s books about math.
“When and why did you decide to take a break from acting and become a mathematician?” Draco asked.
“I went to UCLA, but when I got to school, everywhere I went, people all over campus would shout across campus, you know, ‘Hey Winnie!’ [or] ‘Hey, loved you on The Wonder Years!” Danica recalled, referring to her character on the show, Winnie Cooper. “I couldn’t get away from it.”
“So I needed to find out how I was valuable outside of Winnie Cooper, and math was challenging and I did well at it,” she continued. “And I love this feeling that my value, the important stuff had nothing to do with how I looked or television.”
This makes perfect sense to me. But I doubt I would have had that insight as a teen. I would have worried about fading into oblivion after being famous. With the benefit of age, I know exactly what Danica means about finding value in something else. And look at how she was able to use that degree. I mean, math is a valuable skill, and writing children’s math books is such a great use of her creativity and analytical brain. I also appreciate Danica’s point about math being faceless and why that would be important for someone whose ‘day job’ involves people critiquing their appearance.
Danica said she also told Draco that she would support any endeavor he wanted to take on, including acting. She said she would get him into acting classes and guide him but that she was, “not gonna ever push you in that direction [though], because it’s a tough life.” I like the nuance in Danica’s response. Most celeb parents answer that they refuse to let their kids get in the business. I get they don’t want their kids to have as hard a time as they did in Hollywood, but it’s practical for celebs to prepare their kids if they want to go that route.
Photo credit: Instagram, Cover Images and Avalon Red
This is a great story and yay to women in STEM. I also love how she’s using her understanding to educate others through her children’s books.
I tried doing half an A level in maths after getting a decent GCSE in it as I knew I wanted to study psychology but it was SO different. I dropped it after 3 months. That said, when it came to the statistics part of my psychology degree I loved it! It was like following a recipe, you put ingredients in at the right time and place and got your result out at the end. There was a structure and order to it I enjoyed.
She seems like a super nice person. I feel like she had a homework helpline at one time to help people with their math homework! But I may be mistaken
I was SO good at math in high school, I was so confident and even cocky about it. Then when I went to college, it was like the way they taught it changed and I barely passed. It was quite a comeuppance. Stats was really hard too 🙁
I LOVE that she quit acting to study math and became an advocate for “math.” I remember growing up and seeing negative stereotypes of girls shying away from math and science on TV, film, and even toy products. Anyone remember the controversy surrounding talking Barbie? One of her catch phrases was “Math is tough!” or something like that. Mattel had to pull that Barbie off the market because it was perpetuating a negative stereotype of girls not liking or finding math a difficult subject? I was an English major myself BUT I loved math and science growing up as a kid because it was so different from my writing courses. I took all the advanced classes right up to college-level calculus when I was in high school. Loved it. Looking back on it now, I wished I pursued a science or math degree when I was in college.
I was a girl geek in school – it’s not something I had “insight” about or thought about as a skill or went to college to discover – it was my particular talent and interest and the way I saw the world. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had other interests, but I tend to see things from a mathematical perspective.
Not to sound like an Amazon review, but I have to say that I can’t recommend her books enough! I was always terrible at math, always taking the lowest level possible for required credits, and even then only half-remembering what I learned just long enough to get a C on the exams. My 10-year-old stepdaughter, however, is in love with math, so a family friend bought her one of Danica’s books that are geared towards middle school girls. After perusing it a bit, I decided to get a copy of my own. My stepdaughter and I worked our way through it together, and immediately ordered her other books for that age group. Danica really does make it fun, and she explains everything so well (without dumbing it down) that even an adult can understand it. I had so many moments when concepts I didn’t understand almost 20 years ago suddenly clicked. If you sucked at math in school or hated it, but want to re-learn now, her books are a very good start.
I’m glad that you are overcoming your math phobia!! I will have to wait for grandchildren to get the books…
Thanks for the recommendation. Math was my least favorite subject and I Google concepts that I know I learned in school but that didn’t stick. I’m not against reading a children’s book to get a better grasp on it.
That to me is the most amazing part. It’s one thing to excel at something. It’s another to be able to explain it, especially to children. I’m tempted to read her books myself.
Thank you for this! I loved math at school, and always scored higher in math than English on standardized tests, and lately I’ve been thinking that I’d like to relearn it all. In my work (archaeology), I use a little statistics, but mostly simple computations & a bit of geometry. I came across my high school calculus notes & realized I had no idea what I was looking at! And I wanted to relearn it all, but remembered how long it took to get me to calculus in 12th grade so…. I think Danica’s books just might be a good re-entry point!
Math phobia is real omg. I still remember Sister Elizabeth Jane, the blackboard and that pointer. Ughhhh. Good for Danica. She seems very decent and I love smart people
Ugh, and I swear there is a connection between math and gender socialization in school. I am a professor of English, but when I was young, I was also good at math. However, when I turned 14, I *suddenly* stopped putting forth effort into my math classes and felt discouraged to do so. I can’t tell if it was my teachers not encouraging me, some implicit social pressure, or feeling worried men would think I am smarter than them or something, but my math grades were never the same. And I don’t think I suddenly became more dumb, lol. I definitely feel it was environmental.
Go STEM!!!! I read this great book about rigid mindset vs flexible mindset and it changed my perspective. It basically makes the point that almost anyone can learn something new if they work at it. I had math phobia all the way through college. Then in my work, I had to use Excel to run damages analyses for litigation and I loved it! I loved figuring out the formulas and averages and medians and seeing all the little numbers lined up.
Draco??
Ooh, I’m behind! I didn’t have the two newest publications. My kid goes crazy over numbers but feels done with Goodnight, Numbers; Bathtime Mathtime; and 10 Magic Butterflies already. He was obsessed with them for so long.
Wooooooooo this resonated with me. I hope I am not reading too much subtext into her comments on Winnie Cooper but even though I knew I was remarkably smart, as a young girl and even in college I only felt valued by others for my looks. I happened to end up in finance as a career despite having contentious relationships with every math teacher I’ve ever had and I basically do algebra for a living now. Being good at what I do, something that is so hugely objective, has been transformative to my self worth. Knowing that I am really good at something that does not care how I look made me treat myself much better and expect others to treat me better. I wasn’t really expecting this little article to hit me this hard!
I love that she did this. If I had the money and residuals from a hit series, I would study forever.