Melissa Gilbert Biography

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress of Jewish descent. As a former child actor, she is best known for her role of Laura Ingalls on the television series Little House on the Prairie and for her term as president of the Screen Actors Guild which she won after a bitter election contest in which she ultimately beat her opponent Valerie Harper after a revote 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term as president of the Screen Actors Guild. She was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg who formally assumed the office of Guild president on September 25.

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Gilbert as Laura Ingalls in Little House on the PrairieGilbert is married to Bruce Boxleitner, and played his character's wife on Babylon 5. She is the adopted older sister (half sister biologically) of Roseanne star Sara Gilbert.

She has two sons, one from her first marriage to Bo Brinkman, and another from her current marriage to Bruce Boxleitner. She named her second son after Michael Landon, her mentor and friend on Little House.

For her contribution to the television industry, Melissa Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd. In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

MELISSA GILBERT PICTURES

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MELISSA GILBERT BIOGRAPHY