Danielle Harris

Danielle Andrea Harris (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress.

Harris was born in Plainview, New York on June 1, 1977 and was raised by her mother Fran, along with her sister Ashley.

Harris is Jewish.

While living in Florida during elementary school, Harris won a beauty contest, winning a trip to New York City for ten days.

While there, she was offered various modeling jobs, but turned them down because they were all far from her home.

Her mother was eventually transferred back to New York for work and Harris began work as a model.

She also began appearing in television commercials.

In 1985, at age seven, Harris was cast in the role of Samantha "Sammi" Garretson in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and stayed on the program for three years.

Her character was considered a "miracle child", extracted as an embryo from the womb of her deceased mother and implanted in a family friend, whom her father later married.

In 1987, Harris made a guest appearance in the series Spenser: For Hire.

Following her early television work, Harris successfully auditioned for the role of Jamie Lloyd in the fourth edition of the Halloween franchise, beating out several other young actresses, Melissa Joan Hart among them.

She is known as a "scream queen" for her roles in multiple horror films, including four entries in the Halloween franchise: Halloween 4 (1988) and Halloween 5 (1989) as Jamie Lloyd, and Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009) as Annie Brackett.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was released in October 1988, grossing over $17 million on a $5 million budget.

On doing this type of film at such a young age, Harris said:

"It was fun for me. I knew we were making a movie and I knew that it was make believe. I was more worried about being a good, little actress and being able to cry and scream really good. I think everybody made such an amazing effort to make sure that I knew that it wasn't real. In between takes we would joke around and it was just fun. It didn't really bother me until I got to be older."

Harris returned the following year for the sequel, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, which did not perform as well as its predecessor at the box office.

Harris portrayed Jamie Lloyd once again, this time her character being traumatized and mute for the first half of the film.

Critics cited Harris' performance as one of the strongest aspects of the film.

Harris began her career as a child actress, with various appearances on television and prominent roles in films such as Marked for Death (1990), Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Free Willy (1993) and Daylight (1996).

In 1990, Harris appeared in Marked for Death as protagonist John Hatcher (Steven Seagal)'s niece Tracey.

The action film had a $12 million budget and earned $43 million domestically and $57 million worldwide.

1991 saw Harris partake in several film and television projects, including the made-for-television films Don't Touch My Daughter, as a young girl who is kidnapped and molested, and The Killing Mind, where she portrayed main character Isobel as a child.

Later that year, Harris made an appearance in the sketch-oriented show In Living Color.

Harris' next film role was in the 1991 comedy Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, as Melissa Crandell, with the story revolving around five siblings whose mother goes to Australia for two months, only to have her children's babysitter die.

The young protagonists choose not to tell their mother and attempt to live on their own.

The same year, Harris had a guest role in the series Eerie, Indiana, portraying a character who receives a heart transplant then begins to act like the heart's original owner, and also guest starred in an episode of Growing Pains, as Susie Maxwell.

Harris had the role of Darian Hallenbeck in the 1991 action film The Last Boy Scout, alongside Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans.

The film grossed $7,923,669 in its opening weekend, and the total gross was $59,509,925.

Reviews were mixed, and some critics cited the Christmastime release for such a violent film as a reason for its underwhelming box office.

1992 saw Harris participate in the pilot for the potential CBS series 1775, although it was not picked up.

Between 1992 and 1993, Harris had the recurring role of Molly Tilden on the sitcom Roseanne (which she would reprise in a 2021 episode of Roseanne sequel series The Conners), then joined Roseanne Barr again in 1993 for the television film The Woman Who Loved Elvis, this time as daughter Priscilla.

She appeared in an episode of Jack's Place the same year, portraying a teenage runaway.

Also in 1993, Harris portrayed Gwenie in the film Free Willy, which had a US gross of $7,868,829 in its opening weekend, and went on to make $77,698,625 in the US and $153,698,625 worldwide.

In 1994, she appeared on the drama series The Commish, playing the role of Sheri Fisher for one episode.

The same year, Harris portrayed the main character's daughter Jessica in the television film Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography, based upon her former co-star Roseanne Barr.

She then guest starred in the sitcom Boy Meets World, as Theresa "T.K."

Other such roles include Tosh in Urban Legend (1998), Belle in Stake Land (2010), and Marybeth Dunston in the Hatchet series (2010–17).

She is also known for her voice work, which includes playing Debbie Thornberry for the full run of the Nickelodeon series The Wild Thornberrys (1998–2004) and in the related films The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002) and Rugrats Go Wild (2003).

In 2012, she was inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame.

In 2013, Harris made her feature directorial debut with the horror film Among Friends, after previously directing Madison (a segment in the unfinished anthology film Prank) in 2008 and a Stake Land companion short film in 2010.