Melissa Sue Anderson is an American-Canadian actress. Beginning her career as a child actress, Anderson is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie, as well as for her film roles; as Vivian in Midnight Offerings, as Ginny in Happy Birthday to Me, and as Alex in the ABC Afterschool Special, Which Mother Is Mine?, for which she won the Emmy Award in 1979. Anderson was born in Berkeley, California. Her show business career began when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her. She began doing television commercials,... and soon she was in demand for television roles. One of those included that of Millicent, the girl who kissed Bobby and induced him to see fireworks on The Brady Bunch. At the age of eleven, Anderson landed the role of Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series, Little House on the Prairie. Beating out hundreds of competitors for the role, she would go on to star on the show for eight years; beginning in 1974 and leaving after Season 7, later appearing in two episodes of Season 8 in late 1981.
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