While most remember Danica McKellar from her role as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, she’s come a long way since then.  While she feels incredibly proud to have been a part of such an amazing show (which is having trouble with its DVD release), she is also incredibly happy have been a part of The West Wing.  Danica took time from her busy schedule to talk to BuddyTV about her newest project, Inspector Mom, which premieres tonight on The Lifetime Movie Network.

BuddyTV: Can you just tell us how you got started acting?  I know it was probably years ago but just clue us in.

Danica: Oh my goodness, how I got started acting?  I was about nine years old and I started taking lessons here in Los Angeles at the recommendation of one of my mom’s friends and I loved it.  My sister and I both took classes and it was just a matter of time.  We did a lot of theater.  I always recommend that to people who are saying, you know, “Oh, we want to get involved, we want to get our kids involved.”  Have them do theater and see if they really love it so you know that it’s about the acting itself and not about some idea of fame or glamour that comes with television or film because it’s really a job and it’s a great job but you have to know that the kids really love it.


So, The Wonder Years; Winnie Cooper has been one of your most memorable roles.  Has it been hard to shed that image or do feel like it’s not necessary to shed that image?

I’m not sure that it’s an issue of shedding an image.  I think that the industry has “allowed me to grow up.”  When I was in The West Wing I noticed a real shift in the consciousness of this industry, that suddenly I wasn’t just the person who used to be on The Wonder Years, I was also somebody with a career today, which was great.  I don’t mind always being remembered for The Wonder Years, it was a great show and I’m thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful contribution to TV history. So that’s fine, I don’t ever need to shed the memory of that at all.  I just also enjoy doing more grown-up roles today like The West Wing or like Inspector Mom now.


You’ve been a guest star on a lot of different television shows, what has been your favorite thus far?

Oh gosh.  I loved being on NYPD Blue just because it was the very last episode of the entire show and it was an amazing show for so long.  But really The West Wing was probably my favorite more recent job just because Aaron Sorkin is just brilliant.  On the other hand, another one of my favorites for other reasons is Inspector Mom.  Probably because I’ve been so involved both as an actress and also as a writer/producer.  You know when you act as a kid for a long time, you don’t really know the job of writer/director/producer and as you get older you kind of want to do those adult jobs too, in a way.  It’s just been so thrilling and fun to have to create this character and I did an incredible amount of writing on this Inspector Mom movie that’s coming out on March 8th, and it was a blast.  I love dancing and so I got a chance to write-in dancing.  It looks really cool.  There’s actually a really neat scene where I get to tango with one of the suspects in the murder case that’s going on and it was just a blast.  It’s so much fun, it’s like a playground where I get to play different parts, both the actress and the producer.  It was great.


How did you land the role on Inspector Mom?

They offered it to me.  It was pretty simple, actually.  And then I had a lot of ideas for the script and it turned into a great collaboration and they offered me to be writer/producer on the project.  It’s been a really fun time.  But the actor part of it was just offered to me, because they were just fans I guess, they just liked my work.


Can you give us an idea of what the tone of Inspector Mom will be?  Will it be mystery based, funny, or more serious?

Well actually I haven’t seen this one yet.  In fact, it’s funny you should say that because I’m getting a DVD of it today so I haven’t seen its tone, because we all know that music has a lot to do with the tone.  Even though I was involved in the editing, I haven’t seen it with music yet.  So I think it’s a lot of mystery, as I remember shooting, what the tone is going to be is yes a little bit funny here and there but it’s really a cool mystery.  What’s going on is in my little suburban town - you know I play essentially a crime solving soccer mom - a lot of the women who take dance lessons at the local dance studio have been getting kidnapped.  So of course, I’m not even on the case, and I get to go undercover at the dance studio as one of the tango dancers.  It’s got a lot of fun, it’s got a lot of mystery but even the dancing has an air of mystery to it.  It’s a tango after all, it’s not some you know, fun little swing dance thing.  It’s kind of a cool, mysterious, crime-solving tone.