Early life

Fishel was born in Mesa, Arizona, the daughter of Jennifer, a personal manager, and Rick Fishel, a construction manager and owner of Team Fishel. She is of half Maltese decent. The family relocated to Yorba Linda, California when she was three weeks old. She has one younger brother, Christopher. She graduated from Calabasas High School in 1999.

Career

In 1991, the then 10-year-old Fishel was discovered in a community theater where she performed in two productions, The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan. She quickly moved on to do voice-overs and commercials, including several as a Barbie Girl for Mattel. Soon after, she appeared on two episodes of the hit show Full House, guest starring as a character named Jennifer. She also had a small role on Harry and the Hendersons, playing Jessica. Fishel's mother became her full-time manager.

In 1993, at the age of 12, Fishel began her well-known role as Topanga Lawrence-Matthews on ABC's pilot series Boy Meets World. Originally written as a small part, Topanga became a recurring role. After a successful first year, Fishel became a show regular. Fishel's character was a sparky, intelligent girl who was mature beyond her years; she replaced the nerdy Stuart Minkus as the brains of the class. The long-running show ended in 2000 after seven years.

Fishel was on the cover of Seventeen in December 1998. She took home a 1998 Young Star for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series. In June 1999, she was one of "The 21 Hottest Stars Under 21" as presented by Teen People. Fishel was on the cover of GQ's hottest stars to watch in GQ's 1997 October issue. (GQ 1997 10) She appeared in the music video for "Until You Loved Me" by Canadian music group The Moffatts.

Since Boy Meets World ended, Fishel has appeared in several films, including National Lampoon's Dorm Daze. In 2006, she appeared in three made-for-DVD releases: National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2: College at Sea (appearing again as "Marla" from the first film), the action film Gamebox 1.0 (playing a dual role), and The Chosen One, an independent animated film in which she provides the voice of the lead female character.

In 2006, Fishel appeared as a guest on The Tyra Banks Show where she discussed her dramatic weight loss with the use of the Nutrisystems Diet. Following her appearance on the show, Fishel became a spokesperson for Nutrisystem. She also became a special correspondent for The Tyra Banks Show, starting in early February 2007. By 2010 she had gained some of the weight back, and told People magazine she could not maintain her Nutrisystem weight.

In 2003, Fishel co-hosted Say What? Karaoke on MTV for one season. From August 2008 to March 2011 Fishel hosted The Dish for the Style Network, which satirized pop culture in a format similar to sister network E! Entertainment Television's The Soup. Fishel was also on Fuse TV as host of The Fuse 20, and was a guest star on the round table on an episode of Chelsea Lately. Beginning in 2012, Fishel became the host of MSN TV's Last Night on TV.

In 2013, Fishel starred in the controversial drama, Boiling Pot, which is based on true events of racism that occurred on college campuses across the country during the 2008 Presidential election. The film, written and directed by the Ashmawey brothers under AshmaweyFilms, also stars Academy Award-winner Louis Gossett Jr., Keith David, M. Emmet Walsh, and John Heard. Fishel plays an average college girl, naive regarding racism and unaware of its existence. She struggles to find acceptance from her parents for her non-white fiance and quickly gets tangled in racist events happening on campus. Boiling Pot is set to release in 2014. In October 2013, she was featured in Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, a short film to promote Childish Gambino's second studio album, Because the Internet.

In 2014, Fishel reprised her role of Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in the Boy Meets World spin-off series, Girl Meets World. The series premiered on Disney Channel on June 27, 2014, and features Topanga and her Boy Meets World love interest Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) married in their adult years with two children. The series follows Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and her friend, Maya (Sabrina Carpenter) as she enters middle school and tries to navigate through life.

Personal life

It has been reported that Fishel dated her Boy Meets World co-star Ben Savage. However, in a 2013 interview with Maxim, Fishel revealed that this was only a rumor that she accidentally started during an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show—in fact, she and Savage only went on one dinner date as teenagers, and "by the time the dinner was over we realized mutually that we were more like family than lovers."

She dated former 'N Sync member Lance Bass from 1999 to 2000, and he was her date to her high school prom.

At age 27, Fishel began attending California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), graduating in 2013. During her university studies, she became a math tutor, leading her to meet fellow student Tim Belusko. After over three years of dating, she became engaged to Belusko in May 2012. They married on October 19, 2013 in Los Angeles. Former Boy Meets World co-star Ben Savage, and Home Improvement cast member Jonathan Taylor Thomas were said to be in attendance at her Los Angeles wedding. In May 2016, it was reported that she had filed for divorce in 2015, the divorce was final in March 2016.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2000	Longshot	Gloria
2003	National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze	Marla
2004	Gamebox 1.0	Kate/Princess
2006	National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2	Marla
2007	The Chosen One	Donna Goldstein (voice)
2013	Boiling Pot	Valerie Davis

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992-1993	Full House	Jennifer P.	2 episodes
1993	Harry and the Hendersons	Jessica	Episode: "The Long Goodbyes: Part 2"
1993-2000	Boy Meets World	Topanga Lawrence-Matthews	Main role (147 episodes)
1996	Kirk	Heather	Episode: "Stuck on You"
1997	ABC TGIF	Topanga	Episode: "Frightful Halloween Bash"
2000	Rocket's Red Glare	Sarah Miller	Movie
2001-2002	Nikki	Stacy	2 episodes
2002	The Nightmare Room	Counselor	Episode: "Camp Nowhere: Part 1"
2003	Say What? Karaoke	Herself/Host
2003	Yes, Dear	Katie	Episode: "Sorority Girl"
2008-2011	The Dish	Herself/Host
2009	The Fuse 20	Herself/Host
2012	The Soup	Lizdsay Taylorhan / Herself	Episode: "The Soup Salutes WWE Pile Driving Clips in Your Face"
2014-present	Girl Meets World	Topanga Matthews	Main role
2015-2016	Gravity Falls	Pyronica	3 episodes

Accolades

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1995	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance by a Young Actress: TV Comedy Series	Boy Meets World	Nominated
1996	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Comedy: Supporting Young Actress		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]