Early life

Harris was born in Plainview, New York, and was raised by her single mother, Fran. Harris is Jewish and has one sister, Ashley. Her family moved to Port Orange, Florida, when she was two, where she attended Spruce Creek Elementary School. Harris won a beauty contest in elementary school, winning a trip to New York for ten days. While there, she was offered numerous modeling jobs, but turned them down due to the fact they were all far from her home. Her mother was eventually transferred back to New York due to her job and Harris began work as a model. She then began to appear in television commercials as well.

Career

1985-87: Early beginnings

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 she 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 an appearance in the series Spenser: For Hire, portraying a girl named Tara.

1988-91: Halloween and Early film roles

Following her early television work, Harris successfully auditioned for the role of Jamie Lloyd from the fourth edition of the Halloween franchise, beating out several other young actresses, including Melissa Joan Hart. Harris celebrated her eleventh birthday on set. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was released on October 1988 to critical and commercial success. Shot on a $5 million budget, it went on to gross over $17 million worldwide, $6,831,250 in its opening weekend alone. On doing this type of film at such a young age, Harris stated:

"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, titled Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, which was not as successful as its predecessor. Harris portrayed Jamie Lloyd once again, but her character was mute for the first half of Halloween 5 owing to events in the previous film.

In 1990, Harris appeared in her third film, Marked for Death, as protagonist John Hatcher's (Steven Seagal) niece Tracey. The action film had a $12 million budget yet it earned $43 million domestically and $57 million worldwide. Despite its popularity, the film received mixed reviews. 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 on the sketch-oriented show In Living Color.

Harris' next major role was in the 1991 comedy film 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 film received mixed to negative reviews, and has a 31% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. Harris had a guest role in the 1991 series Eerie, Indiana, portraying a character who receives a heart transplant then begins to act like the heart's original owner. She 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 somewhat underwhelming box office.

1992-95: Television work

During the next few years, Harris mostly participated in television projects rather than feature films. She had a part in the pilot for the potential CBS series 1775, although it was not picked up. Starting in 1992, Harris had the recurring role of Molly Tilden on the sitcom Roseanne, then joined Roseanne Barr again for the made-for-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 young woman named Jennifer. A notable theatrical film role at the time was that of Gwenie in the popular Free Willy of 1993, which had a domestic gross of $7,868,829 in its opening weekend and went on to make $77,698,625 domestically 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. Also in 1994, Harris guest starred in the sitcom Boy Meets World.

In 1995, Harris learned that producers of then-upcoming Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers were looking for another actress to play the role originally portrayed by her, Jamie Lloyd, as they wanted someone over the age of 18. Only 17 at the time, Harris got emancipated in order to appear in the film, yet she was not happy with the fate of her character in the script, who was killed early into the proceedings, and was also dissatisfied with the salary she was offered as it did not even cover the cost of her emancipation. She ultimately abstained from reprising her role and was replaced by J. C. Brandy. Harris has since admitted to being glad she did not rejoin the series at this point, believing that this allowed her to make her later return in the 2007 remake of the original Halloween. Still, Harris can be seen in versions of Curse that include the previous film's ending.

1996-2006: Various roles and The Wild Thornberrys

In 1996, Harris shared two characters with Katherine Heigl for the made-for-television film Wish Upon a Star: Harris plays Hayley Wheaton, a girl who switches bodies with her older, more popular sister Alexia (Heigl). She also starred in the films Shattered Image and Back to Back in 1996. The same year, Harris had the role of young survivor Ashley Crighton in Daylight, the disaster film toplined by Sylvester Stallone. While Daylight received mixed to negative reviews and grossed $33 million in the United States, it took in over $126 million overseas, resulting in gross earnings of $159,212,469 worldwide. In 1997, Harris appeared in two episodes of the medical drama ER as Laura Quentin. In 1998, Harris had the lead role of Lulu in the film Dizzyland, where she portrayed a sexually abused teenager, and also appeared in an episode of Diagnosis: Murder. She then appeared in the popular slasher Urban Legend, her first horror film since her early Halloween credits. She portrayed Tosh, a goth girl who is murdered while her roommate (protagonist Alicia Witt) is resting on the other side of the room.

Beginning in 1998, Harris was among the main cast of Nickelodeon's animated children's series The Wild Thornberrys, chosen to voice Debbie Thornberry, the sister of a girl who can talk to animals. The protagonist, Eliza, travels the world with her family and uses her special ability to help the animals. The series lasted for five seasons, with a total of 92 episodes airing between 1998 and 2004. It proved very popular, spawning the television film The Origin of Donnie in 2001, and the 2002 theatrical release of The Wild Thornberrys Movie to commercial success, grossing $40,108,697 domestically. Another film, Rugrats Go Wild, dealt with the Thornberrys meeting the characters from the popular series Rugrats. Released in 2003, it opened at #4 at the box office and ended up grossing $39 million domestically, about the same as the Thornberrys Movie. The last episode of the Thornberrys' fifth season and series finale aired in 2004.

Harris continued to make film and television appearances while doing The Wild Thornberrys. She portrayed a teenage witch named Aviva in a 1998 episode of Charmed, starred in the 1999 film Goosed as protagonist Jennifer Tilly's younger self and appeared as Justine in the television film Hard Time: Hostage Hotel. She had a supporting role in the crime and comedy film Poor White Trash come 2000, and went on to star in the 2001 comedy Killer Bud. Between 2000 and 2002, Harris was a cast member of the series That's Life. Her character, Plum Wilkinson, featured in all but eight episodes and was involved in a romantic relationship with Kevin Dillon. Harris later appeared in an episode of The West Wing, had a supporting role as Leila in the 2003 television film The Partners and was in the theatrically released films Debating Robert Lee and Em & Me (both 2004). From 2004 to 2005, Harris was a main cast member of the computer-animated sitcom Father of the Pride, appearing in all 14 episodes.

2007-2009: Return to Halloween

In January 2007, it was confirmed that Harris had been cast as Annie Brackett in the remake of horror landmark Halloween. This marked Harris' first participation in the Halloween franchise since The Revenge of Michael Myers eighteen years prior. The remake, also called Halloween and directed by Rob Zombie, featured actors such as Scout Taylor-Compton and Malcolm McDowell. Harris has revealed that Zombie wanted no one from previous Halloweens in the film, but, once she auditioned, he changed his mind. Despite mostly negative reviews, the film, which cost $15 million to make, went on to gross $80,253,908 worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the Halloween franchise in unadjusted U.S. dollars. Unlike in the original version, her character of Annie Brackett survives after enduring a torturous treatment by Michael Myers (Tyler Mane). Annie faces her pursuer while stripped to the waist; this was Harris' first nude appearance. She stated " is something that I wanted to do because everyone's like, 'Oh, she's little Jamie. She's 14.' And it's like, no, actually, I'm 30. It's something that I've never done before." Harris admits that she would remain uncovered while the cameras were not rolling, to best heighten Annie's vulnerability. On facing off against Michael Myers once again and at the same time having her first nude scene, she also commented:

"I had a harder time emotionally with Rob Zombie's Halloween and H2 than I did when I was a kid. When I was a kid, it was totally fun and I didn't understand when I did Rob's Halloween, why it was so hard for me to shake it off. I'm like, "I'm an actress! Why am I getting a feeling like I want to cry? This is weird! I did enough crying when I was there . I don't know why I'm still feeling this way". I think it was because it was the first time I was ever physically touched by him. As a little girl, as Jamie, he never got me, ever. Now as an adult, I don't have my clothes on, doing scenes I've never done before as an actor, and I'm actually being attacked. Even though I should know the guy by now, it's still a weird thing that happens with your psyche I think."

The same year, Harris starred in the also Halloween-themed Left for Dead. For Fearnet, she hosted Route 666: America's Scariest Home Haunts. 2009 saw her in a leading role in Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet, as Felicia Freeze in the comedic superhero film Super Capers and alongside Robert Patrick in The Black Waters of Echo's Pond. Fear Clinic, a Fearnet original web series featuring Harris as well as Robert Englund and Kane Hodder, made its debut the week of Halloween 2009. Also in 2009, Harris reprised her role of Annie Brackett in the sequel Halloween II. Halloween II was officially released on August 28, 2009 in North America, and was met with negative reception from most critics. On October 30, 2009 it was re-released in North America to coincide with the Halloween holiday weekend. The original opening of the film grossed less than that of the 2007 remake, with approximately $7 million. The film would go on to earn $33,392,973 in North America and $5,925,616 in foreign countries, giving Halloween II a worldwide total of $39,318,589.

2010-present: Further horror films and Directorial debut

"My career has not been easy for me. I feel like after everything I've done, I've kind of had to start over. I remember a couple of months ago... I found a Teen People magazine with me on the cover of "The New It Girls", and it was me, Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten Dunst. I was in that company at one point in my career - I had just done Daylight with Sylvester Stallone . And then somewhere along the line, I don’t know what happened. It was not for a lack of trying - they got that one movie after that that really pushed them, and I feel like I'm always looking for that movie. I've just managed to barely hang in there by the skin of my teeth, but I think that’s why I'm still working is because I've hung in there. With Rob Zombie bringing me back for Halloween, it's ironic that the same movie that started my career reinvented it again."

-Harris on becoming a scream queen

Harris has continued to develop her scream queen identity with growing genre credits. She starred alongside Lance Henriksen, Bill Moseley, AFI's Davey Havok, and Battlestar Galactica's Nicki Clyne in the illustrated film series Godkiller. Beginning with 2010's Hatchet II, Harris has taken over the leading role of Marybeth in the Hatchet series, after Tamara Feldman declined to reprise her character. Further such credits include Jim Mickle's second feature film, the vampire/post-apocalyptic epic Stake Land, Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer, ChromeSkull, Shiver, See No Evil 2 and Michael Biehn's The Victim, in addition to providing the voice and basis for an animated Barbara in Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn, director Zebediah de Soto's prequel/re-telling of George A. Romero's 1968 original. She is set to star in William Forsythe's directorial debut, the vampire film New Blood. Harris' own directorial debut is the horror comedy Among Friends, in which she also makes an appearance. The film, which was picked up for distribution by Lions Gate Entertainment, was released on August 27, 2013.

During the 2010s, Harris has had guest appearances in the television shows Psych (as a murder suspect), Bones (as a murder victim), as herself in Holliston and Naked Vegas, and also returned to voice Debbie Thornberry for a saucy Robot Chicken parody of The Wild Thornberrys.

Popularity

Harris is considered to be 'horror's reigning scream queen' by the New York Daily News and various other outlets, and was called 'the Natalie Portman of Horror' by director Sylvia Soska. She has provided the cover feature for such publications as Girls and Corpses, Gorezone magazine, Invasion magazine and Scream Sirens as well as a subject for the photo-book The Bloody Best Project, a collection of artistic pictures showcasing the celebrities of the horror film industry. In 2011, Harris won the Best Actress Award at the Shockfest Film Festival for her starring role in the short Nice Guys Finish Last. The 2012 Burbank International Film Festival gave Harris its Best Actress Award for her portrayal of literary heroine Wendy Alden in Shiver.

Personal life

Relationships

In 2013, Harris became engaged to David Gross. The couple married in a private ceremony in Holualoa, Hawaii on January 4, 2014. In an interview in September 2013, Harris said that she would be taking a break from acting to focus on directing and to have a family.

Stalking incident

Harris was stalked in 1995 by an obsessed fan, Christopher Small, who wrote letters threatening to kill her. Small was later arrested after bringing a shotgun and a teddy bear to her home. On January 29, 2007, Harris appeared on an episode of The Dr. Phil Show, sharing her experience with other equally affected people. The stalker was obsessed with her character of Molly Tilden from the television series Roseanne. In October 2009, Harris was granted a restraining order against Small, who began sending her messages on Twitter.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers	Jamie Lloyd
1989	Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers	Jamie Lloyd
1990	Marked for Death	Tracey
1991	Don't Touch My Daughter	Dana Hemmings	Television film; also known as Nightmare
	The Killing Mind	Young Isobel Neiman	Television film
	City Slickers	Classroom student
	Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead	Melissa Crandell
	The Last Boy Scout	Darian Hallenbeck
1993	The Woman Who Loved Elvis	Priscilla "Cilla" Jackson	Based on Laura Kalpakian's novel Graced Land
	Free Willy	Gwenie
1994	Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography	Jessica Pentland	Television film
1995	Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers - The Producer's Cut	Young Jamie Lloyd (archive footage)	Halloween 5 scene revisited
1996	Wish Upon a Star	Hayley Wheaton/Alexia Wheaton	Television film
	Shattered Image	Susan
	Back to Back	Chelsea Malone	Also known as American Yakuza 2
	Daylight	Ashley Crighton
1998	Dizzyland	Lulu
	Urban Legend	Tosh Guaneri
1999	Goosed	Young Charlene Silver
	Hard Time: Hostage Hotel	Justine Sinclair	Television film
2000	Poor White Trash	Suzi
2001	Killer Bud	Barbie	Also known as Totally Irresponsible
	The Wild Thornberrys: The Origin of Donnie	Debbie Thornberry (voice)	Television film
2002	The Wild Thornberrys Movie	Debbie Thornberry (voice)
2003	The Partners	Leila	Television film
	Rugrats Go Wild	Debbie Thornberry (voice)
2004	Debating Robert Lee	Liz Bronner
	Em & Me	Emily	Also known as Moondance
2005	Race You to the Bottom	Carla
2007	Halloween	Annie Brackett
	Left for Dead	Nancy	Also known as Devil's Night
2008	Burying the Ex	Olivia	Short film version
	Prank	Sarah	Segment director
2009	Super Capers	Felicia Freeze
	Halloween II	Annie Brackett
	Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet	Alissa Giordano
	The Black Waters of Echo's Pond	Kathy
2010	Godkiller	Halfpipe (voice)
	Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer	Maria Sanchez
	Godkiller: Walk Among Us	Halfpipe (voice)
	Hatchet II	Marybeth Dunston
	Stake Land	Belle
	The Day I Told My Boyfriend	Belle	Stake Land companion short film
	Underground Entertainment: The Movie	Herself
2011	Nice Guys Finish Last	Kori	Short film
	The Victim	Mary
	ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2	Spann
	The Trouble with the Truth	Jenny
	Cornered	April Brant
2012	Fade Into You	Woman	Short film
	Shiver	Wendy Alden	Based on Brian Harper's first novel
	Among Friends	Jamie Lloyd (cameo)	Director
	Hallows' Eve	Nicole Bates
	Fatal Call	Amy Hannison	Also known as Call Me on Tuesday
2013	Hatchet III	Marybeth Dunston
	Crazy Turks Action	Ruth
	Camp Dread	Sheriff Donlyn Eldridge
2014	Ghost of Goodnight Lane	Chloe	Also known as The Haunting of Goodnight Lane
	Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed	Herself	Documentary included in European re-release of Graduation Day
	See No Evil 2	Amy
	The Town That Dreaded Sundown	Townsperson #2 (cameo)
2015	Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn	Barbara (voice)	Also known as Night of the Living Dead: Origins
2016	Havenhurst	Danielle Hampton
	Inoperable	Amy Barrett	In post-production
	The Farm	Doc	In pre-production

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985-1987	One Life to Live	Samantha "Sammi" Garretson	First acting role
1987	Spenser: For Hire	Tara	Episode: "Thanksgiving"
1991	In Living Color	Former drug addict	Episode: "The Jackson Bunch"
	Eerie, Indiana	Melanie Monroe	Episode: "Heart on a Chain"
	Growing Pains	Susie Maxwell	Episode: "The Big Fix"
1992	1775	Abby Proctor	Television pilot
1992-1993	Roseanne	Molly Tilden	7 episodes
1993	Jack's Place	Jennifer	Episode: "True Love Ways"
1994	The Commish	Sheri Fisher	Episode: "Romeo and Juliet"
	Boy Meets World	Theresa "T.K." Keiner	Episode: "Sister Theresa"
1997	High Incident		Episode: "Camino High"
	ER	Laura Quentin	Episode: "Something New" Episode: "Friendly Fire"
1997-1998	Brooklyn South	Willow Mortner	Episode: "Clown Without Pity" Episode: "Tears on My Willow"
1998	Diagnosis: Murder	Noelle Andrew	Episode: "An Education in Murder"
	Charmed	Aviva	Episode: "The Fourth Sister"
1998-2004	The Wild Thornberrys	Debbie Thornberry (voice)	92 episodes
2000-2002	That's Life	Plum Wilkinson	28 episodes
2002	The West Wing	Kiki	Episode: "20 Hours in America"
2004-2005	Father of the Pride	Sierra (voice)	14 episodes
2005	Cold Case	Gina Carroll	Episode: "Yo, Adrian"
2007	Route 666: America's Scariest Home Haunts	Herself (host)	31-episode web series
2009	Fear Clinic	Susan	5-episode web series
2010	Psych	Tonya	Episode: "Feet, Don't Kill Me Now"
2011	Paranormal Challenge	Herself (guest judge)	Episode: "USS Hornet"
2012	Family Guy	Jamie Lloyd (archive footage)	Episode: "Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream"
	Nuclear Family	Zoe	20-episode web series
2012-2013	Holliston	Herself	Episode: "Weekend of Horrors" Episode: "Halloween Girl"
2013	Bones	Rebecca "Becca" Pearce	Episode: "The Maiden in the Mushrooms"
	Naked Vegas	Herself	Episode: "Paint the Town, Red"
	Halloween Wars	Herself (guest judge)	Episode: "Zombie Prom"
	Twisted Tales	Susan	Short: To Hell with You
2015	Robot Chicken	Debbie Thornberry (voice)	Episode: "Zeb and Kevin Erotic Hot Tub Canvas"
2016	Girl on Girl with Danielle Harris	Herself (host)	Talk show

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	The Wild Thornberrys: Animal Adventures	Debbie Thornberry
2001	The Wild Thornberrys: Rambler	Debbie Thornberry
2003	Rugrats Go Wild	Debbie Thornberry	Windows version only

Music videos

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	"The Bleeding"	Ivan's girlfriend	Five Finger Death Punch's debut single

[ Source: Wikipedia ]