Danica Mae McKellar was born on January 3, 1975. She is an American actress, author and education advocate. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years, and later as author of the two New York Times bestsellers, Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, and Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss, both of which encourage middle-school girls to learn mathematics. Her third math book, Hot X: Algebra Exposed, will be published later in 2010. McKellar studied at UCLA, and majored in mathematics.