Anderson’s career began when she was 10 after a dance instructor recommended her parents find her an agent. She first appeared in commercials before starring in a guest role on “Bewitched.” She also performed on “The Brady Bunch” as a girl named Millicent and appeared in an episode of “Shaft” as well.

The star later became known for her performances in films such as “Midnight Offerings” in 1981, “Happy Birthday to Me” the same year and the ABC After School Special, “Which Mother Is Mine?” in 1979. For her performance in the last film, she won an Emmy Award. In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Outside of her career as an actress, Anderson married writer and producer Michael Sloan in 1990 and they have two children together. Together, the family moved to Canada in the early 2000s, despite the fact that Anderson has built such a wonderfully successful career for herself in Hollywood. It’s been two decades since then, and many fans have wondered what led the actress to make the move in the first place and what her life looks like now.

Michael Landon, Melissa Sue Anderson, Jonathan Gilbert (1977), (United Archives/Hulton Archive via Getty Images)

Anderson was born on Sept. 26, 1962, in Berkeley, California. She is the second of two daughters born to James and Marion Anderson. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was 7 years old and the young actress soon began appearing in commercials for companies like Sears and Mattel.

Anderson went on to star on the show “Little House on the Prairie,” and saw her character change quite a bit, although it wasn’t always for the better. However, the star has said that she is grateful she had the chance to play Mary. Anderson told Pop Entertainment, “I’m lucky that there even was a character to play because, in the book, there isn’t much of one… I’m fortunate that they discovered that I could act.”

Anderson saw her character go blind and face many other obstacles during her run on the show. By the end, she was very vocal about her desire to leave. “It’s no fun,” she grumbled in an interview with People magazine from 1981. “When they run low on story ideas, someone says, ‘What can we do to Melissa Sue that’s really awful?’”

The actress also felt she was outgrowing the role. She said to her manager, “I told him no teen roles, no posters. I don’t want what Shaun Cassidy gets. I am a serious actress. I’ve already played a 22-year-old. Why go backward?”

Still, there’s denying that the role was monumental for Anderson’s career as she went on to find more work in the following years. According to Celebrity Net Worth, she also built a great fortune for herself, having an estimated net worth of $1.5 million.

Melissa Sue Anderson (1980), (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

In 2010, Anderson released her memoir, “The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House.” Sharing her story seemed to be a very freeing experience for her. Speaking about the book, she said:

“I wanted to be able to tell my story, but not in the way so many other memoirs seem to be. Other memoirs are sometimes very mean and there is always a villain somehow. I wanted to show that the experience that I had was quite good. I wanted it to be honest; it’s not a completely rosy picture, but nothing terrible has happened to me and I don’t blame anybody for anything.”

Back in 2002, Anderson and her family packed their bags and moved from Hollywood to Montreal. Just five years later, they all became naturalized Canadian citizens. Speaking with E-Talk, Anderson said, “The whole family is Canadian exactly now, and my husband and I had to take the test, and we studied and studied and studied.”

Anderson told Pop Entertainment, “The one thing that was missing from my childhood, the one thing that I didn’t focus on enough as a child, was a regular life, having a regular childhood. However, I loved what I had. I loved working professionally. I wanted it to be my career so that life was fantastic. But when I became an adult, I strived for ‘regular.’ That’s what I wanted.”

Anderson said, “When I had my own kids, I was out of the business, removed; I only worked occasionally so that my kids could have a really normal upbringing. You want something a little more stable for your children. It’s nice for me to have kids and live a regular kind of life through them.”

Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson, Melissa Gilbert, Lindsay Greenbush (1974),

Melissa Sue Anderson (2022)

Did you know about Melissa Sue Anderson’s life and career following her time on “Little House on the Prairie?” Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends