Who says learning can't be fun? "How cute are all these
old presidents?" Danielle Fishel coos. "Calvin Coolidge
is the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
It's another day in history class for the 16-year-old
Californian, except when the teacher fires off questions
about Marcus Garvey or the Palmer Raids, Fishel doesn't
have to raise her hand. She's the only student. This is
the classroom for the ABC comedy Boy Meets World (Fridays,
9:30 P.M./ET), tucked into a corner of the CBS Studio
City lot where Fishel is tutored, surrounded by an insect
terrarium and Polaroids of her fellow cast members.
Fishel's school routine may be markedly different from
the average American teenager's, but at work she gets to
at least pretend to be normal, portraying the ups and
downs of Topanga, girlfriend to Ben Savage's Cory (the Boy
of Boy Meets World).
Fishel tries to achieve some semblance of normalcy in her
own life too. After a 6 A.M. wake-up, three to five hours
of classes and as much as nine and a half hours on the set,
she attempts to squeeze in workouts, time with friends (even
if it's often spent on-line) or, recently, her regular high
school's winter formal, where she wore a dress purchased
during a personal appearance at Minnesota's Mall of America.
Fishel also writes a column for 16 magazine, contributes to
her own web site and just released a calendar and poster.
Pretty heady stuff for a kid who just wanted to give acting
a whirl. In fact, Fishel's parents--Rick, director of
business development for a Los Angeles medical equipment
company, and Jennifer, who serves as Danielle's manager--
still have reservations about show business. "From the very
beginning," Fishel recalls, they said I could pursue it if I
wanted to, but if it ever became anything other than just
great for me they were going to take me out of it."
So far, so great. Fishel's early career included a series of
commercials as a smitten Barbie owner, two episodes of Full
House and one of Harry and the Hendersons. On Boy Meets World,
Fishel first was cast in a minor role, but made such an impression
during rehearsal that she not only was given the role of Topanga,
she spurred the show's producers to make her a central character.
Originally, playing Topanga was a bit of a stretch. "I'm, like,
little miss cheer- leader," says Fishel, delivering the
assessment with a self-mocking singsong lilt, "and Topanga
was a total flower child." So much so that her dad was played
by Peter Tork of the Monkees. This also explains how a girl
from Philadelphia came to be named Topanga (also, "Scranton"
just didn't have the same ring to it).
The part has evolved into more of a "typical girl," Fishel
says, and she has evolved with it. "Most people get to go
through their gawky awkward stage by themselves," she
laments. "The whole nation got to go through mine." Topanga
is both the show's primary female point of view and a daffy
straightwoman to Gory. Still the couple's relationship is
surprisingly serious for a pair of teen-agers. "They're 17,
but they sort of have the emotions of 30-year-olds," Savage
says. "They are a role-model couple," adds the show's
executive producer, Michael Jacobs. "They genuinely are in
love, and they're best friends. I think it shows the audience
that the potential to find a loving relationship can come at
any age, and if it does, to hold on."
The romance has definitely been an inspiration to young
viewers. On her Celebrity Sightings web site (www.celebritysightings.com),
an umbrella heading a number of young stars, including
Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Fishel gets
bushels of mail from teens looking for relationship
advice, as well as exercise and diet tips. Fishel
augments the site with snapshots (her family vacation,
her new Toyota 4 Runner and the winter formal) and
frequently logs on for virtual chats. Sometimes she'll
mingle openly as "Danielle-CS"; other times she and
Thomas have been known to lurk incognito. Fishel prefers
her own page to the 30-odd other web sites devoted to
her, mostly created by admiring teenage boys. That's one
of the dilemmas of Fishel's young career: serving as a
celebrity crush object while remaining a somewhat wholesome
adolescent. She'll wear a belly shirt or short skirt in
her calendar, but she has to draw the line somewhere.
"People who are fans want that kind of stuff," she says,
"but I'm 16. It was not going to be a Playboy calendar."
Even a pinup model is subject to the usual teenage
yearnings. Fishel would like to attend UCLA perhaps
to major in psychology. At the same time, she would
love to break into movies. But she admits there is
an ulterior motive to her Hollywood aspirations. "I
am obsessed with David Letterman," she says. "I need
to become famous just so I can go on his show." Okay
-- the ball's in your court, Dave.
©TVguide 1998.
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