"It was my first movie, so I was more excited about that - just being an actress, never mind being in a horror movie. At that time, I wasn't even a horror movie fan. I did Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 back to back, and I decided that horror movies were all I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was going to be my thing."
Danielle Andrea Harris (born June 1, 1977 in Plainview, New York) is an American actress.
Born in Daytona Beach and raised in New York, her first starring role, and the one she is still most famous for today, is Jamie Lloyd, the niece of Michael Myers, in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. She reprised the role in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, but not Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, which killed the character off.
Along with Halloween, she has appeared in a number of other horror films, such as Urban Legend, Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet and Hatchet II, cementing her as a Scream Queen. She has also done television, both live-action (Roseanne, That's Life) and voice work (The Wild Thornberrys, Father of the Pride) for animation.
As for the world wide web, she was the host of Fearnet's Route 666: America's Scariest Home Haunts, and along with fellow modern day horror legends Kane Hodder and Robert Englund, she was also featured in the webseries Fear Clinic, as Susan. She has a strong cult following that continues to this day.
Her directorial debut, a horror-comedy titled Among Friends, premiered in 2013. She also now co-hosts the podcast Talk Scary To Me with Scout Taylor Compton.
Roles
Films
- Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4 and Halloween 5
- Tracey Hatcher in Marked for Death
- Dana Hemmings in Don't Touch My Daughter
- Young Isobel in The Killing Mind
- Melissa Crandell in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
- Darian Hallenbeck in The Last Boy Scout
- Priscilla in The Woman Who Loved Elvis
- Gwenie in Free Willy
- Jessica Pentland in Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography
- Susan in Shattered Image
- Hayley Wheaton in Wish Upon A Star
- Chelsea in Back to Back
- Ashley Crighton in Daylight
- Lulu in Dizzyland
- Tosh Guaneri in Urban Legend
- Young Charlene Silver in Goosed
- Justine Sinclair in Hard Time: Hostage Hotel
- Suzi in Poor White Trash
- Barbie in Killer Bud
- Leila in The Partners
- Liz Bronner in Debating Robert Lee
- Emily in Em & Me
- Carla in Race You to the Bottom
- Annie Brackett in Halloween (2007) (2007) and Halloween II (2009) (2009)
- Nancy in Left for Dead
- Felicia Freeze in Super Capers
- Alissa Giordano in Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet
- Kathy in The Black Waters of Echo's Pond
- Maria Sanchez in Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer
- Halfpipe in Godkiller
- Marybeth in Hatchet II
- Belle in Stake Land
- Mary in The Victim
- Spann in ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2
- Angel in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Television
- Samantha Garretson in One Life to Live
- Tara in Spenser: For Hire
- Melanie Monroe in Eerie, Indiana
- Susie Maxwell in Growing Pains
- Molly Tilden in Roseanne and The Conners
- Jennifer in Jack's Place
- Sheri Fisher in The Commish
- Theresa Keiner in Boy Meets World
- Laura Quentin in ER
- Willow Mortner in Brooklyn South
- Noelle Andrew in Diagnosis: Murder
- Aviva in Charmed
- Debbie Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys
- Plum Wilkinson in That's Life
- Kiki in The West Wing
- Young Gina Carroll in Cold Case
- Sierra in Father of the Pride
- Tonya in Psych
Tropes frequently used for this actress' roles:
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Seems to get this role a lot.
- Chronically Killed Actor: As is the norm for actresses who primarily work in horror.
- Creator Backlash: She regrets starring in Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography, as she auditioned for it not knowing it was unauthorised and didn't see a full script until after she'd signed a contract. She knew it would be terrible but was afraid of repercussions if she dropped out, and her family needed the money. She issued a public apology to Roseanne Barr years later for starring in it.
- Dawson Casting: She continued to play teenagers into her thirties, and comments that even in her forties, it's rare for her to play her actual age.
- Enforced Method Acting: She specifically stayed topless in between takes when playing Annie's attack scene in Halloween because she wanted to better portray the character's vulnerability.
- Hostility on the Set:
- Things were tense between her and Sara Gilbert on Roseanne because Danielle talked about having a crush on Johnny Galecki, and Sara had begun dating him (this being before she'd realised her sexuality). She says they were still tense when they returned for the revival.
- Her experience on Charmed was miserable, where she describes the three lead actresses constantly fighting, and says Alyssa Milano would try to tell her what to do. She says Shannen Doherty was particularly mean to her, and that only increased once a crew member Shannen had previously dated started talking to her specifically to get back at her. Afterwards, she heard rumours that Aviva might be brought back for more episodes, and feeling worried about the idea of going back to that set, although she heard things improved after Shannen Doherty's departure. She later appeared as a guest on the House of Halliwell podcast on good terms with Holly Marie Combs however.
- Ms. Fanservice: She fits this trope in many of her recent roles. Not to mention the fact that she did the ALS ice bucket challenge topless.
- Older Than They Look: Due to her short stature, she could convincingly play teens even in her early thirties and still looks considerably younger than her age even now.
- The Other Darrin:
- Was replaced by J.C. Brandy as Jamie in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. She was originally supposed to reprise the role, and even got herself legally emancipated so she could work on it. But then they offered her a scaled fee of just $1000, less than what she'd spent to get herself emancipated, and the casting department refused to negotiate the salary, despite her having played the protagonist of the previous two movies in the franchise.
- She herself replaced Tamara Feldman as Marybeth in Hatchet II.
- Playing Against Type: Though often typecast as the Final Girl or victim, she has expressed desire to play as the killer, a role that was teased for in Halloween 4 but was never panned out. In these examples, she got it:
- She turns out to be the psychotic killer in Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet.
- She also plays a more passive but no less villainous role in ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 as well.
- And she played a member of the Manson family in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
- Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: She was cast as Aviva on the Charmed episode "The Fourth Sister" and told to dye her hair red because she looked too much like the three lead actresses. As she was filming a movie literally at the same time, she couldn't change her hair for continuity reasons, and so the slicked back style was a compromise.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: She was originally supposed to have seventeen episodes on Roseanne, but it was reduced to seven as punishment for an incident where she and Johnny Galecki got drunk and she was photographed throwing up. She recalls Roseanne Barr outright telling her she was being "taught a lesson".
- Typecasting: Horror film Final Girl or victim, or a Bratty Teenage Daughter.
- What Could Have Been:
- The end of Halloween 4 set her up as the franchise's new villain, but nothing ever came of it. Many wish it had, since a female child villan can be just as chilling as an adult man like Michael Myers (as Esther shows)
- Jennifer Love Hewitt was cast in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, but the producers of Kids Incorporated wouldn't let her out of her contract, so Danielle was given the part.
- She also lobbied hard for a role in Halloween (2018), but to no avail.
