Mary Ingalls actor Melissa Sue Anderson grew up in the spotlight on Little House on the Prairie. She was on the wildly popular show for seven seasons and made guest appearances in the eight. But what is she doing today, all these years later? 

Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls on ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Anderson got the role of Mary Ingalls when she was just 11 years old. But before that, she was no stranger to acting. She’d been in various commercials and had scored roles in shows like Bewitched and The Brady Bunch.

In Little House on the Prairie, she played the character of Mary, Laura’s older sister. In the books, Mary didn’t have much of a presence. But the TV show gave the character of Mary some more meat, which Anderson is thankful for.  

“I’m lucky that there even was a character to play because, in the book, there isn’t much of one,” she told Pop Entertainment. “Laura [Ingalls] was a quite older woman when she wrote the books. She was remembering the best of her life. The characters of Ma and Mary didn’t factor in a lot. There was a lot of Laura and Pa and Laura and Jack the dog and Laura and Mr. Edwards, but there wasn’t a lot of Mary. I’m fortunate that they discovered that I could act.”

Mary was no easy role, either. In the fourth season, in the “I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away” episodes, Mary begins to lose her sight due to scarlet fever. Anderson went on to portray the character as blind. Mary eventually becomes a teacher and marries another blind teacher played by Linwood Boomer. 

Anderson was even nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her role. 

Melissa Sue Anderson took a break from acting

As an adult, Andersons put a pause on acting for several years. 

“I really stepped away (from acting) for a long time,” she told E-Talk.”I was completely retired for five, six, seven years, and then I’ve done little tiny things since but that was really for the kids so they would have their own sense of who they were as opposed to being with me.”

To help with taking the focus off of her acting career, Anderson and her husband TV producer Michael Sloan decided to move to Canada with their children, Piper and Griffin. 

“The whole family is Canadian now, and my husband and I had to take the test, and we studied and studied and studied.” She said.

What Melissa Sue Anderson is up to now

In 2010, Anderson wrote a book about her time on Little House on the Prairie called The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House. She’s also done some acting since the show in such series and films as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  

According to IMDb, she hasn’t acted in anything since 2018, when she was on The Con is On as herself. Before that, she was in Veronica Mars in 2014.

On Twitter, her posts are mostly political, bringing attention to issues and causes she’s passionate about. Her bio reads: “Actress, author, mom, avid moviegoer, tennis-enthusiast and fitness-lover.”

These days, she seems to be enjoying her life with her family in Canada.

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