After a highly successful decade as the lead on Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Gilbert defied the odds for child actors by becoming a Hollywood power-broker as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001 to 2005. Adopted at birth by comedian Paul Gilbert, Melissa Gilbert got her start in TV commercials at age two. She played Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1984 while starring in dozens of film roles, including 1979’s The Miracle Worker, 1980’s Diary of Anne Frank, and 1983’s Choices of the Heart. In 1985 she became the youngest actress with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After the Little House series ended, she continued to work in both films and television, with guest appearances on Babylon 5, 7th Heaven, and Nip/Tuck, as well as a stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2012. As president of SAG, she fought for reforms, including new contracts for actors working in commercials and those working in television and films, and chair SAG’s Task Force on Affirmative Action and the AFSTRA/SAG Young Performers Steering Committee. In 2001 she also became vice president of the AFL-CIO.  She published Prairie Tale: A Memoir in 2009. In 2022, Gilbert cofounded Modern Prairie, a community where older women can connect to learn, share, and grow.