Mindy Cohn

Melinda Heather "Mindy" Cohn (born May 20, 1966) is an American actress, voice actress, comedian and singer. She is known for her role as Natalie Green, the student of Edna Garrett (played by Charlotte Rae) in the long-running sitcom, The Facts of Life,^[1] and for being the voice of Velma Dinkley in the Scooby-Doo franchise since 2002. She resides in Beverly Hills.^[2]

Early life and career

Cohn was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1966, and was raised Jewish.^[3] She was discovered by actress Charlotte Rae when Rae and other producers of The Facts of Life visited Westlake School in Bel Air, California, while doing research for the show.^[4] Cohn was cast as Natalie Green and portrayed the character for the series' entire run (1979–88), as well as in the reunion movie (2001).^[5] Her work on The Facts of Life was honored when she was ranked 43rd on VH1's List of 100 Greatest Kid Stars.^[6] She said in 2013 with Charlotte Rae falling in love with Mindy's character: "Mr. Reynolds calls me into his office. It seemed that Charlotte Rae had fallen madly in love with me, in part because I reminded her of her best childhood friend Natalie — and I was irrepressible, charming, and hilarious. So she asked the producers to create a part for me in the show. Honestly, the whole thing seemed so fantastic I didn’t know what to think."^[7] After the show, she still remains friends with Rae. Just 2 months before her acting mentor's 90th Birthday in 2016, when Cohn was unavailable to attend The Facts of Life reunion interview, she even bestowed Rae, a video message praising her decades-long friend of teaching Cohn, the craft of acting.^[8]

Education

Cohn has a degree in cultural anthropology from Loyola Marymount University^[9] and is a founding member of the weSpark cancer support center.^[10]

Later career

Cohn has continued her acting career outside of The Facts of Life. In 1984 she had a leading role as the daughter alongside Stockard Channing in RKO's video production of "Table Settings". In 1986, she appeared in The Boy Who Could Fly playing the part of Geneva. She also had guest appearances in other popular TV shows, including Charles In Charge (playing Buddy's sister Bunny, a young alcoholic, in the 1988 episode "Bottle Baby"), and two guest appearances in the second season of the cop drama 21 Jump Street (playing Rosa in the 1987 episode "Christmas In Saigon" and the 1988 episode "Chapel of Love"). In 2004 Cohn appeared in the WB comedy The Help. In 2010, Cohn played the role of Violet, the leading character in Casper Andreas's movie Violet Tendencies, and appeared on the Season 8 premiere of TLC's What Not to Wear on October 29, 2010. She appeared in an episode of Hot in Cleveland on July 13, 2011, on Secret Life of the American Teenager on March 26, 2012, and in The Middle on May 21, 2014.

Cohn said that one of the reasons she did The Facts of Life Reunion in 2001 was that the actors in the long-running series have been wrongly denied a cut of the syndication and DVD profits from the series. "We all never got paid and still don't get paid for DVDs and reruns ... we felt we were owed."^[11]

Cohn reprised her Velma Dinkley role in Lego Dimensions.^[12]

Personal life

Cohn has never married and has no children.^[13][14][15]

Accolades

In 2003 Cohn was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her work on the TV show What's New, Scooby-Doo?, for which she provided the voice of Velma Dinkley.^[16] She reprised her role of Velma on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated and in several Scooby-Doo movies.

She received a positive notice from Variety for her role in the 2007 Daniel Waters' comedy film Sex and Death 101.^[17]

References

External links

• Mindy Cohn at the Internet Movie Database