Melissa Gilbert was adopted as a new-born baby by a well-known Hollywood family. Her parents were actors and her grandfather was a television writer. Her parents divorced when she was eight and her adoptive father died when she was 11. She became one of the principal actors, playing Laura Ingalls, in the long-running television series Little House on the Prairie, whose male lead, Michael Landon, became a surrogate father-figure to her. She has a large number of other acting credits to her name.

The family also includes an adopted brother, Jonathan, now a New York stockbroker, who as a child also acted in Little House on the Prairie, playing the part of Willie Oleson; he also later acted with Melissa in The Miracle Worker. Their half-sister, Sara, who played Darlene in the sitcom Roseanne, is not adopted.

References

Lifetime Entertainment Services. "More About Melissa Gilbert's Personal Life." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.lifetimetv.com/onair/intimate/frameset.shtml/port9818_2.html
Jenkins, Shannon. "The Unofficial Melissa Gilbert Homepage." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/5998/melissa.html
Krijgsman, P.D. "About Sara: The Unofficial Sara Gilbert Fan Page." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~krijgsman/sara/_sara.htm
Slegg, Jennifer. "Jonathan Gilbert." Available at: http://carver.pinc.com/home/jenslegg/jgilbert.htm