Melinda Heather "Mindy" Cohn is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her role as Natalie Green in The Facts of Life, and also for being the current voice of Velma Dinkley in the Scooby-Doo franchise, which she has held since 2002. She currently resides in Bever...
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program
Movies
“The Facts of Life” (1979-1988), “The Facts of Life Reunion”, “The Help” (2004), “Violet Tendencies” (2010), “Kim Possible”, “Dexter’s Laboratory”,
TV Shows
“The Boy Who Could Fly”, “Charles in Charge”, “21 Jump Street”, “What Not to Wear”, “Hot in Cleveland”, “Secret Life of the American Teenager”, “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” (2002-2006), "Scooby-Doo! and Kiss:Rock and Roll Mystery" (2015)
Star Sign
Taurus
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Trademark
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Voluptuous figure
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Natural brown hair.
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Deep sultry voice.
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Quote
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[In 2012, dispelling a rumor that Molly Ringwald was mistreated on The Facts of Life (1979)] I'll answer that because Molly and I are actually working together again on The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008). So no! That first year was very hard for a lot of girls who were cast and didn't become regulars. I think for a 22-minute sitcom to try and give 8 girls at the time, plus Charlotte Rae, plus two other adults lines, I think there was a sense of "What am I doing here?" And Molly had just come off a run on "Annie" on Broadway, and she was on her way up. She'll be the first to tell you that getting off the "Facts of Life" was the best thing that ever happened to her career. I didn't hear that rumor, and I don't think that's her experience.
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[Of Charlotte Rae]: More than anything else, my heart just is open to celebrating Charlotte Rae, and the amazing career that she has had, which gratefully included 9 years of The Facts of Life (1979).
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[on her latter on- and off-screen chemistry with Charlotte Rae, who played "Edna Garrett"]: I was discovered by Charlotte Rae and the producer at the time, Norman Lear, came to the school that I was attending, "Westlake School For Girls", to try and authenticate the scripts and try to get a feel of what it was like to be - in an all-girls school, and Charlotte really wanted to make sure that "Mrs. Garrett", there was a reason for "Mrs. Garrett" to leave Diff'rent Strokes (1978), which was the show she started on, and go to this all-girls school, for a reason. So, they were trying to figure that out, so I was one of the students they talked to and she and I hit it off ... I guess, extremely well, as a 13-year-old. I don't really know what that means to hit it off with someone.
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[on the impending departure of Charlotte Rae, who played Edna Garrett, from 1978-1986 on both Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and The Facts of Life (1979), which was a spin-off]: One of the reasons she left was that this show is really started to focused on the girls, the pull of the show started to be different of her. She sorta felt like 'I'm done!'
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[Who admitted that in one aspect she was similar to her Natalie Green character]: Anything that takes more than 20 minutes? No can do.
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Ultimately, I want people to be able to see me, that I'm an actor. Sometimes people see me with whatever label, and I've not yet been able to show what I can do. That's the exciting part. I still have the tenacity and the hunger, and my patience is going to pay off. My motto in life is 'The best is yet to come'.
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[on her The Facts of Life (1979) co-star, who was fired after the first season]: Felice Schachter is my soul sister. Felice and I became incredibly close, very quickly, very same sensibility. She just felt like family. I think Felice got a bum deal.
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[on herself being overshadowed by her Natalie Green character]: It's a catch-22, I get the 'Where have you been? We want to see more of you' comments and I also understand from a producer's point of view, 'We don't want Natalie in our movie.'
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Right now, I'm an unemployed actor. My dream is to do eight shows a week [on stage], but I can't do that and financially take care of myself in the way I've become accustomed.
Credits Charlotte Rae as her favorite acting mentor/best friend.
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When she was on "The Facts of Life" for 9 years, the producers wouldn't let her audition for film roles, such as for St. Elmo's Fire (1985) in 1984. There was a wide gap between television and film actors at the time, until Michael J. Fox changed it when he starred in the hit film Back to the Future (1985) while simultaneously starring in the hit TV series "Family Ties". Mindy said Mare Winningham ended up getting the role in "St. Elmo's Fire" and that she did a great job in it.
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In 2012, she candidly told Andy Cohen on his show "Watch What Happens Live" that "Facts of Life" jumped the shark a few times, meaning that the show veered off its natural path and declined in quality. She specifically mentioned when the store "Edna's Edibles" was burned down only to open another store called "Over Our Heads" at the beginning of the 1985-1986 season.
Was among the guests at Justine Bateman's 17th birthday party.
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Continues to look for acting work and turns down all the VH1 reality shows (Celebrity Fit Club (2005), etc.) because she doesn't want to cash in on her early The Facts of Life (1979) fame.
Ranked #43 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars".
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Member of the board of directors of weSPARK, a cancer survivor organization founded by actress Wendie Jo Sperber.
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Actress Charlotte Rae (Mrs. Garrett) discovered Cohn and also named her character Natalie on The Facts of Life (1979). Rae met Cohn after she and the show's producers noticed her entertaining a group of friends at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, where they had gone to research and observe.
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Graduated from Loyola Marymount in 1995 with a degree in sociology.
$600,000
