(andPOP) - If you're a male in your early-to-mid 20s, I'm about to solve a mystery that has undoubtedly crossed your mind at least a couple times in the past few years.
Whatever happened to Danielle Fishel – the actress who played Topanga in Boy Meets World and the object of your affection?
For seven years, you watched her every week opposite Cory Matthews, the nerdy fellow who had no business dating, nor marrying, her. Then, Boy Meets World went off the air and Fishel was never heard from again.
So, Danielle, where did you go?
"I decided to take quite a bit of time off when Boy Meets World ended," Fishel, 26, tells andPOP.
"I wanted a normal life. I just wanted to hang out with my friends and hang out with my family."
She has appeared in a few projects in recent years, but it's no surprise that this comes as news to you when you consider the projects. Fishel had a role in National Lampoon's Dorm Daze, which was about as popular as Steven Segal's CDs (he actually has some, look it up). She is also a correspondent on Tyra Bank's talk show, which for some reason isn't marketed towards the male audience (despite
stuff like this).
She took a break from acting at age 19, but when she wanted to return two years later ("I just started to miss it," she says. "Acting is in my blood."), the roles weren't waiting for her.
"If I really wanted to jump into movies [when Boy Meets World ended], I could have done a lot of different films. At that point in time, a lot of people wanted to offer me a lot of different movie roles and I turned all of them down," she says. "At this stage, there are so many other people that movie parts are being offered to."
It's an even bigger challenge to find work because Fishel isn't willing to compromise her integrity just for the sake of being in front of a camera.
"There's a whole lot of crap out there," Fishel explains. "I have to really like something I'm working on. I don’t feel the need to work for the sake of working. I'd rather not do it."
Like any actor coming off a hit show that lasted so long, Fishel is finding that casting directors can't see past her famous role.
"People still see me as Topanga," she says. "It's not like I look different. I look the exact same as I did when I was 12." So she recently took some steps to try to change people's perceptions. "I lost 25 pounds and died my hair brunette, so I'm hoping that takes people out of seeing me the way they saw me for so many years."
Fishel can now be seen in a project that is actually on your radar, especially if you are a gaming fan. Game Box 1.0 was released last month on DVD. It was shot about three years ago, but has only now found its way to you.
A video game product tester, Charlie Nash (actor Nate Richert, the boyfriend in Sabrina the Teenage Witch), is having a hard time getting over the death of his girlfriend Kate, played by Fishel. Nash is sent a new system to try, unlike any he has even played. He soon finds himself as a character in one of the games, and there's no apparent way out of this virtual world. While trying to find a way to survive, he saves a girl named Princess who bears a striking resemblance to Kate (she's also played by Fishel).
Half the film actually takes place in the setting of a video game. That meant Fishel spent three weeks straight, 16-to-18 hour days, shooting on an all-green set (think of a green screen; now think of green screens plastered all over your walls and floors).
"I grew up playing Super Mario Brothers and the whole goal of that game was to rescue the princess, so when [directors] David and Scott Hillenbrand came to me with this idea that I thought was so different and such a unique experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity, I couldn't pass it up," she says.
Shooting in front of the green screen was part of the appeal, though she says the process was exhausting.
An even bigger challenge was when she stepped into the role of Princess.
"Video game characters don’t have that many facial expressions," she says, "so I couldn’t use my face. Every emotion I had to portray I had to get in using my eyes. I happen to be a very expressive person so that was a challenge."
As for a Boy Meets World reunion of sorts?
"I would definitely be game for a reunion show," she says, "and I think some of the other cast would be, so if ABC or Disney ever approached us with that, I think that would be wonderful."
