Bankrate: What revelation?

Danica McKellar: I was so confused and trying so hard and just flailing. I was still frozen in the belief system that I couldn't do math. We had this quiz, and I just looked at it and it didn't make sense. There was nothing about it that looked familiar to me. So I didn't write anything down. Finally, the bell rang, and everyone was getting up, and I didn't even move. I was so ashamed, terrified and nauseous that I was seeing spots. I wanted to pass out. And the teacher didn't ask me to get up. She just sat at her desk and smiled at me, like, "Yeah, you can keep working."

Everyone left, and I'm thinking, "Is this fair? Why is she letting me do this?" But at the same time, I felt that she believed in me, that I could do it. Expectations play such an important role in what kids can do, and I found that I relaxed and looked at the test for the first time as something I could do, because she believed I could do it. After that, I started to listen to what she was saying in the classroom, and things slowly started to make sense. And, I actually got some points on the test. I got a C-, which is pretty remarkable since it had been blank.

Bankrate: Were there any experiences on the set of "The Wonder Years" that drove home how girls are encouraged to reject their intelligence?

Danica McKellar: No, because I went to an all-girls school at that time, and my experience as a young actress on set was not the Hollywood scene. My parents weren't into that and I didn't have friends like that. School was more important. My experience on set was, go to work, get into hair and makeup, then go into the schoolroom and do schoolwork. Then, when it's time to do your scene, you do your scene, then you come back and do more schoolwork. So my life as an actress was actually very school-oriented.

Bankrate: When you were in college, did you think you'd wind up as an actress or a mathematician?

Danica McKellar: When I first got to college, my plan was to be a film major. Then, midway through, as I was falling in love with math, I seriously considered becoming a professional mathematician, which would mean getting a Ph.D., getting a professorship at some university, and doing research and teaching.

When I got the opportunity to co-author a research paper at UCLA as an undergrad, it gave me a chance to see what it would be like. I loved so many parts of it, it was challenging and stimulating, but as much as I loved it, I missed acting even more. That's my first love, and if you love acting, it's hard to leave it. That's why a lot of actors do theater, because that's acting in its purest sense.

I try and do a play at least once a year, because while there's no money in it, it fulfills your soul. So I went back to acting, but realized that math would always be a hobby, and wanted to do something with it. Then, as I heard more and more people say, "What have you been doing since "The Wonder Years?" and I'd say, "I went to college to study math," and they said, "MATH!?!?!? Oh my gosh! I can't do math," or, "What's a pretty girl like you studying math for?" It would make me furious. So that was the basis of my becoming involved in math education -- realizing that so many of my fans were afraid of math.