Mindy Cohn

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Mindy Cohn, as Natalie Green on The Facts of Life.

Mindy Cohn, full name Melinda Cohn (born May 20, 1966 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress.

She was first discovered when the producers of The Facts of Life visited her high school, The Westlake school (now Harvard-Westlake School), to observe students. She was cast as chubby, wisecracking Natalie Green, a role specially made for Cohn. She played on the series for its entire run, from 1979 to 1988; this would be Mindy's most famous role.

While she has tried her hand at other roles, including the voice of Velma Dinkley in Termite Terrace's What's New Scooby-Doo and its direct-to-video feature spin-offs, she has not approached the success she enjoyed with The Facts of Life. She has come to peace with that, although she had said on an E! True Hollywood Story that she hated being "everybody's chubby best friend." Recently, she played for charity on a classic television edition of the game show The Weakest Link.

In 1995, she graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in sociology.

In 2003, she was scheduled to be one of the celebrities featured on the reality show The Surreal Life, but she dropped out of sight for many months, prompting the media to wonder if she had decided to rethink the show as a wise career move.

In 2005, VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars" placed Mindy at #43 on the list, and reported she is still pursuing her acting career and auditioned for a pilot for NBC's 2005 fall season.

[edit] Trivia

In the 1980s, Mindy's father Nat Cohn was Chief Operating Officer of Standard Brands Paint and Home Decorating, a now-defunct retail chain based in Torrance, California.