Melissa Sue Anderson, star of “Little House on the Prairie,” speaks of her decision to leave Hollywood for Canada

How often do you remember an old show you used to enjoy watching and wonder what the actors are doing now that it has been so long? Many of you who watched “Little House on the Prairie” and eagerly anticipated each new adventure of the family living on the farm in Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, would probably be interested in knowing what the performers are doing now.

The lovely Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary Ingalls, had a lot of fans who thought she would stay in their lives through television, but she had other ideas.

She talks about her choice to relocate to Canada from Hollywood today.

This actress gained entry into the entertainment industry after landing one of the major roles in “Little House on the Prairie.” She began her acting career in supporting roles. Her admirers recognized she deserved her numerous nominations for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series because of the caliber of her acting.

In 2010, Anderson told Pop Entertainment about her experience filming the drama that made her famous: “I’m happy that there even had a character to play, because in the novel, there isn’t much of one. When she wrote the Little House books, Laura [Ingalls, the author of the series and the story’s focal point] was an elderly woman. She was reflecting on her life’s high points. Ma and Mary’s personalities didn’t matter all that much. There were plenty of Laura, Pa, Jack the dog, Mr. Edwards, and Laura, but Mary wasn’t as prevalent. They’re lucky to have found out I could perform.

After Mary Ingalls, she tried her hand at a few other bit parts, but in 1990 she married television producer Michael Sloan. In 2002, she and her husband and their two children, daughter Piper and son Griffin, moved to Montreal.

The family became Canadian citizens in 2007, and with a new life came new responsibilities. Anderson made the decision to leave the entertainment industry because she wanted to spend more time with her children and didn’t want them to feel under any pressure to pursue acting professions.

Anderson didn’t abandon acting, either; he continued to do tiny parts in recent years. Her participation in a show like “Little House on the Prairie” changed her life, which inspired her to pen a memoir titled The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House.