1991–1998: Career beginnings and debut In 1991, at the age of 10, Fishel was discovered in a community theater where she performed in two productions,
The Wizard of Oz and
Peter Pan. She quickly moved on to do voiceovers and commercials, including several as a
Barbie Girl for
Mattel. Soon after, she appeared on two episodes of the hit show
Full House, guest starring as a character named Jennifer. She also had a small role on
Harry and the Hendersons, playing Jessica. Fishel's mother became her full-time manager. In 1993, at the age of 12, she began her role as
Topanga Lawrence-Matthews on the
ABC series
Boy Meets World. Initially a different actress was cast, but series creator
Michael Jacobs did not like her performance and therefore replaced her with Fishel. Originally written as a small part, Topanga became a recurring role. After a successful first year, Fishel became a show regular. The show ended in 2000 after seven years. Fishel was on the cover of
Seventeen magazine in December 1998. She won an award, the 1998 Young Star for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series. In June 1999, she was one of "The 21 Hottest Stars Under 21" in
Teen People magazine. She was on the cover of
GQ magazine's hottest stars to watch in the October 1997 issue. She appeared in the music video for "
Until You Loved Me" by Canadian music group
The Moffatts.
2003–2011: Films and television presenting Following
Boy Meets World, she began to work heavily in television, and in 2003 co-hosted
Say What? Karaoke on MTV for one season. She also appeared in several films, including ''
National Lampoon's Dorm Daze. In 2006, she appeared in three made-for-DVD releases: National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 (appearing again as "Marla" from the first film), the action film Gamebox 1.0 (playing a dual role), and The Chosen One'', an independent animated film in which she provides the voice of the lead female character. In 2006, she appeared as a guest on
The Tyra Banks Show where she discussed her dramatic weight loss with the use of the
Nutrisystems Diet. Following her appearance, she became a spokeswoman for Nutrisystem. She also became a special correspondent for
The Tyra Banks Show, starting in early February 2007. By 2010, she had gained some of the weight back, and told
People magazine she could not maintain her Nutrisystem weight. From August 2008 to March 2011, Fishel hosted
The Dish for the
Style Network, which satirized pop culture in a format similar to sister network
E!'s
The Soup. She was also on
Fuse TV as host of
The Fuse 20, and was a guest star on the round table on an episode of
Chelsea Lately. In 2012, she became the host of MSN TV's
Last Night on TV.
2013–present: Current work (2016)|224x224px In 2013, she starred in the drama
Boiling Pot (released in 2015), which is based on true events of racism that occurred on college campuses across the country during the
2008 United States presidential election. The film also stars
Louis Gossett Jr.,
Keith David,
M. Emmet Walsh, and
John Heard. Fishel plays an average college girl, naive regarding racism and unaware of its existence. In October 2013, she was featured in
Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, a short film to promote
Childish Gambino's second studio album,
Because the Internet. In 2014, she reprised her role of Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in the
Boy Meets World spin-off series,
Girl Meets World. The series premiered on
Disney Channel on June 27, 2014, and features Topanga and her
Boy Meets World love interest Cory Matthews (
Ben Savage) married in their adult years with two children. The series follows Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley (
Rowan Blanchard) and her friend, Maya (
Sabrina Carpenter) as she enters middle school and tries to navigate through life. The series ended on January 20, 2017. In an episode that aired January 9, 2018, she competed against actor
Jonathan Lipnicki on
TBS's
Drop the Mic. She has hosted the
Boy Meets World rewatch podcast
Pod Meets World with
Rider Strong and
Will Friedle since 2022. In 2025, she competed on
season 34 of Dancing with the Stars, being eliminated from the show on November 4, 2025, coming in 8th. ==Personal life==