Melissa Joan Hart has revealed the unexpectedly tiny sum she still earns from a beloved 1980s movie — despite the fact that audiences never actually see her in the finished film.
The 50-year-old actress said Wednesday that she continues to receive residual checks from the 1986 box office hit Crocodile Dundee, a project she filmed when she was roughly 10 years old.
‘I was in Crocodile Dundee, and even though you will not see my face in it – I was cut out – I still get my 26 cents every few months or something,’ she said while speaking to Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea.
Our News Outlet has contacted Hart’s representatives for comment, but has not yet received a response.
The Sabrina The Teenage Witch star explained that the payments have “dwindle[d]” considerably in the years since Crocodile Dundee became a major success.
Still, Hart said she and other performers have found a lighthearted way to make use of even the smallest Hollywood residual checks.
Melissa Joan Hart, 50, told Page Six she still receives residual checks from a classic 1980s comedy, even though her scenes did not make it into the final version of the film. Above, in June 2025
“I was in Crocodile Dundee, and even though you will not see my face in it – I was cut out – I still get my 26 cents every few months or something,” she said. Above, Linda Kozlowski and Paul Hogan in the 1986 blockbuster
“There’s actually a bar in LA called Residuals where you can take your residuals and put it toward your drinks,” Hart shared.
Crocodile Dundee stars Paul Hogan in the title role as an Australian bushman who becomes a fish out of water when he travels to New York City and finds that his Outback survival skills don’t always translate.
The low-budget film went on to gross $328 million, making it the highest-grossing Australian film of all time, both domestically and abroad, and it also became the second-highest grossing film in the US in 1986.
The movie’s success led to another hit sequel, 1988’s Crocodile Dundee II, as well as 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, which was a critical and commercial failure.
Hart previously revealed on the Too Much Information podcast that she appeared in Crocodile Dundee as a young girl who skins her knee in Central Park, only for Hogan’s character to unexpectedly heal her.
The actress, who finally broke out when she played the title role in Nickelodeon’s teen sitcom Clarissa Explains It All from 1991 to 1994, spoke about coming to terms with the disappointments of being a professional actor and her experience on Crocodile Dundee while speaking to She Knows in 2011.
‘You find that you have a lot of rejection and you learn young that you have to let it go, and if you don’t have thick skin, you aren’t going to make it,’ Hart said.
She spent her early career as a child actor appearing in commercials, and she suffered another disappointment in 1988 when she lost out on the lead role in Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers.
Crocodile Dundee stars Paul Hogan as an Australian bushman who travels to NYC and finds that his Outback survival skills don’t always translate. The low-budget film grossed $328m, making it the highest-grossing Australian film of all time
She and other actors have found a creative way to use the minuscule checks. ‘There’s actually a bar in LA called Residuals where you can take your residuals and put it toward your drinks,’ she shared. Above, in Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Hart’s newest project is the reality competition series Totally ’90s House, in which she joins a group of other stars of the 1990s to renovate a home that hasn’t been updated since that decade
Hart went on to establish herself in TV after her early attempts at launching a film career.
After her early success in Clarissa Explains It All, she scored her biggest role to date with the 1996 TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the success of which led to an identically titled teen sitcom.
The show aired for four seasons on ABC, before transferring to The WB for its final three seasons, until its cancellation in 2003.
Hart later returned to a lead series role opposite Joey Lawrence on ABC Family’s Melissa & Joey, which aired four seasons from 2010 to 2015.
Hart’s newest project is the reality competition series Totally ’90s House, in which she joins a group of other stars of the 1990s, including her Melissa & Joey costar Lawrence, his brother Matthew Lawrence, Full House star Jodie Sweetin, The Cosby Show’s Keshia Knight Pulliam, Brian Austin Green of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame, and 7th Heaven star Beverley Mitchell.
Jaleel White, best known for playing Steve Urkel on Family Matters, hosts the series, which pits the contestants against each other as they attempt to renovate a house that hasn’t been updated since the ’90s.
Totally ’90s House makes its debut on Wednesday night at 9pm ET on HGTV.
