SWEATER GIRL: She played Topanga on “Boy Meets World” (with Ben Savage, inset) back when. And now she’s ready for the remake, no? (
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Topanga is all grown-up.
Actress Danielle Fishel, who played brainy teen Topanga Lawrence in the ’90s sitcom hit “Boy Meets World,” is featured in the new issue of Maxim magazine — where she riffs on once-and-future “World” co-star Ben Savage (Cory Matthews) and the origin of her sitcom name.
Fishel and Savage are reuniting for “Girl Meets World,” a Disney Channel pilot taped last month in which Cory and Topanga are now married with a young daughter.
“Michael Jacobs, who created ‘Boy Meets World,’ says he was driving down the highway [in LA] when production called and said, ‘We need a name for this character!’” Fishel, 31, tells Maxim. “He happened to be driving past Topanga Canyon, so he said, ‘Topanga.’
“He says that if they had called him two miles later, I would’ve been named Canoga, which is the next exit.”
Fishel also clears up the rumor that she and Savage were once an item.
“That rumor was entirely my fault because I once said on ‘The Tyra Banks Show,’ that Ben and I went on a date, and that turned into ‘Danielle and Ben dated,’ ” she says.
“We went on one date, when I was about 15, and by the time the dinner was over, we realized mutually that we were more like family than lovers.”
And, she tells the magazine, she’s a huge ’90s rap fan.
“And if you really want to see me embarrass myself, put on some Notorious BIG and watch me grab my crotch and mouth all the words,” she says.
“It’s really embarrassing, but I can’t help myself.”