Danielle Atron would have been born sometime in the late Sixties and in the second season episode 'The Secret', when Alex goes trick-or-treating, she learns from Danielle's grandmother that Danielle always had problems and loved numbers, and was shy but bossy and brilliant with schoolwork. She was a child prodigy but was kept in isolation, not being allowed to play outside or go to school or anything because numerous universities wanted her, until finally social workers had to remove her and her siblings from the home, after which Danielle was briefly raised by her grandparents. There are rumors about Danielle being abused as a kid but this is never explicitly talked about aside from implications of it in 'The Secret' episode. When she was Alex's age she went to university on her own. According to George Mack, there are rumors about Danielle's mother being crazy and locking Danielle in the basement along with Danielle's father and brother. Numerous rumors surround Danielle's family, who seem to be nearly nonexistent and mostly dead, especially her parents, whose death circumstances have always been mysterious. Any further details about her past aren't mentioned, except that she has a brother, a nephew named Carlton, and that she took her own grandmother's land to build her chemical plant. Danielle's greed and Machiavellian attitude has caused her to kill people before (or she had Vince do the killings for her so that she wouldn't be implicated in the crimes), most notably local boy Hunter's father. Danielle has always had any crimes she has committed covered up by Vince, her security guard.According to a newspaper clipping which Hunter has on his bedroom wall, Danielle was the victim of a dangerous fire in the past and barely escaped alive, which may have been a big influence on her cold personality. Other newspaper clippings he has mention some bizarre happenings that occurred after the fire incident, in which Danielle not only had her company become more powerful, but also became much more corrupt and ambitious. At first Danielle is just bossy and serious, but as the series goes on, she becomes more and more mentally unbalanced and almost a sociopath, although she says goodbye, Vince with slight remorse after firing him in season 3 and she becomes rather attached to Lars later on.Danielle is the chief executive officer of the Paradise Valley Chemical Plant, which she built over the land given to her by her grandparents. Her chemical plant is the main source of industry and work in the small town setting but is notorious for blatant safety violations, controversial research and Danielle's treatment of her employees. In the first episode a strange chemical manufactured by the chemical plant is spilled on a kid (Alex), and Danielle, worried that the kid will report the accident and wanting to study the effects of the chemical on the supposed kid, vows to find their identity and capture him/her.Alex and Ray hate Danielle and Annie doesn't trust her. Often the kids come up with schemes to outwit her but more often than not they stay out of her way. Although Danielle doesn't really seem to want to hurt Alex, she is willing to sacrifice her in the name of research. A morbid joke throughout the series is that Danielle is going to come after Alex and cut her up .The adult characters in the show, most of whom work for Danielle, don't really like her; they think she is greedy and stuck-up. Danielle has a habit of memory loss, often intentional, when it comes to remembering her employees. She calls George Mack Gary Mock , Barbara Bonnie and Dave Bob from time to time, much to Barbara's annoyance. Barbara Mack in particular has a falling out with Danielle in season one but in the second season Danielle tries, without much luck, to be Barbara's friend. Danielle has no friends and although not asocial, has trouble getting along with anyone at all. She dislikes kids immensely and the closest thing to a friend she has is Lars, an equally friendless employee. The town hobo, Chappy (a former plant researcher), tells Alex and Ray that he believes Danielle would literally kill to keep her corrupt antics a secret.The two employees closest to her are Vince Carter (a security operative) and Dave Watt (a trucker and supposed moron). She acts superior to both of them and eventually fires Vince when he is unable to find the identity of the accident kid. It is implied that Vince is in love with her and in season three he repeatedly stalks her and continues to try and find the accident kid. Danielle hires Lars, a chemist whom she gets along extremely well with, in the fourth season.Danielle ends up getting her chemical approved by the FDA in season four and captures Alex. She bribes the FDA and drugs an FDA member with a hallucinogenic substance, getting Lars to put him in a dress and dumping him in the town park in an attempt to make him look bad in front of other FDA members. She then attempts to blow up her own chemical plant and leave the country, but is stopped by Alex's boyfriend Hunter and later arrested by the cops. Lars is arrested and it's implied that the charges they face will put them in jail for life, or worse. Danielle murdered Hunter's father and made it look like an accident, leaving Hunter wanting revenge. It's implied that she has killed other employees and hired Vince to do it for her at times. It isn't stated whether or not Vince gets arrested, as Vince never really had much ill will towards Alex personally and only wanted to find her to do his job.Danielle has a very superficial, aloof personality and constantly smiles in an incredibly fake way. On her own or with Vince and Dave, she often acts very corrupt and evil; she giggles hysterically in some episodes, cons politicians and scientists and has a thing for animal testing. The only time she is truly kind to anyone is when Barbara Mack tries to help her with an ad campaign. Danielle admits to Barbara that she knows most people don't really like her. Barbara tries to make Danielle appear more friendly and kind-hearted, but Vince dresses her up as a little old lady in a gray wig and pink dress, only embarrassing her further. Vince then takes on the role of the ad spokesperson by dressing up as a redneck farmer.Danielle has a nephew named Carlton (season one), who is incredibly nerdy and corrupt and in many ways a lot like Danielle herself.Danielle has a slight physical and personality similarity to Annie. Both Annie and Danielle are child prodigies who excel in science and business, both have dark reddish-brown hair, both often have little regard for others at times and both are very short-tempered. However, Annie is a decent and kind person at heart and despises Danielle's actions completely.Danielle is a show jumper in the sport of horseback riding.The town junior high school is named after her.Danielle Atron was played by actress Louan Gideon and appeared in most episodes of the show. Show less «