Melissa George
Born on 6th August 1976, in Perth, Western Australia, Melissa George is a former model and national roller-skating champion, who is now known for her acting projects. The brunette beauty’s TV career began in the mid-1990s in the Australian soap opera “Home and Away”; after moving to the United States, it didn’t take long for the actress to transition to leading roles and in feature films.
Melissa, who is nothing if not versatile, has excelled not only in sitcoms and soap operas, but in edgy thriller and horror movies. The actress is of Scottish descent, and comes from humble beginnings, as her mother and father were a nurse and a construction worker respectively.
At just seven years old, Melissa became interested in dancing, and was soon studying tap, jazz, and ballet; this would later evolve into a passion for artistic roller skating. In 1989 and 1990, Melissa won bronze medals in the Australian National Championships, followed by a silver medal at the Junior World Championship that took place the following year.
1990s
Melissa joined the modeling industry in her early teens, and was named Western Australia’s Teenage Model of the Year in 1992. The roller-skating champion’s parents have always been more than supportive of her ambitions, and when Melissa was offered a role in “Home and Away”, they encouraged her to relocate from Perth to Sydney, and lodge with families while filming.
After meeting with casting director Liz Mullinar, Melissa began playing Angel Parrish, a teenage runaway who made a bad first impression on the townsfolk, but would soon become a beloved citizen of Summer Bay. Melissa’s excellent performance saw her win a Most Popular New Talent Logie Award in 1994; in just three years, her character went from being a problematic adolescent to a widowed single mother, and many viewers considered that no other actress could have done the role justice.
While playing Angel, Melissa also invested in property, and wrote advice columns for teen magazines. Upon leaving the show in 1996, she made a health and fitness video entitled “Mind, Body and Soul”, had a recurring role in the short-lived fantasy drama series “Roar” opposite Heath Ledger, and launched her sleepwear line, An Angel at My Bedside.
Shaun Cassidy, the creator of “Roar”, was so impressed by Melissa’s stunt skills that he would later cast her as the female lead in “Hollyweird”, a show following two friends from Ohio who move to Los Angeles to solve crimes. Although the pilot was ordered to series, Shaun was so frustrated by the Fox Network’s continuous changes and delays that he pulled out of the project, which was eventually shelved.
In March 1997, Melissa posed nude for Australian Playboy. A few months later, she made the life-changing decision to move from Australia to the US, but the risky gamble paid off, as less than a year later she made her film debut in the sci-fi movie “Dark City”, followed by a supporting role in the neo-noir crime film “The Limey”.
2000s
Melissa hit the ground running as an actress in 2001, playing Cleo Miller in the dark comedy “Sugar & Spice” and appearing in the critically acclaimed thriller “Mulholland Drive”. Unfortunately for the Australian, many of the TV pilots she starred in failed to be picked up, the exception being “Lost in Oz”, a sequel to “The Wizard of Oz”: however, so much time had passed until filming for the second episode commenced, that Melissa’s contract had lapsed, and she didn’t wish to return to her home country to shoot.
During the early 2000s, Melissa starred in the short-lived drama-comedy “Thieves” alongside John Stamos. She also had a minor role in the feel-good romcom “Down with Love”, and starred in the season six premiere of “Charmed”. Despite being cast as Susan Freeman in “Coupling” and filming the pilot, the show’s network fired the writers, and replaced Melissa and other cast members for undisclosed reasons.
In 2003, Melissa guest-starred in two episodes of “Friends” as a babysitter named Molly. In the same year, she was cast as Lauren Reed in “Alias”, losing out on the coveted starring role which went to Jennifer Garner. Despite starting off as a guest-star, Melissa quickly climbed up the ranks and became a regular cast member. However, she left the show at the end of season three in order to pursue movie offers.
2005 saw Melissa star in her first feature film, “The Amityville Horror”. Despite the remake of the 1979 horror staple being lambasted by critics, it grossed over $108 million at the worldwide box office. She also reunited with Jennifer Aniston while playing Deanna Schide in “Derailed”. In March 2006, the actress’s role in “Lipstick Jungle” was officially announced; however, the show’s director, writers, and executive producers were all fired, and Melissa was once again replaced.
While preparing for her role in the horror-thriller “Turistas”, also known as “Paradise Lost”, Melissa learned Portuguese and Spanish, and spent three months in Brazil, an experience which she later claimed had made her tougher and more resilient. Months later, she landed the lead role in “Music Within”, a biographical drama following the life of a disability rights activist. The former roller-skater also had a secondary role in “30 Days of Night”, working alongside Josh Hartnett.
In 2008, Melissa made her grand return to TV with a role in “In Treatment”, which would garner her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. She also played Sadie Harris in “Grey’s Anatomy”, leaving after just 11 episodes, and starred in the independent film “The Betrayed”.
2010s – Present Day
Melissa’s first project of the 2010s was “A Lonely Place to Die”, a gritty British thriller in which she had to climb Ben Nevis mountain and go through a grueling workout regime. In November 2010, the actress was named the new face of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Shortly afterwards, she had roles in “Hunted” and “The Slap”.
Although the Australian’s career has slowed down considerably in recent years, she has a second, albeit unlikely, revenue stream: Style Snaps, a device that changes the length of the wearer’s pant length without sewing. Melissa previously stated that she earns more money from Style Snaps – which is sold via direct response TV – than from her acting career.
Regarding the actress’s personal life, Melissa has previously been linked to two men: film director and actor Claudio Dabed, whom she divorced in 2011 after 11 years of union, and her former long-term partner Jean David Blanc, whom she accused of domestic violence in 2016.
Melissa and Jean David share two sons named Raphael and Solal who were born in 2014 and 2015 respectively; she was once prevented from flying to the US with her children by French authorities after Jean David sensationally claimed that she was attempting to kidnap the youngsters. The “Home and Away” star, who is worth $5 million thanks to her lengthy and respectable career in film and television, is currently believed to be single.
