Melissa Suzanne George was born on
6th August 1976 in Perth, Western Australia. The second-eldest
of 4 children, she has 2 sisters (Kate and Marnie) and a
brother (Brett). She attended Warwick Senior High School,
where she trained in modern dance, tap, jazz, classical ballet
and roller-blading. From the age of 7 until she was 16 she
skated at national and international level and represented
Australia on many occasions.
While in her teens she embarked
upon a modelling career, which led to her being voted Western
Australia's Teenage Model of the Year. When the popular TV
soap Home & Away conducted a nationwide search for an
actress to play the part of teenage tear-away Angel Brooks,
Melissa auditioned and, despite having no previous acting
experience, got the part. This, however, meant leaving school
and family behind and moving over 2,000 miles away to Sydney.
She admits that she was thrown in
at the deep end: "I hardly knew anything when I first
arrived. I had to learn how to act as I went along. After
about a year I got a grip on what acting was all about and it
started coming straight from my heart; I wasn't just saying
the words any longer." The role of Angel turned the
budding young actress into one of Australia's most popular
celebrities. She twice won the Golden Logie (Australia's top
TV award) and countless other accolades for her work on the
show.
Thus it was a surprise when
after about 3 years Melissa decided to quit, turning down a
hefty financial inducement to stay, and pursue her career
elsewhere. She was a household name in millions of homes
across the globe; she was nominated in the Best Actress
category in the British TV awards, the only overseas star to
feature; she was chosen to endorse many glamour and beauty
products and was voted the Most Desirable Star on British TV
by ITV viewers. Leaving Home & Away was a big jump into
the unknown.
Melissa in
the L.A. Confidential Pilot
After several smaller roles in
films such as Dark City and the TV series Roar, Melissa began
to land bigger roles. Movies such as Sugar and Spice, New Port
South and Mulholland Drive followed in quick succession, but
it wasn't until the short-lived TV series Thieves with John
Stamos that Melissa began to gain some big plaudits in the
States.
Melissa as
Lauren Reed in Alias
In 2003, after doing a very
popular guest-stint in the NBC show Friends (playing a Lesbian
nanny) and Monk (as a murderess actress), along with a role in
the film Down with Love Melissa landed a role in the hit
series Alias - a series which started at the same time as
Thieves, but survived a similar critical bashing and has gone
on to be one of the network's most loved shows. She played the
character Lauren Reed, an agent with the Security Service who
is married to one of the show's biggest stars, Michael Vaughn
(played by Michael
Vartan).
After a full season as the duplicitous Lauren Reed - the
character Alias fans loved to hate - Melissa landed the lead
role in the 2004/05 remake of the 1979 classic, The Amityville
Horror. As Kathy Lutz opposite Ryan Reynolds' George Lutz, and
together they scared the bejeesus out of audiences the world
over.
No sooner had she finished
filming Amityville, Melissa won the role of Deanna Schine -
the supportive yet strong wife in the adaptation of James
Siegel's Derailed, opposite Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston.
Upon completion of Derailed, Melissa flew to Brazil to film
the action-thriller Turistas, which should be released in the
second half of 2006.
2006 is set to be Melissa's busiest year to date; Having
already wrapped the movie The Music Within (opposite 'Office
Space' star Ron Livingston), Melissa is set to star in the
brand new adaptation of Candace Bushnell (of 'Sex and the
City' fame) book The Lipstick Jungle.
Possessed of striking, seductive beauty, natural acting
talent, drive and ambition, Melissa George has what it takes
to become the 21st Century's first great screen goddess. ~
Melissa George - The Authorised Website
