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| Birth Name(s) : Melanie Jayne Lynskey |
Date of Birth: May 16, 1977 |
| Status:
N/A
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Melanie Lynskey Biography
Melanie Lynskey was born on May 16, 1977 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Reportedly a very good student and an avid reader, she discovered her love for acting early on, and took part in various school plays before screenwriter Fran Walsh, partner of director Peter Jackson, discovered her in1993 while desperately looking for the right person to play the role of Pauline Parker in the movie Heavenly Creatures. The two found Melanie to be perfect for the role, and her performance proved them right.
Heavenly Creatures opened in New Zealand in October 1994 to fantastic reviews, and shortly after around the world, where the film was just as well received and nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay.
Melanie went back to school and then studied English Literature at The Victoria University in Wellington. Other than a short cameo appearance in Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" in 1996, she did not work on any movie project until she got an offer from writer/director Mark Tapio Kines (who found her through the internet) to play one of the leads in his feature film debut "Foreign Correspondents".
While shooting "Foreign Correspondents" in the summer of 1997, she got the role of Drew Barrymore's "nice" stepsister in the 1998 movie version of the Cinderella tale, "Ever After", which was shot in France. Next was "The Cherry Orchard", a film version of Anton Chekhov's play by the same name, which was completed in June 1998.
Meanwhile, Ever After was released, did very well, and Hollywood was finally noticing her. So, she soon started to work on the teenage comedy "Detroit Rock City" about four guys trying to get into a Kiss concert. While the film itself wasn't a big hit at the boxoffice, it was a change for Melanie to play the love interest in a Hollywood production, proving ignorant producers wrong who, in the past years, told her she wasn't "cute enough" for a role of this kind.
Her next project was a supporting role in the independent satire "But I'm a Cheerleader", which was very well received at festivals. This was followed by a role in another big Hollywood picture, the Jerry Bruckheimer produced "Coyote Ugly".
More recently, Melanie has completed "Snakeskin", a film shot in her native New Zealand. The film has not yet been released but she is very proud of it, calling it the best script she read since Heavenly Creatures. Also due out in 2001 is "Shooters", a dark british crime drama shot in London in 1999. Early next year, Melanie can be seen in ABC's mini series "Rose Red", written by Stephen King. She is currently working on "Abandon", screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's ("Traffic") directorial debut. |
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Additional Melanie Lynskey Biography
Melanie Jayne Lynskey (b. May 16, 1977 in New Plymouth, New Zealand) is an actress best known for her starring turn in Peter Jackson's Academy Award-nominated Heavenly Creatures and for her role on CBS's Two and a Half Men.
Lynskey developed a love of acting at a young age, dreaming she'd one day be working in Wellington doing theater. In 1992, when she was 15 years old, Lynskey was discovered by Fran Walsh and immediately cast alongside Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures, despite never having acted professionally. Directed and co-written by Peter Jackson, the film received an Oscar nomination - Best Original Screenplay - in 1995, whilst earning Lynskey a Best Actress prize at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards.
Unlike her co-lead, however (who three years later would be starring in Titanic), Lynskey went relatively unnoticed in the wake of the film's success. Consequently, she did not receive any further offers of acting work, except for a walk-on cameo in The Frighteners. With no parts coming her way in New Zealand, Lynskey journeyed to Los Angeles, but only stayed for about three months. In spite of the praise she’d received for her debut, casting directors proved reluctant to find her work in Hollywood, and so she failed to secure another role. Returning home, Lynskey temporarily gave up acting and instead spent two years studying at Victoria University of Wellington. In her absence, the agent who had agreed to represent her overseas continued working on Lynskey's behalf to get her noticed in Hollywood.
In 1997, Lynskey headed to Los Angeles for a second time at the request of indie filmmaker Mark Tapio Kines, who had read about Lynskey on the internet and wanted to cast her as the central character in his debut feature, Foreign Correspondents. Despite only being able to offer her a small salary, Lynskey accepted Kines' offer. Soon thereafter, she was cast alongside Drew Barrymore in Ever After - a career milestone which led to a string of parts in various features, including Detroit Rock City, The Cherry Orchard, But I'm a Cheerleader and Jerry Bruckheimer's Coyote Ugly.
After a headlining role in Snakeskin, the first New Zealand film she'd made since Heavenly Creatures six years previously, Lynskey appeared in ABC's three-part Rose Red, penned by Stephen King, as well as supporting Katie Holmes in Abandon and Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. She then played opposite Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass and guest-starred on The Shield, before landing a recurring stint on the Emmy Award-winning Two and a Half Men in 2003, as Charlie Sheen's endearingly offbeat neighbor, Rose.
Lynskey married New York-born actor Jimmi Simpson - whom she met when they both appeared in Rose Red - on April 14, 2007, in Queenstown, New Zealand. They live together in Los Angeles with their dog, Mouse (a chihuahua-dachshund mix). |
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Melanie Lynskey Quote(s)
| I don't think I'll ever be a movie star. |
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