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Melissa George
George in June 2009
Born	Melissa Suzanne George 6 August 1976 (1976-08-06) (age 33) Perth, Western Australia
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Claudio Dabed (2000-present)
Official website

Melissa Suzanne George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian¹ actress who has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in film and television. She is perhaps best known for her roles in David Lynch's Mulholland Dr., the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror and 30 Days of Night. George was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on the television series In Treatment in 2008.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Awards 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

George was born in Perth, Western Australia, the daughter of Pamela, a nurse, and Glenn George, a construction worker.² The second of four children, George developed an interest in dancing and began studying jazz, tap, ballet, and modern dance at the age of seven. Her enthusiasm for dance eventually evolved into a passion for artistic roller skating. George was an Australian national roller skating champion and won bronze medals in the National Championships in 1989 and 1990. She also won a silver medal at the Junior World Championship in 1991.

Career

Melissa George started modeling in her early teens, and in 1992 she was named Western Australia's Teenage Model of the Year. At the age of sixteen she met casting agent Liz Mullinar and won the role of Angel Parrish on the popular Australian soap Home and Away. George left Perth and moved to Sydney to start her acting career. After three years on the show, she decided to leave to seek other roles. Shortly afterwards, she was featured nude in Australian Playboy and in celebrity photo magazine Black + White.

George made a health and fitness video, Mind, Body and Soul (1996), created a sleepwear line named "An Angel at My Bedside" and had a recurring role on the short-lived television series Roar (1997), opposite Heath Ledger, before leaving Australia to move to Los Angeles to try her luck in Hollywood. She scored small roles in several films, including Dark City, The Limey and Down with Love, as well as a major role in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. She also starred in several TV pilots that were never aired on television, such as Lost in Oz. She had a brief success in 2001 with the cancelled ABC drama-comedy Thieves, co-starring John Stamos. She also starred in the WB hit series Charmed for the sixth season premiere.

Melissa achieved a significant breakthrough in 2003 when she landed the role of Lauren Reed on the ABC series Alias. Also that year, she became Rachel's nanny in the American sitcom Friends.

Her first starring role in a feature film was Kathy Lutz in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror. The same year, she played Deanna Schine in the thriller Derailed, co-starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. 2006 was a busy year for George, who filmed three new movies; the drama Music Within, opposite Ron Livingston, the thriller WΔZ, opposite Stellan Skarsgård, and the film adaptation of the graphic novel 30 Days of Night, directed by David Slade and co-starring Josh Hartnett. Also this year, she starred in the horror-thriller Turistas. George made her return to television in 2008 in the HBO half-hour drama In Treatment, co-starring Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest.

In 2006, it was also announced that Michelle George would be the new face and spokesperson for cosmetics company Napoleon Perdis, and the Australian jewelry company Linneys. She has also been appointed as an official ambassador for the 2007 52nd World Artistic Roller Skating Championships. In September 2008, it was announced that she was joining the cast of Grey's Anatomy for 11 episodes as Sadie Harris, a bisexual intern.³ In January 2009, it was announced that George was leaving Grey's Anatomy due to a mutual agreement between her and the show's producers.⁴

On November 9, 2009, it was announced that Melissa would guest star in at least two episodes of Fox's Lie to Me as an adversary for Tim Roth's character, TVGuide.com has confirmed. George will play Clara Martin, the sassy younger wife of a murdered billionaire. After being exonerated for the murder, Clara assumes control of her husband's empire. Though she goes toe-to-toe with Lightman (Roth), they bond over their shared eccentricities. ⁵

In 2009, she was also given the lead role in a mystery thriller by Chris Smith titled Triangle. The film, focused primarily on Melissa's character, opened to highly positive reviews.

Personal life

George lives in New York with her husband Chilean film director, Claudio Dabed, who best known for his 2006 film Pretendiendo, and his daughter from a previous relationship, Martina (born 1995). She and Dabed met in Bali in 1998 and married on 22 September 2000. She became a naturalised American citizen in 2008.¹ She now has dual Australian/US citizenship.

Awards

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

• 2004: Winner: Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award

Australians In Film

• 2005: Winner: Breakthrough Award

Australian Film Institute

• 2009: Nominated: Best Actress - In Treatment

Golden Globe Award

• 2009: Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (TV) – In Treatment

Logie Awards

• 1994: Winner: Most Popular New Talent – Home and Away
• 1995: Winner: Most Popular Actress – Home and Away

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1998	Dark City	May
1999	The Limey	Jennifer 'Jenny' Wilson
2001	Mulholland Drive	Camilla Rhodes
	Sugar & Spice	Cleo Miller
	New Port South	Amanda
2003	Down with Love	Elkie
2005	The Amityville Horror	Kathy Lutz
	Derailed	Deanna Schine
2006	Turistas	Pru Stagler
2007	Music Within	Christine
	WΔZ	Helen Westcott
	30 Days of Night	Stella Oleson
2008	The Betrayed	Jamie
2009	Triangle	Jess
2010	Daybreakers	Anne (cameo)
	Swinging with the Finkels	Janet	Post-production
	Stolen	Charlotte Lockton	Pre-production

Television
Year	Show	Role	Notes
1993–1996	Home and Away	Angel Parish	Logie Award
1997	Fable	Rex Fable	TV-Movie
	Roar	Molly	Recurring role
2001	Thieves	Rita
2003–2004	Alias	Lauren Reed
2008	In Treatment	Laura	Golden Globe nomination
2008–2009	Grey's Anatomy	Sadie Harris	Recurring role
2010	Second Chances	Kate Fischer	TV-Movie

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Melissa George

• Official Site
• Melissa George at the Internet Movie Database