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Melanie Lynskey
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Melanie Jayne Lynskey (b. May 16 1977, New Plymouth, New Zealand) is an actress best known for her starring turn in Peter Jackson's Oscar-nominated movie
Heavenly Creatures (1994) and for her role on the American sitcom, Two and a Half Men.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Career
- 1.3 Personal life
- 2 Quotes
- 3 Awards and nominations
- 4 Filmography
- 5 External links
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Biography
Early life
Melanie Lynskey was born in the city of New Plymouth, New Zealand. She has four siblings; three younger brothers and a younger sister. Lynskey developed a love of acting at a young age; her dream was to be a stage actor in Wellington, New Zealand.
Career
In
1992, Lynskey, who was 15 and a drama captain at her school in New Plymouth, was discovered by
Fran Walsh and immediately cast alongside
Kate Winslet in
Heavenly Creatures, a true-life crime story set in
Christchurch, New Zealand in the
1950s, in spite of never having acted in a professional capacity. Directed and co-written by a pre-fame
Peter Jackson, the
1994 film received an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Original Screenplay the following year.
Unlike her friend and co-lead, however, Lynskey went unnoticed in the wake of the film's success. Consequently, she did not receive any further offers of acting work, except for a non-speaking, walk-on part in The Frighteners. With no roles coming her way in NZ, she journeyed to Los Angeles, but she only stayed for about three months. In spite of receiving praise from critics, film producers and casting directors proved to be less willing to find her acting work in Hollywood, and she failed to secure another role. She returned home, temporarily gave up acting, and spent two years studying for an English Literature degree at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. In her absence, the agent that had agreed to represent her, Susan Smith, continued to keep working on her behalf to get Lynskey noticed by the Hollywood casting directors.
In 1997, she 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 in his debut feature, Foreign Correspondents. Whilst she was making her American movie debut, she got cast in her first Hollywood movie, Ever After: A Cinderella Story. Although her role wasn't a major one, it started to open one or two doors that had previously been closed to her. And parts in Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard and Coyote Ugly suddenly came her way; followed by the New Zealand thriller Snakeskin, the only NZ film project, apart from Heavenly Creatures, that she had starred in.
A year later, Lynskey appeared in ABC's Rose Red, as well as Abandon and Sweet Home Alabama. She then supported Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass and guest-starred on The Shield, before landing a major role on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men, as Charlie Sheen's sweet stalker and wealthy next-door neighbor, Rose.
Most recently, Lynskey has co-starred in
Clint Eastwood's
World War II drama,
Flags of Our Fathers. She will next be seen alongside
William Baldwin in
Park and as a principal player on
Tim Minear's upcoming
Drive.
Personal life
Lynskey, a vegetarian, is engaged to actor Jimmi Simpson, whom she met during the making of Rose Red. They live together in Los Angeles with their dog, Mouse (a chihuahua-dachshund mix).
One of her best friends is Emily Deschanel.
Quotes
- "You always see those movies that have amazing casts, and it's funny to be in one of them. It's a list of all these fantastic people--and, oh, me as well."
- "If I ever have time off and don't know what's coming up next, I get really nervous and think, Oh well, it's probably over."
- "I always try to do something really different from the last thing. After Abandon, where I was this creepy girl, I just wanted to play someone happy, and then Sweet Home Alabama came along, which was perfect."
- (on working with Charlie Sheen) "We get on terribly. I can't stand him. No, he's great. He's really quiet and shy and sweet."
- (on Sheen's reaction to her native accent) "He turned around and said, "What's this, uh, voice? What are you doing?" I said, "I'm just talking." Then he said, "Hmmm. Is that some kind of actor-y thing?" "
- "The first audition I ever did, the casting director said, "I don't know why you're here. You're never going to work in America. You don't look right. You don't have the right kind of personality. I don't even know if you can do an American accent. Maybe you can try England." "
- "(...) I was in Montreal and this girl came up to me and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Melanie Lynskey?" "
Awards and nominations
- 1995 - Won - Best Actress (Pauline Parker, Heavenly Creatures) - New Zealand Film and Television Awards
- 1999 - Nominated - Best Actress (Melody, Foreign Correspondents) - Chicago Alt.Film Fest
- 2001 - Nominated - Best Actress (Alice, Snakeskin) - New Zealand Film and Television Awards
Filmography
