Melissa George

Melissa Suzanne George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian-born film and television actress who has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. George is perhaps best known in Australia for her role as Angel Parrish on the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993–1996). After moving to America, she appeared in television series such as Friends(2003), Alias (2003–2004), In Treatment (2008),Grey's Anatomy (2008–2009) and Lie to Me (2010), earning a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for In Treatment. George made her film début in the neo-noir science fiction feature Dark City (1998) and later appeared in supporting roles in films, including The Limey (1999) and Mulholland Drive (2001). She has gone on to have lead roles in films, including the remake of The Amityville Horror (2005), the thriller Turistas (2006), the vampire horror film 30 Days of Night (2007) and garnered critical acclaim for her starring role in Triangle (2009). George's most recent work includes the thriller A Lonely Place to Die (2011), the Australian drama series The Slap (2011), for which she won a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress, the British-American spy drama series Hunted (2012), and the drama series The Good Wife (2013–2014). Early life Melissa George was born in Perth, Western Australia, the daughter of Pamela, a nurse, and Glenn George, a construction worker. William Ward, a grandfather on her mother's side, worked as a prison warden at Rottnest Island, offshore from Perth. 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. She is an Australian national roller skating champion and won bronze medals in the National Championships in 1989 and 1990. She won a silver medal at the Junior World Championship in 1991. Career George began 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. Her role earned her five consecutive Logie Award nominations, of which she won two. She moved to Sydney to start her acting career. She made a health and fitness video, Mind, Body and Soul (1996), created a sleepwear line called "An Angel at My Bedside", and had a recurring role on the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company television fantasy drama series Roar (1997), opposite Heath Ledger, before leaving Australia to move to Los Angeles to try her luck in Hollywood. She scored a small role in the critically favored thriller film Dark City (1998). Career breakthrough After a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh's 1999 neo-noir crime film The Limey, she was cast in a supporting role, Cleo Miller, in the 2001 black comedy Sugar & Spice and had a minor role in David Lynch's critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive, which opened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. In 2003, she landed the role of Lauren Reed on the ABC television series Alias. Her first starring role in a feature film was Kathy Lutz in the 2005 remake of the 1979 horror film,The Amityville Horror. The film was not well received by critics, but was a major success at the worldwide box office, grossing over $108 million. Despite bad and unfavorable reviews, Film Threat praised George and her co-star Ryan Reynolds's performances, stating that they "make a striking couple. Both young and extremely attractive" and that she "does an impeccable American accent, but otherwise she is unremarkable as Kathy Lutz. Her physical beauty is sometimes distracting, but not enough to keep the audience awed by her acting." That same year, she played Deanna Schine in the thriller Derailed, co-starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. In 2006, she filmed the horror-thriller Turistas with Josh Duhamel and Olivia Wilde. Her first starring role in a feature film was Kathy Lutz in the 2005 remake of the 1979 horror film, The Amityville Horror. The film was not well received by critics, but was a major success at the worldwide box office, grossing over $108 million. Despite unfavorable reviews, Film Threat praised George and her co-star Ryan Reynolds's performances, stating that they "make a striking couple. Both young and extremely attractive" and that she "does an impeccable American accent, but otherwise she is unremarkable as Kathy Lutz. Her physical beauty is sometimes distracting, but not enough to keep the audience awed by her acting." Personal life In 1998, George met Chilean furniture designer and film director Claudio Dabed in Bali. They married two years later. In 2011, they announced their divorce. George then began dating hip hop mogul Russell Simmons. Since meeting at the BAFTA after-party in 2011, she has been dating French entrepreneur Jean David Blanc, the founder of AlloCiné. They had their first child together, son Raphaël, in February 2014. George became a naturalized American citizen in 2008. She is the cousin of the opera singer Taryn Fiebig. She climbed Ben Nevis mountain for her role in A Lonely Place to Die. In an interview with The Sun, she stated: "It was tough because it's a pretty dangerous location, and it wasn't fit for a large crew, but we did it, we made it... I was climbing with Di Gilbert who has climbed Everest many times so that was incredible. And when you get up there, it's just a huge sense of achievement."