Friday, June 12th

Melee is an actor, director, teacher and acting coach. She is a full-time professor at Sheridan College in Oakville. Formally, she taught for twelve years in both the Masters and Undergraduate Acting Conservatories at York University in Toronto.

As an acting coach for film and television, her work includes: North of North (Netflix, CBC), Avatar The Last Airbender (Netflix Live Action), Wayward (Netflix), The Mother (Netflix and Nuyorican Productions: Jennifer Lopez)), Gen V (Sony Pictures), POLARIS (Little Dipper Films), Anne with an E (Netflix and CBC), BEANS (EMA Films), Shazam (DC Films), The Grizzlies (Northwood Films) and Bass Reeves anime series (Netflix). Current projects include Thorpe a feature film exploring and celebrating the life of Native American super star Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, directed by Tracey Deer.

Melee’s acting career includes roles with major professional theatre companies in both the United Kingdom and Canada, including two Laurence Olivier award-winning hit shows in London's West End: Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker and Popcorn by Ben Elton. Wok at The Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and The Royal Court Theatre. She received The Citizen’s Theatre Award for her work in Harold Pinter's The Lover and The London New Play Festival Best Actress Award as Julie in Wendy Hammond's Julie Johnson.

In Toronto, she was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in 2012 for her performance as Dmitri in the all-female Brothers Karamazov. The following year she was nominated for a Dora for Outstanding Direction for her production of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.

Her film and TV acting work includes Sherriff Country, North of North, The Ninth, Kill Order, Love and Savagery, Beautiful People, Murdoch Mysteries, Casualty, Circle of Deceit, PSI Factor, This is David Harper, Perfect Scoundrels, Frank Stubbs, Minder. Her Voice Over career ranges from documentaries to video games.