Meiling Melançon

Meiling Melançon (born March 3, 1980), also known as Mei Melançon (Japanese: 明依), is an American actress, screenwriter and former fashion model. She has appeared in major feature films as well as indie productions, television shows, and more than one hundred commercials as a model and actress. As of 2014 she is becoming known for work behind the camera in roles such as screenwriter and producer.

Meiling Melançon
Born	March 3, 1980 Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines[1]
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actress, writer, director, producer, model

Early life

Meiling Melançon was born in Metro Manila, Philippines at the Philippine General Hospital,[2] and raised in mainly Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, she is of French, Chinese, and Japanese descent.[3] As a child she traveled throughout Asia and Europe. Her mother, nightclub singer Elizabeth Rose, is of French heritage and her biological father, a businessman, is Chinese and Japanese. Meiling's stepfather is American. At the age of five her mother taught her how to play the guitar, and she was later in a children's band called Blossoms. In an interview with Giant Robot editor Eric Nakamura, Mei spoke about her nontraditional strict upbringing. She was not allowed to watch most films and television, only classics and that they were not allowed to listen to popular music due to religious reasons.[4]

Career

Actor

Melançon started acting in 2003. She was at that time a successful model and was signed to Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. She appeared on season two of Legends of Tomorrow as "Masako Yamashiro". Melançon also appeared in the final season of The L Word as recurring character "Jamie Chen",[5] as Psylocke in X-Men: The Last Stand, as "Miyu" (Kevin Spacey's assistant) in Shrink, as Lynda in the HK-shot film Irreversi, as Dr. Catherine Ivy in the psychological thriller/horror film Pathology (with Milo Ventimiglia), and as the other "Girl in the Car" along with Maggie Q in Rush Hour 2 when she was still modeling. Melançon also starred as Lotus Long in the short film bio-pic Keye Luke, which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and which was Closing Night Film of the inaugural 2013 Seattle Asian American Film Festival.[6] She starred in Blumenthal where she played Scottish actor Brian Cox's niece, and the film made its premiere in 2013 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Writer, producer, director

Melançon co-wrote the thriller American Romance in 2014. She has also co-written a short film entitled "Stephany + Me", with Ben Duhl, co-starring Tara Summers, directed by Peter Shanel.[7] She produced and starred in a PSA written by comedian Todd Glass that has been covered by the Huffington Post, Perez Hilton among other news outlets.[8] Melançon has also written articles for Giant Robot Magazine.[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Movie	Role
2001	Double Take	La Perla model
2001	Rush Hour 2	Girl in Car[10]
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Psylocke[11]
2007	Irreversi	Lynda[12]
2007	Loaded	Rose
2008	Pathology	Catherine Ivy[13]
2008	Fold	Maki
2009	The Truth About Angels	Mei
2009	Shrink	Miyu
2012	Shockwave: Darkside 3D'	The Machine
2012	Blumenthal	Christina
2012	Keye Luke	Lotus Long
2015	American Romance	Agent Tores / Screenwriter
2018	Higher Power	Ms. Sabi

Television

Year	Television Show	Role
2004	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Vanessa Green[10]
2005	Deadwood	Chinese slavewhore[10]
2006	Kitchen Confidential	Beautiful patron
2009	The L Word	Jamie Chen
2010	Private Practice	Elena Stone
2016	Legends of Tomorrow	Masako Yamashiro

References

1. "Do you know the dad of this Pinay Hollywood actress?". philstar.com.
2. "Do you know the dad of this Pinay Hollywood actress?". philstar.com.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved October 6, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Jamie Chen, The L Word". LGBT Fans Deserve Better. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
6. Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times, Seattle Asian American Film Gets Under Way, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. Stephany & Me, Daily Motion, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfkl78_stephany-me-a-short-film_fun
8. Todd Glass' PSA for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (Video), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/todd-glass-psa-for-gay-lesbian-straight-education-network_n_1556127.html
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Animax targets the youth market". Manila Standard Today. June 24–25, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
11. "Psylocke joins X-Men 3's baddie line-up". The Star. January 3, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
12. "Mei Melancon". Daily Variety. April 24, 2006. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
13. "Review: Pathology". Cinematical. April 19, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008.

External links

• Meiling Melançon at IMDb