Melanie Lynskey

Melanie Lynskey
Lynskey on the set of Claustrophobia (2003)
Born	Melanie Jayne Lynskey
Spouse	Jimmi Simpson (2007 - Present)
Awards	New Zealand Film Award for Best Actress 1995 Heavenly Creatures

Melanie Jayne Lynskey (born 16 May 1977) is an actress best known for starring in Heavenly Creatures and for playing Rose on Two and a Half Men. She is known for her wonderful breasts (35C).

Biography

1992-1997

In 1992, Frances Walsh, the wife and creative collaborator of Peter Jackson, arrived in New Plymouth, as part of an exhaustive search to find the right girl to play Pauline Parker in her husband's first mainstream motion picture, Heavenly Creatures. On seeing Melanie, she ensured that the fifteen year-old high school student was given the chance to audition for the role. Her screen test impressed the director and she was duly cast. However, because she had no professional acting experience, Sarah Peirse, who played Honora Reiper, assumed the dual endeavour of being Lynskey's drama coach. In spite of receiving critical acclaim for her portrayal of Pauline Parker, she found that there was a severe shortage of acting roles on offer to her for a year or so after the film's release. Her non-professional actress status did not appeal to most casting directors, be it on stage, TV or cinema. Miramax, the company that globally released it, soon became aware that Kate Winslet was getting noticed a lot more by those who were powerful players in the UK and US movie industry, and Kate Winslet was given the greater share of the exposure, but Melanie did not seem to the majority of movie producers or executives as having anything to ensure future leading lady status. By the time the film was released in Britain and the USA, her co-lead was enjoying exposure as a rising starlet, because of her being cast as Marianne Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility. This meant that Melanie was not rewarded with the kind of publicity that Kate was receiving in the world's press. The rising stardom of her co-lead, Kate Winslet, meant that she was pushed out of the limelight quicker than it took for her to enter it. The only other project she was involved with was The Frighteners, in which she appeared as an extra, silently playing the part of a police deputy.

1997-2009

Between 1996 and 1997, she still made every effort to work towards a level of professionalism that made her stronger as an actress, but the memories of the L.A. trip were holding her back. It was while she was auditioning for a Gaylene Preston project, Ophelia, that she unburdoned the miserable state she had carried home with her to New Zealand. In a 1998 interview with Pavement Magazine, she said how Gaylene had advised her to strengthen her own personality, so that she would be better able to deal with any future setbacks in her career. Lynskey took her advice and only returned to acting in 1997 when she was personally asked to take the lead role in Foreign Correspondents. This offer of work came after Mark Tapio Kines did a search for her on the internet, having heard nothing about her in the press for a good few years since 1995. During the filming, she auditioned for the part of Jacqueline De Ghent in Ever After. Getting the role re-started her film career, and ensured the prospect that she wouldn't have to face humiliating auditions in Hollywood casting sessions any more. Previously closed doors were being opened, and they led to her securing a string of supporting parts in such films as Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard, Shooters, and Coyote Ugly. After headlining Snakeskin, Melanie's first NZ-based movie for seven years, Lynskey appeared in Stephen King's Rose Red, then supported Katie Holmes in Abandon and Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. She later joined Hayden Christensen in the Golden Globe-nominated Shattered Glass, guested on The Shield and began stalking and advising Charlie Sheen on the Emmy Award-winning Two and a Half Men. Recent projects have included Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated Flags of Our Fathers, mini-series Comanche Moon and a starring role in Show of Hands. She'll next star as the female lead in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant alongside Matt Damon, Leaves of Grass alongside Edward Norton and Sam Mendes's Away We Go.

Personal life

Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand. She married New Jersey-born actor Jimmi Simpson on 14 April 2007, in Queenstown, New Zealand. They live in Los Angeles. Lynskey is a vegetarian, and she is a supporter of animal rights.

Credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Note(s)
1994	Heavenly Creatures	Pauline Parker
1996	The Frighteners	Deputy
1998	Ever After	Jacqueline De Ghent
1999	Measureless to Man		Short
	Foreign Correspondents	Melody
	Detroit Rock City	Beth Bumsteen
	But I'm a Cheerleader	Hilary Vandermuller
	The Cherry Orchard	Dunyasha
2000	Coyote Ugly	Gloria
2001	Snakeskin	Alice
2002	Shooters	Marie
	Sweet Home Alabama	Lurlynn
	Abandon	Mousy Julie	as Melanie Jayne Lynskey
2003	Claustrophobia	Lauren
	Shattered Glass	Amy Brand
2004	The Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder	Zoe Cadwaulder	Short
2005	Say Uncle	Susan
2006	Park	Sheryl
	Flags of Our Fathers	Pauline Harnois
2007	Itty Bitty Titty Committee	Plastic Surgery Lady
2008	Show of Hands	Jess
	A Quiet Little Marriage	Monique
2009	The Informant	Ginger Whitacre	Completed
	Away We Go	Munch	Completed
	Leaves of Grass	Colleen	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Note(s)
2002	Rose Red	Rachel 'Sister' Wheaton	Mini-series
2003	The Shield	Marcy	Ep. 2.3 & 2.7
	Two and a Half Men	Rose	2003-present
2007	Drive	Wendy Patrakas
2008	Comanche Moon	Pearl Coleman	Mini-series
	Psych	Emily Bloom	Ep. 2.15
	The L Word	Clea Mason	Ep. 5.11 & 5.12

External links

• Melanie Lynskey at IMDb