Melissa George Biography
A beautiful Australian import who went from competitive roller-skating champion to model to actress, Melissa George was relatively unknown in the United States through the 1990s, though in her native country and the United Kingdom, she was such a superstar that her 2000 wedding in Bali was invaded by helicopters carrying tabloid photographers. Discovered at age sixteen and cast on the popular nighttime soap “Home and Away” (aired on Australia’s Channel Seven), George quickly became a fan favorite through her portrayal of runaway Angel. Starring on the show from early 1993 through August 1996, Angel went from disheveled new girl in town to the center of the series, charming and lovable with just the right measure of trauma. The character’s journey took her from being discovered as a teen single mother to becoming half of the series young power couple to losing her mate to having his child and finally, to being swept away by a dashing young millionaire, her happy ending exit from Summer Bay.
Possessing an alluring fresh-faced beauty, the usually blonde George seemed to have her whole career ahead of her upon her “Home and Away” departure. She spent her initial time out of the TV series grind taking on projects in different fields, including her sleepwear line An Angel at My Bedside and her teen-aimed health and fitness video “Mind, Body & Soul”. Baring her enviable shape in Australian Playboy in 1997 was a seemingly controversial move than didn’t have much of a detrimental effect on her fan base, but rather kept her in the public’s mind. A recurring role that year on the US-Australian co-production “Roar” (Fox) marked her introduction to American audiences, starring opposite fellow Aussie up and comer Heath Ledger in the medieval-set adventure. The long dark hair with blunt bangs and revealing costumes she sported for the series likened the young actress to the similarly-themed “Xena, Warrior Princess”, though “Roar” failed to make the leap to a second season. The following year, George made her feature film debut with a small but pivotal role in the thriller “Dark City”, her mostly unclothed role memorable to the limited audience that caught the film. She was next featured in “The Limey” (1999), co-starring with Peter Fonda as a doomed young woman whose ex-con father (Terrence Stamp) goes on a mission to avenge her death.