Melissa Fahn

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Melissa Fahn

Birth name Melissa Fahn
Born April 28, 1973 (1973-04-28) (age 35)
New York, New York
Occupation(s) Voice Actor/Stage Actor/Singer/Dancer
Spouse Joel Alpers
Website MelissaFahn.com Official Website

Melissa Fahn (born April 28, 1973) is an American voice and stage actress known for her work in anime dubs and other mainstream animated series, as well as her work in Broadway and Los Angeles Theatre.

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[edit] Biography

Melissa Fahn was born in New York but grew up in Southern California. Her father worked in television production, giving her and her three older brothers (actors Tom Fahn and Jonathan Fahn and jazz trombonist Michael Fahn) performance experience while they were young. Melissa started singing and dancing at the age of three; she made her musical theater debut at age twelve and was privately trained in acting, dancing, and singing.

She majored in dance at Cal State Long Beach but left after one year to devote her time to work and theater. At her job as a receptionist, her voice caught the attention of a casting director for a new Betty Boop featurette. Melissa has since voiced many original animated characters and hundreds of anime characters including Gaz of Invader Zim, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tirvrusky IV of Cowboy Bebop, Haruka Kaminogi of Noein, and Rika of Digimon.

She has performed on Broadway, in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Paris, Avignon (France), and elsewhere in shows including Hal Prince's 3hree, Gilligan's Island the Musical, "Singin' in the Rain", "No, No, Nanette", and the rock-opera Vox Lumiere. She was nominated for a Denver Critics Circle Award as Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Maria in West Side Story. Stephen Schwartz invited her to join a workshop of his new musical "Wicked"; after a trial production in San Francisco, she performed eight nights a week in the Broadway ensemble and was the understudy for Glinda and providing the pivotal silhouette of Dorothy. She recently made her debut as a producer for the Musical Theatre Guild production of "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!" in November, 2006. However, most recently she has performed as Daisy Mae in the Los Angeles Musical Theatre Guild’s production of the musical Comedy Li'l Abner, Hope Harcourt in Musical Theatre West's production of "Anything Goes", and is currently reprising her role as an ensemble soloist in the Los Angeles production of Wicked as well as understudying the role of Glinda. Incidentally, Melissa also recently performed in the role of younger version of Ezmerelda, a character similar to Glinda, in the 2007 parody of Wicked on the daytime drama Passions.

In 2000, Melissa Fahn met musician Joel Alpers on the set of Vox Lumiere in Los Angeles, and in 2002 they were married in Kauai, Hawaii. However, she works under her maiden name professionally.

She just finished recording her debut album "Avignon" which was produced by her husband, Joel Alpers. "Avignon" is available on Melissa's official website.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Selected anime voice roles

[edit] Selected animated voice roles

[edit] Selected film roles

  • Fast Food (Short Film) - Cookie
  • Salsa - Featured Dancer

[edit] Selected Television Roles

[edit] Selected stage roles

  • Wicked (original Broadway cast) - understudy Glinda, ensemble soloist, Dorothy (Broadway and Los Angeles)
  • Vox Lumiere - Coloratura Soloist, Christine (Phantom of the Opera), The Good Diva (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
  • Anything Goes - Hope Harcourt (Musical Theatre West)
  • The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd - Urchin (Musical Theatre Guild)
  • Li'l Abner - Daisy Mae (Musical Theatre Guild)
  • No, No Nanette - Flora (Musical Theatre Guild)
  • Grease - Marty
  • Redhead - Tillie (Musical Theatre Guild)
  • The Sunshine Boys - The Nurse
  • West Side Story - Maria (Denver Critics Circle Nominee - Best Actress in a Musical)
  • Singin' in the Rain - Kathy Selden

[edit] Selected video game roles

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Was asked to re-dub the voice of Sojiro Seta in his final episodes of Rurouni Kenshin, it was done so late in production that she was never credited for it.
  • She auditioned for the role of Ariel in Disney's original The Little Mermaid and was called back several times. She lost the part to Jodi Benson but went on to voice Betty Boop shortly after.
  • In 2004, she was in the interview for the main voice actors of Invader Zim, now on Disc 2 of the Invader Zim volume 1 DVD. She was the only one shown to have a squeaky pig toy. In volumes 2 and 3, she also is featured on many of the commentary tracks, most notably for episodes "Game Slave 2", "Gaz, Taster of Pork", and "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever".
  • Is a coloratura soprano with a vocal range from an F below low C to an F above high C.
  • Performed with Kim Huber in the daytime drama Passions as young Ezmerelda. The episode was a spoof on the musical "Wicked," a musical that Melissa has performed in many times, currently in Los Angeles.
  • On June 27th, 2007, Melissa attended the first "Wicked Wednesday" event in Universal Studios Hollywood. She performed as Glinda and with Julie Reiber as Elphaba and Carol Kane as Madame Morrible the event's Emcee. She sang "Popular" and the duet "For Good" with Reiber.
  • Melissa Fahn has commonly been mistaken for providing the voice talent of the Tales of the Abyss character, Anise Tatlin. However, Melissa Fahn has denied any affiliation to the character, and confirmed that Jolie Jackson is the actual voice actress.
  • Melissa's brothers Jonathan and Tom are also both voice actors, as are Tom's wife Dorothy and Jonathan's son Harrison.
  • Performed her first show as Glinda in Wicked, in Los Angeles, Sunday September 30th, 2007 for the matinee performance.

[edit] External links