| Melanie Lynskey | |
|---|---|
Lynskey at the TIFF screening of Up in the Air, September 2009 |
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| Born | Melanie Jayne Lynskey 16 May 1977 New Plymouth, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Spouse | Jimmi Simpson (2007–present) |
Melanie Jayne Lynskey (born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress best known for playing Charlie Harper's neighbor Rose on Two and a Half Men, and a range of characters in films such as Win Win, Up in the Air, The Informant!, Away We Go, Flags of Our Fathers, Shattered Glass, Sweet Home Alabama, Ever After and Heavenly Creatures.
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Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand. She attended New Plymouth Girls' High School.
In 1993, at the age of 16, Lynskey won her first professional acting role as Pauline Parker in the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures, based on the 1954 Parker-Hulme murder, opposite Kate Winslet. Over 500 young actors auditioned for the role before Lynskey was cast with Jackson recalling "we knew if we cast an intelligent person, then they were going to hit it. Melanie's also very enigmatic. So what we were looking for was an actress who has that kind of aspect to her...where you can film somebody sitting in a room, doing nothing, and they're still fascinating to watch. We found that in Mel."[1]
The film was released to critical acclaim in 1994 with Richard Corliss of TIME magazine describing her performance as "perfect, fearless in embodying teenage hysteria".[2] Heavenly Creatures won Jackson and partner Fran Walsh a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and is now considered a cult film.[3] Lynskey was named Best Actress at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards in 1995 for her performance.
After release of the film, Lynskey completed high school and began studying at the Victoria University of Wellington. During that time she made a brief appearance as a police deputy in Jackson's next film, The Frighteners. Her next major film appearance was as Jacqueline de Ghent in the 20th Century Fox production Ever After, opposite Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston, which was quickly followed by roles in Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard (an adaptation of the Anton Chekhov play) and the Jerry Bruckheimer produced Coyote Ugly, where she took on a New Jersey accent.
In 2002, she played her first television role in the Stephen King mini series Rose Red. She then appeared alongside Katie Holmes in Abandon and Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, and guest starred twice on The Shield.
In Shattered Glass, a 2003 drama revolving around political journalism, Lynskey played a writer for The New Republic. Based on a true story, the film depicted the downfall of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen) and received extremely positive reviews, with A. O. Scott of The New York Times referring to it as "a serious, well-observed examination of the practice of journalism", and "an astute and surprisingly gripping drama".[4]
Also in 2003, she landed the part of Rose, Charlie Sheen's sweet and zany neighbor on the Emmy Award-winning Two and a Half Men, which frequently appears in the top 10 of the most-watched television shows in America.[5] Although she left her regular slot on the show in 2005, she still makes occasional guest appearances when her schedule allows.
In 2006, she had a small but substantial role in Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated World War II drama Flags of Our Fathers[6] and returned to New Zealand in late 2007 to a starring role in Show of Hands, which premiered at the Montreal Film Festival in 2008, and earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Qantas Television Awards.
More recently, she earned rave reviews for her performance in the Sam Mendes comedy-drama Away We Go, playing a seemingly happy adoptive parent who hides a secret heartache. Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe wrote "Lynskey dramatizes sadness and dysfunction with quiet, moving physicality... It's the best performance in the movie".[7]
She also played the female lead opposite Matt Damon in the Steven Soderbergh black comedy The Informant!, based on the true story of FBI whistleblower Mark Whitacre. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival with The Independent noting "sterling support comes from Melanie Lynskey as Whitacre's ever-loyal wife".[8] Soderbergh told the Los Angeles Times, "She is so watchable, you never quite know what you're going to get, you just know it's going to be good. Her rhythms are really unusual, like her cadence and her reaction times to things, and the way she sort of lays out a sentence. It's just really, really interesting".[9]
Lynskey's 2009 films also included Leaves of Grass, in which she co-starred with Edward Norton and Susan Sarandon, and the Academy Award-nominated Up in the Air, in which she played Julie Bingham, the younger sister of George Clooney's character.
Lynskey recently starred in the 2011 films Win Win, opposite Paul Giamatti, Touchback opposite Kurt Russell, and Eye of the Hurricane opposite Campbell Scott. She'll next appear in Focus Features' upcoming comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, alongside Steve Carell and Keira Knightley, and in the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's cult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
In 2001, she met American actor Jimmi Simpson, while co-starring in the Stephen King miniseries Rose Red. They became engaged in 2005 and married on 14 April 2007, in a chapel overlooking a vineyard on Lake Hayes, near Queenstown, New Zealand.[10] Also in attendance was her best friend and Rose Red co-star Emily Deschanel,[11] who was one of her bridesmaids.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Heavenly Creatures | Pauline Parker | Winner — Best Actress New Zealand Film and TV Awards |
| 1996 | The Frighteners | Deputy | |
| 1998 | Ever After | Jacqueline De Ghent | |
| 1999 | Detroit Rock City | Beth | |
| 1999 | The Cherry Orchard | Dunyasha | |
| 1999 | But I'm a Cheerleader | Hilary | |
| 1999 | Foreign Correspondents | Melody | Nominated — Best Actress, Chicago Alt.Film Fest |
| 2000 | Coyote Ugly | Gloria | |
| 2001 | Snakeskin | Alice | Nominated — Best Actress New Zealand Film and TV Awards |
| 2002 | Shooters | Marie | |
| 2002 | Abandon | Julie | |
| 2002 | Sweet Home Alabama | Lurlynn | |
| 2003 | Shattered Glass | Amy Brand | |
| 2004 | Claustrophobia | Lauren | |
| 2005 | Say Uncle | Susan | |
| 2006 | Park | Sheryl | |
| 2006 | Flags of our Fathers | Pauline Harnois | |
| 2007 | Itty Bitty Titty Committee | Plastic Surgery Lady | Uncredited |
| 2008 | Show of Hands | Jess | Nominated — Best Leading Actress Qantas Television Awards |
| 2008 | A Quiet Little Marriage | Monique | |
| 2009 | Away We Go | Munch Garnett | |
| 2009 | The Informant! | Ginger Whitacre | |
| 2009 | Up in the Air | Julie Bingham | Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated — Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble |
| 2009 | Leaves of Grass | Colleen | |
| 2010 | Helena from the Wedding | Alice | |
| 2011 | Win Win | Cindy | |
| 2011 | Touchback | Macy | |
| 2011 | Eye of the Hurricane | Amelia Kyte | |
| 2012 | Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | ||
| 2012 | Perks of Being a Wallflower | Aunt Helen |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Rose Red | Rachel Wheaton | Television mini series |
| 2003 | The Shield | Marcy | Television series Ep. 2.3 & 2.7 |
| 2003–present | Two and a Half Men | Rose | 57 episodes |
| 2007 | Drive | Wendy Patrakas | Television series, 6 episodes |
| 2008 | The L Word | Clea Mason | Television series Ep. 5.11 & 5.12 |
| 2008 | Comanche Moon | Pearl Coleman | Television mini-series |
| 2008 | Psych | Emily Bloom | Television series Ep. 2.15 |
| 2009 | It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Kate | Television series Ep. 5.1 |
| 2010 | The Life & Times of Tim | Becky | Television series Ep. 2.3, 2.6, 2.8 & 2.9 |
| 2010 | Memphis Beat | Annalise | Television series Ep. 1.4 |
| 2011 | House (TV Series) | Television Series Season 8, Episode 9 [12] |