| Melissa Fahn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Melissa Fahn April 28, 1973 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Heather Lee Joelson Melissa Charles Tina Dixon |
| Occupation | Actress Voice actress Singer Dancer |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse | Joel Alpers (2002-present) |
| Relatives | Dorothy Elias-Fahn (sister-in-law) Mary Ann McSweeney (sister-in-law) Jennie Fahn (sister-in-law) Harrison Fahn (Nephew) |
| Website | |
| http://www.melissafahn.com/ | |
Melissa Fahn (born April 28, 1973) is an American voice and stage actress and singer 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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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 Luna of Mega Man Star Force, 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. 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".
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. Its music genre is R&B.
Fahn featured as a member of the ensemble in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Schwartz's mega-hit musical. After a tryout in San Francisco, the show opened on Broadway October 30, 2003. In March 2004 when it was announced that fellow cast member, Melissa Bell Chait had suffered a stroke and was in hospital, Fahn temporarily took over as the understudy for the lead role of Glinda, and continued to do so when Bell Chait returned. Fahn departed the show on October 31, 2004. She later became an original cast member of the Los Angeles sit-down production, which opened February 21, 2007. She again performed in the ensemble and understudied the role of Glinda. She departed the cast on December 30, 2007.