Melanie Jayne Lynskey was born on May 16, 1977 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. She is an actress.

In 1993 Melanie was picked to play the notorious teenage murderer Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures opposite Kate Winslet only two weeks before the film started shooting. Heavenly Creatures got great reviews and even got nominated at the Academy Awards for the best original screenplay.

After her Heavenly Creatures success Melanie headed for Los Angeles. She descripes moving to Hollywood like jumping into the fire. The results from the Hollywood auditions weren’t good so Melanie moved back to New Zealand to study film and theatre for 18 months at the Victoria University. “The most important thing anyone can do if they’re going to be an actor is take time out and decide whether you’re strong enough within yourself to cope with all that rejection and scrutiny,” she says. “You need to think about who you are.”

Soon after that Melanie got a letter from Mark Tapio Kines who had read about Lynskey on the internet. He invited her to LA to appear in his movie called “Foreign Correspondents”. Melanie accepted the offer and the film and moved back to LA. Soon after that Melanie landed a role opposite Drew Barrymore in a remake of the classic Cinderella story called “Ever After”. Melanie also got supporting roles in Detroit Rock City, But I’m a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard and Coyote Ugly, but 2001 she decided to return to New Zealand to play Alice in “Snakeskin”.

Next Melanie appeared Stephen Gaghan’s “Abandon” as a little crazy librarian and soon after that she did a small part opposide Reese Witherspoon in “Sweet Home Alabama”. She also played Rachel in Stephen King miniseries “Rose Red”. She didn’t care much about the role but on the set she met her future boyfriend Jimmi Simpson. A role in “Shattered Glass” followed, but after that was Melanie got her biggest American hit playing Rose CBS’s primetime hit, “Two and a Half Men”.

Now Melanie is starring two films called “Flags of Our Fathers” together with Ryan Phillippe and Paul Walker, and an indie comedy “Park” with Billy Baldwin. Melanie was seen in the FOX series “Drive” which didn’t perform as well as was expected so the show was canceled. Now Ms. Lynskey is working on a TV mini show called “Comanche Moon” which will be released 2007.

Lynskey married actor Jimmi Simpson.

Filmography

• "Comanche Moon" (2007)
• "Two and a Half Men" (44 episodes, 2003-2007)
• "Drive" (7 episodes, 2007)
• Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007)
• Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
• Park (2006)
• Say Uncle (2005)
• The Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder (2004)
• Shattered Glass (2003)
• Claustrophobia (2003)
• "The Shield" (2 episodes, 2003)
• Abandon (2002)
• Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
• Rose Red" (2002)
• Shooters (2002)
• Snakeskin (2001)
• Coyote Ugly (2000)
• The Cherry Orchard (1999)
• But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)
• Detroit Rock City (1999)
• Foreign Correspondents (1999)
• Measureless to Man (1999)
• Ever After (1998)
• The Frighteners (1996)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994)