Johnny Melville (born 27 January 1948 in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, Scotland) is a

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

, actor and mime who is part of the group of artists who in the 1970s revolutionized the world of the clown in Europe, alongside names like

Jango Edwards Stanley Ted Edwards (April 15, 1950 – August 4, 2023), known professionally as Jango Edwards, was an American clown and entertainer who spent most of his career in Europe, primarily in France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England. Edwards' p ...

and

Nola Rae Nola Rae MBE (born 1950) is a mime artist. Biography Early life and education Rae was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1949 and migrated to London with her family in 1963. Originally hoping to become a dancer, at 16 she began training at the Roya ...

in the historic Friends Roadshow in Amsterdam. In recent years he has combined his work as a clown, mime and trainer with that of actor in alternative filmmaking.

Career

He began his professional career in 1972, working alongside names typical of the British theatre scene as

David Aukin David Aukin (born 12 February 1942) is a theatrical and executive producer as well as a qualified solicitor. He has been nominated many times for British Academy Television Awards and has won twice for producing films about Tony Blair: ''The Gove ...

John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...

. Until 1977 he was actor in and director of the alternative theater company Salakta Balloon Band, and later and until 1979 by the London theater company Kaboodle Theater. However, it was in 1978 that he began his career as a soloist at the

Festival of Fools The Festival of Fools is an annual Street Festival held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, usually during the May Bank Holiday weekend. It first started in 2004 and includes performances from around the world. Performers are paid a fixed amount and m ...

, a career that screened him for all kinds of European festivals in Germany, Holland, Austria, Denmark, France, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada (he performed twice at Montreal's celebrated Just for Laughs festival) and the United States, working both in performing and conducting shows. His popularity as a mime and clown was so great that in 1987 they spent a ten-day Johnny Melville Festival in Denmark, where Melville offered his last five shows. Melville has also alternated his talent as a clown and mime with performances in short films, feature films, TV series and TV movies of all kinds and in multiple countries (mostly on the alternative film circuit), but also in television advertising and even alongside trendy music groups, highlighting the collaboration he made with the Swiss group

Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...

in 1988. As an actor he has worked under the direction of names like

Vanna Paoli Vanna () is a given name that first appeared in recorded European history circa 1294. The Italian medieval feminine name originated in Tuscany, and is particular to Florence, Italy. Though similar in pronunciation to the Italian name Giovanna, an ...

Dieter Meier Dieter Meier (born 4 March 1945) is a Swiss industrialist, musician and conceptual artist. He is the frontman of the electronic music group Yello, which was co-founded (with ex-member Carlos Perón) by music producer Boris Blank. He is a vocali ...

Ricard Reguant Ricard is a surname, as well as a Catalan name. Notable people with the surname include: * Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard (1771–1843), French general under Napoleon * Hámilton Ricard (born 1974), Colombian footballer *Jean-François Ricard (bo ...

Antonio Chafrawias Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

Mario Orfini is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

Michael Knighton Michael Knighton (born 4 October 1951) is an English businessman, best known for his involvement in Manchester United and Carlisle United football clubs. Knighton first came to prominence in 1989 for his aborted £20 million bid to buy Manc ...

, among many others. In 2001 he won the Best Actor Award at the

Brooklyn Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York. Started by Marco Ursino, Susan Mackell, Abe Schrager, and Mario Pegoraro ...

in New York for the film ''No Man's Land'', directed by

Nina Rosenmeier Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology * No income, ...

. In recent years he has combined his formative performances and workshops of mime, gesture and clown with the cinema, direction and writing of scripts, in addition to having made a leap to Latin American clown programs and festivals, visiting with some frequency Colombia, Brazil, Mexico or Chile."El artista callejero Johnny Melville hará show gratuito en Valparaíso"
cooperativa.cl

References

External links

Official website of Johnny Melville
* 1948 births Living people Scottish male stage actors Scottish male film actors Scottish male television actors {{Scotland-tv-actor-stub