Meiling "Mei" Melançon ( ja, 明依) (born March 3, 1980) is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and former

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

. She has appeared in major feature films as well as indie productions, television shows, and more than 100 commercials as a model and actress. As of 2014 she is becoming known for work behind the camera in roles such as

and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Early life

Melançon was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines where her mother was a singer and her estranged father was a wealthy man. She left at the age of 2, and was raised in mainly

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. She is of Chinese and Japanese descent through her father, and French descent through her mother. As a child she traveled throughout Asia and Europe. At the age of five her mother taught her how to play the guitar, and she was later in a children's band called Blossoms. In an interview with ''Giant Robot (magazine), Giant Robot'' editor Eric Nakamura, Mei spoke about her non-traditional strict upbringing. She was not allowed to watch most films and television, only classics and that they were not allowed to listen to popular music due to religious reasons.

Career

Actor

Melançon started acting in 2003. She was at that time a successful model and was signed to Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. She appeared on season two of ''Legends of Tomorrow'' as "Masako Yamashiro". Melançon also appeared in the final season of ''The L Word'' as recurring character "Jamie Chen", as Betsy Braddock in other media, Psylocke in ''X-Men: The Last Stand'', as "Miyu" (Kevin Spacey's assistant) in ''Shrink (film), Shrink'', as Lynda in the HK-shot film ''Irreversi'', as Dr. Catherine Ivy in the psychological thriller/horror film ''Pathology (film), Pathology'' (with Milo Ventimiglia), and as the other "Girl in the Car" along with Maggie Q in ''Rush Hour 2'' when she was still modeling. Melançon also starred as Lotus Long in the short film bio-pic ''Keye Luke (film), Keye Luke'', which premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and which was Closing Night Film of the inaugural 2013 Seattle Asian American Film Festival. She starred in ''Blumenthal'' where she played Scottish actor Brian Cox (actor), Brian Cox's niece, and the film made its premiere in 2013 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Writer, producer, director

Melançon co-wrote the thriller ''American Romance'' in 2014. She has also co-written a short film entitled "Stephany + Me", with Ben Duhl, co-starring Tara Summers, directed by Peter Shanel. She produced and starred in a PSA written by comedian Todd Glass that has been covered by ''The Huffington Post'', Perez Hilton among other news outlets. Melançon has also written articles for ''Giant Robot Magazine''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melancon, Mei 1980 births Living people Actresses from Manila American film actresses American female models Filipino film actresses Filipino female models American actresses of Japanese descent American actresses of Chinese descent American people of French descent Filipino people of Japanese descent Filipino people of Chinese descent Filipino people of French descent American film actors of Chinese descent American writers of Asian descent Filipino emigrants to the United States Models from Manila American film actors of Japanese descent