Melanie "Mel" Nunes Fronckowiak (; born 16 January 1988) is a Brazilian actress, writer, and TV host.
Fronckowiak became known after starring in several advertising and TV commercials while working as a model in São Paulo, at the Ford Models agency, which led her to participate in the Brazilian teen telenovela ''
Rebelde
''Rebelde'' (English: ''Rebel'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Pedro Damián for Televisa, broadcast by Canal de las Estrellas (now known simply as Las Estrellas). It is a remake of the Argentine telenovela, ''Rebelde Way'', adapted for t ...
'', playing the character of Carla. In 2013, Fronckowiak launched herself as a writer. In her first book, ''Inclassificável: Memórias da Estrada'', she tells the experiences she lived traveling around forty Brazilian cities with the band
Rebeldes
Rebeldes (also stylized as RebeldeS) was a Brazilian musical group that emerged from the Brazilian soap opera'' Rebel Rio'', produced by Rede Record in partnership with Mexican Televisa. In the plot, the six main characters—Alice, Carla, Dieg ...
.
Early life
The daughter of psychologist Berenice Nunes and André Fronckowiak, Melanie was born in
Araranguá, in the state of Santa Catarina and raised in
Pelotas
Pelotas () is a Brazilian city and municipality (''município''), the third most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located 270 km (168 mi) from Porto Alegre, the state's capital city, and 130 km (80.8&n ...
, Rio Grande do Sul. In school, she acted in the play ''Grêmio estudantil'' and was several times representative of her class. In high school, she won a scholarship to a university in
Santa Cruz do Sul
Santa Cruz do Sul () is a city in central Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The city has an estimate 131,000 inhabitants as of 2020 and sits about 150 km (93 miles) from the capital city of the state, Porto Alegre. The city enjoys a high standard ...
, where her paternal uncle lived.
At the age of nineteen, Fronckowiak became a model after winning the title of Miss World Rio Grande do Sul, also winning Miss Personality and Miss Sul World.
Career
After working as a model, Fronckowiak did amateur theater and began her television career by appearing in commercials. In 2010, she made a cameo appearance in a scene in the Brazilian soap opera ''
Viver a Vida
''Viver a Vida'' (literally: Living Life, English title: ''Seize the Day'') is a Brazilian telenovela broadcast by Globo from September 14, 2009 to May 14, 2010. It is written by Manoel Carlos in collaboration with Ângela Chaves, Cláudia Lage, ...
''. In 2010, she signed with Rede Record, and the following year she joined the cast of ''
Rebelde
''Rebelde'' (English: ''Rebel'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Pedro Damián for Televisa, broadcast by Canal de las Estrellas (now known simply as Las Estrellas). It is a remake of the Argentine telenovela, ''Rebelde Way'', adapted for t ...
'', where she played the character of Carla. On the show, Carla is a member of the pop band
Rebeldes
Rebeldes (also stylized as RebeldeS) was a Brazilian musical group that emerged from the Brazilian soap opera'' Rebel Rio'', produced by Rede Record in partnership with Mexican Televisa. In the plot, the six main characters—Alice, Carla, Dieg ...
. The group went on to hold performances outside the program, with Fronckowiak as one of its six members.
In October 2011, the former model was voted Girl of the Year in Meus Prêmios Nick, a teen event sponsored by
Nickelodeon Brazil
Nickelodeon is a Brazilian pay television channel focused on kids programming. It was launched in 1996 as an autonomous feed of Nickelodeon Latin America in Portuguese with different programming and series.
History
Nickelodeon Brazil was launched ...
. In 2012, she won two categories in the Troféu Internet, and was nominated to Troféu Imprensa, one of the biggest annual awards on Brazilian television.
In May 2013, Fronckowiak published the book ''Inclassíficavel: Memórias da Estrada'' (Unclassifiable: Memories of the Road). According to her, a major publisher turned down the manuscript for "being difficult to classify". This experience influenced the naming of the book. The book includes poetic reflections and a collection of short stories that recorded during the Rebeldes tour of forty cities throughout Brazil.
Since 2014, Fronckowiak has worked as a television presenter. She signed with
Rede Bandeirantes
Rede Bandeirantes (, ''Bandeirantes Network''), or simply known as Band (), is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It began broadcasting on May 13, 1967 on VHF channel 13 in São Paulo. Its founder was businessman João Saad with t ...
to work on the show ''
A Liga
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
''. In February 2015, she was hired by
Globosat
Globosat, was a Brazilian pay television content service, part of Grupo Globo. Established in 1991, after the creation of subscription television services in Brazil, with 29 channels and over 1,000 employees, it is the largest pay television c ...
to present ''Destino Certo'', which premiered on 3 September 2015. This was her first solo program, and it was renewed for a second year.
In 2015, Fronckowiak was invited to join the cast of ''El Hipnotizador'', the first bilingual
HBO television series in Brazil. It was broadcast simultaneously in all Latin American countries by
HBO Brasil
HBO Brazil is the Brazilian version of HBO, a pay TV channel dedicated to feature films, series and other special content since 1994. As with its American counterpart, HBO Brazil has premium characteristics, and invests in original programming. ...
and
HBO Latin America Group
HBO Latin America was a company that owned and distributed several television channels in the region of Latin America. It was originally founded as a joint venture between Time Warner and Ole Communications in 1991 with the launch of HBO in the r ...
, and also on Hispanic channels in the United States. That same year, Fronckowiak launched a fashion blog called ''Sweet Ray of Style'' and received the support of major brands, such as
Chanel.
In 2016,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
announced Fronckowiak as part of the main cast of ''
3%'', the first Brazilian original series on the streaming service.
Selected filmography
Awards and nominations
Published works
* ''Inclassificável: Memórias da Estrada'' (2013)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fronckowiak, Melanie
1988 births
Living people
Brazilian people of Polish descent
Brazilian people of Portuguese descent
Brazilian television actresses
Brazilian female models
Brazilian non-fiction writers
21st-century Brazilian singers
21st-century Brazilian women singers