Melissa Mars is a French actress and singer-songwriter. She appeared alongside

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...

in ''From Paris With Love'' produced by

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

(''Nikita, Lucy''). She won a best supporting actress award for her performance in '' The Cabining'', and had her song "Beautiful" included in

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

's "52 Songs of Happiness" worldwide music compilation. She released three solo albums with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

, and featured on duets, including "1980" which reached number 5 in the charts. She was in '' Mozart the Rock Opera'', which sold more than 1,500,000 tickets.

Biography

Mars started acting at the age of 13 in her hometown of Marseilles. At 16 she moved to Paris with her single mother and continued acting while pursuing a curriculum of math and science at the

Lycée Louis-Le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

. She made her film debut in the Laurent Heynemann feature, ''One Way Ticket.'' She became a singer-songwriter, partnering with Lilas Klif, her mother, to co-author lyrics. She released three solo albums with

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

as well as several duets. Her single ''1980'' reached number 5 in the charts''.'' '' '' In 2009 she combined her vocal and acting talents for a leading role in the rock musical, ''Mozart The Rock Opera'', directed by

Olivier Dahan Olivier Dahan (born 26 June 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. His third directed film, ''La Vie en rose'', was one of the only French cinema films to win two Academy Awards, including the first acting Oscar in the French language. ...

. She played the role of

Aloysia ''Aloysia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are known generally as beebrushes.

for 346 shows in front of over 1,500,000 spectators, resulting in three

NRJ Music Award An NRJ Music Award (commonly abbreviated as an NMA) is an award presented by the French radio station NRJ to honor the best in the French and worldwide music industry. The awards ceremony, created in 2000 by NRJ in partnership with the televisi ...

s, a diamond record (over 700,000 sales), and a 3D movie filmed by FX guru Mark Weingartner (''The Matrix, Inception''). She appeared in the Super Bowl spot for '' From Paris with Love'' alongside

. Five more American feature films followed in less than a year, in which she starred alongside the likes of

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress, producer, and television host. Fox began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983). She eventually continued her career with roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of O ...

(''

Kill Bill ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...

''),

Tom Sizemore Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...

(''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

''),

David Proval David Aaron Proval (born May 20, 1942) is an American actor, known for his roles as Tony DeVienazo in the Martin Scorsese film ''Mean Streets'' (1973), Snooze in ''The Shawshank Redemption'' (1994), Siegfried in ''Four Rooms'' (1995) and as Rich ...

(''

Mean Streets ''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

''), and

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelse ...

('' Snatch,

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

''). In 2014,

included her bossa nova song ''Beautiful'' in its ''52 Songs of Happiness'' compilation. In November 2014, her role in ''The Cabining'' garnered a best supporting actress award at the FANtastic Horror Film Festival in San Diego, California. Mars uses her fluency in Arabic, one of five languages she speaks besides French, English, Spanish, and German, for her series regular role as a spy on a TV show, ''Khamsa''. She is also one of the leads in ''Curse of Mesopotamia,'' the first international feature film shot in Kurdistan, Iraq. The movie was interrupted by the events with ISIS in Iraq, but shooting resumed and wrapped six months later in Jordan. She had her American TV debut on

Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...

in ''Deadly Delusions, a thriller'' alongside

Haylie Duff Haylie Katherine Duff (born February 19, 1985) is an American actress, singer and songwriter, and the older sister of American singer and actress Hilary Duff. She is best known for her roles as List of 7th Heaven characters#Sandy Jameson, Sandy ...

(''

Napoleon Dynamite ''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy high- ...

)'' and

Teri Polo Theresa Elizabeth Polo (born June 1, 1969) is an American actress. She starred as Pam Byrnes-Focker in the ''Meet the Parents'' trilogy and played the role of police officer Stef Adams Foster in the Freeform series '' The Fosters'' (2013–201 ...

''(

Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless nurse (Ben Stiller as Greg Focker) while v ...

, The Fosters).'' Her series of ''Children of China'' portraits was exhibited in Paris for a month during the International Children’s day, printed on canvas, which measured nearly six feet long.

Discography

Studio albums

*2003: ''Et alors!'' (

, #104 France) *2005: ''La Reine des abeilles'' (Polydor, two versions) *2007: ''À la recherche de l'amour perdu'' (Polydor, #93 France) *2009–2010: ''

Mozart, l'opéra rock ''Mozart, l'opéra rock'' ("Mozart, the rock opera") is a French musical with music by Dove Attia, Jean-Pierre Pilot, Olivier Schultheis, William Rousseau, Nicolas Luciani, Rodrigue Janois and François Castello, lyrics by Vincent Baguian and Pa ...

'', cast musical studio album (Warner, #2 in France)

EPs

*2006: ''Remixes'' (including ''Apocalips)'' *2011: ''Et je veux danser'' (single and remixes) *2011: ''Just Only Wanna Dance'' (single and remixes) *2014: ''Tweet N' Roll'' (single and remixes) *2016: ''I Will Rise'' (single and remix)

Singles

Collaborations

*2002: ''Garonne,'' she performs 4 songs in ''Garonne'' TV miniseries soundtrack *2005: ''Les Homéricains'', duet with

Lara Fabian Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born January 9, 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021Broadway World (2017)"Lara Fabian annule finalement sa tourn ...

, released on '' Lara Fabian 9'' *2006: ''La Machine,'' duet with

Pascal Obispo Pascal Michel Obispo (; born 8 January 1965) is a French singer-songwriter. Biography Pascal Obispo, son of Max Obispo (a former Bordeaux Girondins football player of Basque origin) and Nicole Guérin (originally from Angers), was born on 8 J ...

, released on ''Les Fleurs du Bien'' (#5 in France) *2006: ''1980,'' duet with

, released on ''Les Fleurs du Bien'' (#5 in France) *2006: ''Les Frôleuses,'' duet with

Louis Bertignac Louis Bertignac (; born 23 February 1954) is a French guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. An ex Shakin' Street member and a founding member in 1976 of the rock band Téléphone, he formed Bertignac et les Visiteurs after Téléphone split in 19 ...

*2007: ''Eden Log,'' she performs on 2 tracks of the movie ''Eden Log'''s soundtrack *2009: ''

'', musical studio album (#2 in France) *2010: ''Digital,'' Duet with Riot in Paris *2012: ''Week-end Love,'' duet with Dogwalker *2012: ''Je reprends ma route,'' with 40 other French artists, they record the single for the children's organisation ''Les voix de l'enfant'' *2012: ''Dead Flower,'' she composes the score for the short movie ''Glimpse,'' and performs the closing credits song. *2014: ''Staying Alive,'' she records the closing credits song for the movie ''The Cabining'' *2016: ''I Will Rise,'' she records the closing credits song for the movie ''Curse of Mesopotamia''

Filmography

*1996: ''Titane,'' by Daniel Moosmann *1998: ''Locked-in Syndrome,'' by Isabelle Ponnet (

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

) *1998: ''Le Rire du bourreau,'' by Elsa Chabrol (

) *1999: ''Virilité et autres sentiments modernes'', by Ronan Girre *2000: ''P.J''. on

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

, by

Gérard Vergez Gérard (French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitue ...

(TV series) *2001: ''Un aller simple,'' by

Laurent Heynemann Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

*2002: ''Garonne'' (TV series directed by

Claude d'Anna Claude d'Anna (born 31 March 1945) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has directed 16 films since 1970. His film '' Salome'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. A year later his film ''Macbet ...

, in which she also sings the title song) *2010: '' From Paris with Love,'' by

Pierre Morel Pierre Morel (born 12 May 1964) is a French film director and cinematographer. His work includes ''District 13'', '' From Paris with Love'', and '' Taken.'' Career After spending his formative years in cinema school, Morel debuted in 2000 as c ...

*2010: ''

'', filmed-in-3D version of the musical *2013: ''Glimpse'', by Daryl Ferrara (short movie) *2013: My Cage, de Guillaume Campanacci (short movie) *2014: '' The Cabining'', by Steve Kopera (multi-awarded horror comedy) *2015: ''Sorrow'', by Millie Loredo, starring

Vannessa Vasquez Vannessa Vasquez is an American actress who was born on December 21, 1983 in Galveston , Texas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for ''East Los High'' (2013), '' The Brave'' (2017) and '' The Fix'' (2019). She began her acting career per ...

*2015: ''Assassin's Game'', by Anoop Rangi, Lionsgate Digital, starring

*2015: ''Lost Angelas'', by Ana Maria Manso & William Wayne - ''in post-production'' *2016: ''Six Ways To Die'', by Nadeem Soumah, eOne, starring

Dominique Swain Dominique Swain (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress and producer. She came to prominence playing the title character in Adrian Lyne's 1997 film adaptation of ''Lolita'', alongside her supporting role as Jamie Archer in John Woo's ''Fac ...

*2016: ''Curse of Mesopotamia'', by Lauand Omar (first international movie shot in Iraq) *2016: ''

Virtual Revolution ''Virtual Revolution'' (also known as ''2047: Virtual Revolution'') is a 2016 independent cyberpunk film directed and written by Guy-Roger Duvert in his list of directorial debuts, directorial debut, and starring Mike Dopud, Jane Badler, Jochen Hä ...

'', by Guy-Roger Duvert (multi-awarded science fiction movie) *2018: ''Puzzled,'' by

Michael Bergmann Michael Bergmann is an American writer, director, and producer. Biography Michael Bergmann graduated with a B.A. in Latin from Columbia University in 1975 and studied film concurrently at N.Y.U. Undergraduate Film School. He went on to study a ...

, original comedy series pilot *2018: ''Deadly Delusions,'' by Nadeem Soumah, movie for

, starring

... *2018: ''The Letter Red,'' by Joston Theney, modern adaptation of ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

Awards

*Nomination: Best ensemble cast in « Virtual Revolution » @ First Glance Film Festival *Best supporting actress in « The Cabining » @ the Fantastic Horror Film Festival 2014, San Diego, CA *Best Ensemble Cast in « Mozart The Rock Opera » @

NMA NMA may refer to: *National Management Association, American association for teaching leadership in business management *National mapping agency, organisation that produces topographic maps and geographic information of a country *National Meat Asso ...

2010, FR

References

External links

*
Official site
*
Official actress site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mars, Melissa 1981 births Living people French songwriters Polydor Records artists French film actresses French television actresses Musicians from Marseille 21st-century French singers 21st-century French women singers Actresses from Marseille