Melissa Pam Gaston (née Ordway; born March 31, 1983) is an American actress and model. She has been featured in campaigns by a number of major brands including

Skechers Skechers USA, Inc. is an American multinational footwear company. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, it was founded in 1992 and is now the third largest footwear brand in the United States. History Skechers was founded in 1992 by Ro ...

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

David's Bridal David's Bridal is a Tailor, clothier in the United States that specializes in wedding dresses, prom gowns, and other formal wear. It is the largest American bridal-store chain. David's Bridal currently operates 298 stores in 49 states, Canada, an ...

, Anchor Blue and

Tillys Tillys (originally known as World of Jeans and Tops and Tilly's) is an American retail clothing company that sells an assortment of branded apparel, accessories, shoes, and more. Tillys is headquartered and operated from Irvine, California. His ...

. She is best known for portraying

Abby Newman Abby Newman is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera, ''The Young and the Restless''. The character was introduced on November 13, 2000, as the daughter of Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). The r ...

on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

soap opera ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

''. In May 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama for her portrayal of Abby Newman on The Young and the Restless.

Early life

Ordway was born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, an only child, to John and Christine Ordway. She began doing community theatre in Atlanta and also acting in theatre productions at her high school in

Snellville, Georgia Snellville is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, east of Atlanta. The population was 18,242 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the estimated population was 20,077. It is a developed suburb of Atlanta and a part of the Atlanta metro ...

. She starred in the stage performances of ''Beauty and the Beast'', '' The Women'', ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', and many other shows. After graduating from high school, Ordway attended

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

and is a member of the

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...

sorority. While at Georgia State, Ordway was chosen to participate in a reality show on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

called '' The Assistant''. She won the show and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to pursue a career in acting and modeling.

Career

Modeling

She is signed with Nous Model Management in Los Angeles and Front Management in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. She has been featured in campaigns for several brands including

, Anchor Blue.

, Kirstie Kelly and Fabrizio Gianni. She has appeared in television commercials for

Axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

Geico Cavemen The GEICO Cavemen are trademarked characters of the auto insurance company GEICO, used in a series of television advertisements that aired beginning in 2004. The campaign was created by Joe Lawson and Noel Ritter while working at The Martin Agen ...

Pontiac Vibe The Pontiac Vibe is a compact car that was sold by Pontiac from 2002 to 2010. It was jointly developed by General Motors along with Toyota, who manufactures the mechanically similar Toyota Matrix. Manufactured by the Toyota-GM joint venture NUMMI ...

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., with franchisees in North & South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa. In 2016, ''Entrepreneur'' listed Carl's Jr. as No. 54 ...

and Payless. She has also appeared on the cover ''Los Angeles Weddings Magazine'', ''Grand Sierra Magazine'' and ''Hona Hou Magazine''. She is featured as a frequent guest model on the game show ''

The Price is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

'' including the week of October 7, 2015.

Acting

Melissa Ordway's first major acting part was the recurring roles of Jordanna on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

television series '' Privileged''. Ordway's feature film debut was in '' 17 Again''. She has guest starred on such television shows as ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'' and ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'', as well as starring in several independent films including ''Callers'', ''

Tales of an Ancient Empire ''Tales of an Ancient Empire'' is a 2010 American fantasy film, fantasy-Sword and sorcery films, sword and sorcery film directed by Albert Pyun and starring Kevin Sorbo, Michael Paré, Whitney Able, Melissa Ordway, Ralf Moeller, Lee Horsley, and Vi ...

'' and ''I Heart Veronica Martin''. In 2010, Ordway appeared in the film '' The Last Song'' as Ashley and guest starred on ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...

'' as Morgan McKellan. She starred in the fantasy thriller film ''Tales of an Ancient Empire''. In 2011, she co-starred in ''Escapee'' and appeared in ''

Ted TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

'' directed by

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...

. She was cast in the main role of Chloe Carter on the

TeenNick TeenNick is an American Pay television, pay-TV channel that is operated by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Aimed primarily at teens and tweens, its programming includes a variety of live-action series inherited from si ...

series '' Hollywood Heights'' in 2012. In March 2013, Ordway was cast in the role of

on the

soap opera ''

'', replacing previous actress

Marcy Rylan Emme Marcy Rylan (born Marcy Faith Behrens; November 4, 1980) is an American actress. From 2005 until 2013, she was credited as Marcy Rylan. She is best known for her portrayals on the CBS soap operas '' Guiding Light'' as Lizzie Spaulding and '' ...

. She also appeared in the 2013 supernatural thriller film '' Odd Thomas'' as Lysette.

Personal life

On September 22, 2012, she married actor

Justin Gaston Justin Michael Gaston (born August 12, 1988) is an American singer-songwriter, model, and actor who was also a contestant on '' Nashville Star'' on season 6. He finished 10th overall out of 12 contestants. He portrayed the role of Ben Rogers o ...

, whom she met during the filming of ''Escapee''. In 2016, Justin and Melissa adopted their first child, a daughter named Olivia Christine, born April 2016. Melissa gave birth to a daughter, their second child, Sophie Jolie, on December 9, 2017.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Fashion Model Directory

Nous Models
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ordway, Melissa 1983 births Living people Actresses from Atlanta American female models American film actresses American television actresses Georgia State University alumni 21st-century American actresses People from Snellville, Georgia American soap opera actresses