Melinda Clarke
Encyclopedia
Melinda Patrice Clarke is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress who has primarily worked in television
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

, and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather
Lady Heather
Heather Kessler, also known as Lady Heather, is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Melinda Clarke....

 on CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

. She currently portrays the role of Amanda on the television series Nikita
Nikita (TV series)
La Femme Nikita is a Canadian action/drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Brothers. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow...

.

Personal life

Clarke was born in Dana Point, California
Dana Point, California
-Climate:Dana Point enjoys a mild climate where temperatures tend to average around the 60's. The warmest month of the year is August with an average temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit. The coldest month is December with an average minimum temperature of 44 degrees Fahrenheit.-2010:The 2010...

, the daughter of Patricia Lewis, a ballet dancer, and John Clarke
John Clarke (actor)
John Clarke is an American actor.John Clark was the first actor to play Mickey Horton on the American soap opera Days of our Lives, starring on the show from its debut in 1965 until he retired early in 2004 due to health concerns. He was replaced in the role by John Ingle, who left in 2006...

, an actor who was an original cast member of the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

. She has a brother, Joshua, and a sister, Heidi, who died in 1994 of a malignant heart tumor.
She has a daughter named Catherine Grace.

Career

Clarke appeared on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

  as Faith Brown (where her father was a senior cast member), and starred on Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
Soldier of Fortune, Inc. was a television show created by Dan Gordon which ran for two seasons, from 1997-1999...

 for both of its seasons. She also guest starred on Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....

 as the Amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...

 chieftain Velasca
Velasca
Velasca is a fictional character in the popular TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. In her tenure on the show, she served time as the Amazon Queen after defeating her adoptive mother Queen Melosa for the crown. Also during her time as a deity, she dubs herself the "Goddess of Chaos"...

, Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

 as the brothel madam Nandi, Charmed as the Siren, and has had six appearances on CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

 where she played the dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...

, Lady Heather
Lady Heather
Heather Kessler, also known as Lady Heather, is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Melinda Clarke....

. She also appeared in the Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

 episode "The Muffin Tops
The Muffin Tops
"The Muffin Tops" is the 155th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 21st episode of the eighth season. It aired on May 8, 1997.-Plot:...

", playing Jerry's girlfriend who likes anything hairless.

She appeared on the FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 drama The O.C. as Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Melinda Clarke.-Background:...

, a cunning socialite who marries for money. Her character in the show is mainly potrayed as a mulipulative, morally-wrong woman, but as the show progresses you begin to understand why she makes her choices. She was originally billed as a guest star in the first few episodes, and due to fan response was offered a series regular contract; Clarke accepted the role and her character became an integral part of the show's storylines. As well as starring on The O.C., she has appeared on HBO's hit series Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

 as a fictionalized version of herself, married to Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...

's Terrance McQuewick. Clarke also appeared as the Devil's girlfriend in The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...

's 2007 series Reaper
Reaper (TV series)
Reaper is an American television series that focuses on Sam Oliver, a "reaper" who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell.The series originally ran on the CW from September 25, 2007 to May 26, 2009....

. She also auditioned for the role of "Number Six
Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Number Six is a family of fictional characters from the reimagined science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. She is portrayed by Canadian actress and model Tricia Helfer. Of the twelve known Cylon models, she is the sixth of the "Significant Seven"...

" on SCI-FI's smash hit Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

 but the role ultimately went to Tricia Helfer
Tricia Helfer
Tricia Janine Helfer is a Canadian actress and former model, best known for her roles as Number Six in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, "Carla" on Burn Notice, and FBI Special Agent Alex Rice on Dark Blue, as well as for hosting the first season of Canada's...

.
In 2010, she appeared on the CW show The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries (TV series)
The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW Television Network on September 10, 2009, and is currently in its third season that...

 as Kelly Donovan. Other projects included a TV movie, She Drives Me Crazy, which was produced by her former The O.C. co-star Kelly Rowan
Kelly Rowan
Kelly Rowan is a Canadian television and film actress and former fashion model. She is best known for portraying Kirsten Cohen on The O.C.-Early life:...

. She appeared as a guest star on Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...

, another series from The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...

. She plays Amanda, a series regular role, on The CW's drama Nikita
Nikita (2010 TV series)
Nikita is an American television drama that has aired on The CW Television Network since September 9, 2010 in the United States. Based on the French film Nikita , the remake Point of No Return , and a previous series La Femme Nikita , the series focuses on Nikita , a woman who escaped from a...

.

She has also lent her voice to several voice acting projects, voicing Alexa in The Animatrix: Matricluated, Sofia Ivanescu in the video game Mission Impossible: Operation Surma, Madame Macmu-Ling in Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...

 and Charlene in King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...

.

Clarke has also volunteered as an actress with the Young Storytellers Foundation.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1989-1990, 2007-2008 Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

Faith Taylor TV series
1991 Jake and the Fatman
Jake and the Fatman
Jake and the Fatman is a television crime drama starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series...

Angel Alexander Episode #5.7: "Every Time We Say Goodbye"; Credited as "Mindy Clarke"
1992 Out for Blood Laura
1992 Hot Under the Collar Monica Credited as "Mindy Clarke"
1993 Young Goodman Brown Faith Brown
1993 Return of the Living Dead 3
Return of the Living Dead 3
Return of the Living Dead 3 is an American romantic-horror film released in 1993. It was directed by Brian Yuzna and was written by John Penney. The film stars Melinda Clarke as Julie Walker, J. Trevor Edmond as Curt Reynolds, Kent McCord as Col. John Reynolds and Basil Wallace as Riverman...

Julie Walker Credited as "Mindy Clarke"
1994 Christy Episode: "George Helps Sydney"
1994 Heaven Help Us Lexy Monroe 10 episodes
1995 Return to Two Moon Junction
Return to Two Moon Junction
Return to Two Moon Junction is a 1995 romantic drama film which serves as a sequel to the 1988 film Two Moon Junction. The plot concerns a New York fashion model who returns to her Georgia home town where she has an affair with a local sculptor. The film was directed by Farhad Mann, and stars...

Savannah Delongpre
1996 Mulholland Falls
Mulholland Falls
Mulholland Falls is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori and written by Pete Dexter. The drama features Andrew McCarthy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Treat Williams, and John Malkovich.Nolte plays the...

Cigarette Girl
1996 Strange Luck
Strange Luck
Strange Luck is an American television series that aired on FOX, created by Karl Schaefer and starring D. B. Sweeney in the role of Chance Harper, a freelance photographer afflicted with a bizarre tendency to always be in the wrong place at the right time. As Chance himself says, "If I go to a...

Lola Vale Episode: "Lightning Strikes"
1996 Killer tongue
La lengua asesina
Candy
1997 Critics and the Other Freaks Mrs. M
1997-1999 Soldier of Fortune Margo Vincent TV series
1997 Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....

Velasca Episode: "The Quest"
Episode: "A Necessary Evil"
1997 Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

Alex Episode: "The Muffin Tops
The Muffin Tops
"The Muffin Tops" is the 155th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 21st episode of the eighth season. It aired on May 8, 1997.-Plot:...

"
1997 Sliders
Sliders
Sliders is an American science fiction television series. It was broadcast for five seasons, beginning in 1995 and ending in 2000. The series follows a group of travelers as they use a wormhole to "slide" between different parallel universes. The show was created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Tormé...

Allasandra Episode: "This Slide of Paradise"
1997 Spawn
Spawn (film)
Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film loosely based on the comic book of the same name, by Todd McFarlane and published by Image Comics. Directed and co-written by Mark A.Z. Dippé , the film stars Michael Jai White in the leading role...

Jessica Priest
1997 Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse. The show starred Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The show ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996 to May 4, 2001 with a total of...

Karen Decker Episode: "Out of Chicago"
1997-1999 Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
Soldier of Fortune, Inc.
Soldier of Fortune, Inc. was a television show created by Dan Gordon which ran for two seasons, from 1997-1999...

Margo Vincent 11 episodes
2000 Miss Eve Episode: "Meltdown"
2000 Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse. The show starred Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The show ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996 to May 4, 2001 with a total of...

Inspector Abby Gordon Episode: "End Game"
2001 Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...

Sarin Episode: "Broken Bow: Part 2"
2001 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather
Lady Heather
Heather Kessler, also known as Lady Heather, is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Melinda Clarke....

Episode: "Slaves of Las Vegas"
2002 .com for Murder
.com for Murder
.com for Murder is a 2001 science fiction crime drama film written by Nico Mastorakis and Phill Marr and directed by Mastorakis, starring Nastassja Kinski, Nicollette Sheridan, Roger Daltrey, and Huey Lewis...

Michelle Williams
2002 Cold Sweat Starring
2002 First Monday
First Monday
First Monday was a short-lived U.S. television midseason replacement drama centered on the U.S. Supreme Court. Like another 2002 series, "The Court," it was inspired by the prominent role the Supreme Court played in settling the 2000 presidential election...

Episode: "Pilot"
2002 Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

The Siren Episode: "Siren Song"
2002 Everwood
Everwood
Everwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...

Sally Keyes Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part"
2002-2003 Det. Olivia Cahill 5 episodes
2003 Tremors Dr. Megan Flynn Episode: "Night of the Shriekers
2003 Alexa (voice) Segment: "Matriculated"
2003 Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

Nandi Episode: "Heart of Gold"
2003 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather Episode: "Lady Heather's Box"
2003-2007 The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

Julie Cooper-Nichol
Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Melinda Clarke.-Background:...

88 episodes; Series Regular
2004 Dynamite Beta
2005-2011 Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

Melinda Clarke 6 Episodes: "The Bat Mitzvah", "Strange Days", "Scared Straight", "Motherf*cker", "The Big Bang", "Second to Last"
2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...

Madame Macmu-Ling/Additional Voices Episode: "The Tales of Ba Sing Se"
2006 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather Episode: "Pirates of the Third Reich"
2007 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather Episode: "The Good, the Bad, and the Dominatrix"
2007 Brooke McCluskey TV movie
2007 She Drives Me Crazy Blithe Meacham TV movie
2007 Reaper
Reaper (TV series)
Reaper is an American television series that focuses on Sam Oliver, a "reaper" who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell.The series originally ran on the CW from September 25, 2007 to May 26, 2009....

Mimi Episode: "Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes
-As a metaphor:* "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust", a phrase from the Anglican burial service, used sometimes to denote total finality. It is based on scriptural texts such as "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" , and "I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them...

"
2008 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather Episode: "Leave out All the Rest"
2008 King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...

Charlene (voice) Episode: "Three Men and a Bastard"
2008 Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...

Sasha Banacheck Episode: "Chuck Versus the Seduction
Chuck Versus the Seduction
"Chuck Versus the Seduction" is the second episode of Season 2 of the U.S. television series Chuck, first airing October 6, 2008. Chuck must go undercover to retrieve the Cipher from Sasha Banachek , known as the Black Widow...

"
2008 Eli Stone
Eli Stone
Eli Stone is an American TV series, and also the name of the title character.San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone begins to see things, which leads him to discover a brain aneurysm...

Dr. Lee Episode: "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
Episode: "Two Ministers"
2009 Eli Stone
Eli Stone
Eli Stone is an American TV series, and also the name of the title character.San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone begins to see things, which leads him to discover a brain aneurysm...

Dr. Lee Episode: "Sonoma"
2010 Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...

Donna Episode: "Old Sins Cast Long Shadows"
2010 Kelly Donovan 4 episodes
2010-present Nikita
Nikita (TV series)
La Femme Nikita is a Canadian action/drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Brothers. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow...

Amanda Series Regular
2011 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

Lady Heather / Dr. Kessler Episode: "Unleashed"

External links

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