Melanie Paxson

Melanie Deanne Paxson (née Moore; born September 26, 1972[1]) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jaclyn in Cupid, Sara Brennan in Happy Family and as Julie in Notes from the Underbelly. Paxson also appeared in a number of Gladware television commercials in the early 2000s.

Melanie Paxson
Paxson in 2007
Born
Melanie Deanne Moore

(1972-09-26) September 26, 1972
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1990s–present
Spouse(s)Andy Paxson
Children2
WebsiteOfficial website

Life and career

Paxson was born in Champaign, Illinois, and grew up in Mahomet, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in Theatre.[2] She received training in acting at Second City Chicago and performed with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.[1]

Paxson later became involved with "The Crew on the U" on Chicago's WCIU-TV. The Crew was made up of a group of young actors (including WCIU personality George Blaise) that appeared in promos for the station shortly after WCIU became a full-time general English language station after Univision (its former affiliate) bought WGBO-TV. Paxson also appeared as Velma in promos for WCIU's Scooby-Doo episodes the station aired on weekday mornings. Paxson was still seen on WCIU and WFBT (The Chicago low power station that was first home to MeTV in 2003) in disclaimers for E/I Children's programming as late as the mid 2000s. Paxson by that time had become relatively famous on a national level.

She pursued a screen career. In 1997, she had an uncredited role in the series Early Edition. Her first notable screen role was a recurring role as Jaclyn in the ABC series Cupid from 1998 to 1999. She went on guest star in the series The Drew Carey Show, Quintuplets, Joey, Related, Kitchen Confidential, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Surviving Suburbia, Rules of Engagement, Medium and The Exes. From 2003 to 2004, Paxson had a regular role in the NBC sitcom Happy Family as Sara Brennan.[2] From 2007 to 2008, she co-starred as Julie in the ABC sitcom Notes from the Underbelly, the series aired for two seasons.[2] From 2009 to 2010, she had a recurring role as Doris Madigan (née Aidem) on the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP.[2] She is also the spokeswoman in Red Robin's burger commercials.[2]

Paxson's film credits include Ready to Rumble (2000), Slackers (2002), Saving Mr. Banks as Dolly (Dolores Vought), Disney's secretary (2013), and starring as Joyce DeWitt in the television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company (2003).[1] She has appeared in television commercials for State Farm Insurance (as the wife who famously asks, "What are you wearing, 'Jake from State Farm?'"), Fiber One, Target, Yoplait, Red Robin, Glad Trash Bags, Hotels.com, Icomfort mattresses, and 1-800-DENTIST.[3] She starred in the 2015 Disney Channel TV Original Movie Descendants and its sequels, Descendants 2 Descendants 3. She played the Fairy Godmother from "Cinderella," now serving as the Head Mistress for the school, Auradon Prep. She also played a mother of a schoolchild in the second episode of the second series of the ABC comedy Speechless, which played on October 4, 2017.

Personal life

Paxson is married to Andy Paxson, co-owner of Los Angeles restaurant Simplethings Sandwich & Pie Shop. They live in Los Angeles with their son Miller and daughter Winifred.[2]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1999 The Opera Lover Bibi
2000 Ready to Rumble Wendy
2013 Ending Up Blair Short
2013 Saving Mr. Banks Dolly
2015 Come Simi Lucy
2015 The Outfield Judith Meola
2017 The Magnificent Room Stacy Post-production
2018 Chicken Girls: The Movie Principal Anthony

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1997 Early Edition Candace "A Regular Joe"
1998–99 Cupid Jaclyn Recurring role
2001 Kristin Madeline "The Escort"
2002 Dexter Prep Meg TV film
2003 Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company Joyce DeWitt TV film
2003 The Drew Carey Show Teri "Two Girls for Every Boy"
2003–04 Happy Family Sara Brennan Main role
2004 Quintuplets Lisa "Quint Con"
2005 Related Kathy "Cry Me a Sister"
2005 Kitchen Confidential Jessica "You Lose, I Win"
2005–06 Joey Marci "Joey and the Big Break: Part 2", "Joey and the Party for Alex"
2007 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Nancy Katz "A La Cart"
2007–08 Notes from the Underbelly Julie Main role
2009 Surviving Suburbia Carla "Project Run Away"
2009 Rules of Engagement Deirdre "Twice"
2009 Medium Miss Colletto "Bite Me"
2009–10 True Jackson, VP Doris Aden Recurring role
2011 The Exes Rebecca "Lutz and the Real Girl"
2012 Last Man Standing Liz "The Spotlight"
2013–14 American Dad! Harper (voice) "Crotchwalkers", "Permanent Record Wrecker", "Roger Passes the Bar"
2014 Masters of Sex Mrs. Turnsworth "Giants"
2015 Cougar Town Mary "A Two Story Town", "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
2015 Descendants Fairy Godmother TV film
2015 Truth Be Told Linda "Big Black Coffee", "The Ecosystem", "The Tell-Tale Tacos"
2016 The Real O'Neals Nancy "The Real Book Club", "The Real Move"
2016 Trollhunters Gladys (voice) "Becoming: Part 2", "To Catch a Changeling"
2017 Bones Patty "The Brain in the Bot"
2017 Trial & Error Gail "A Hostile Jury"
2017 Descendants 2 Fairy Godmother TV film
2017 Speechless Carla "F-I-- FIRST S-E-- SECOND F-- FIRST DAY"
2019 Descendants 3 Fairy Godmother TV film
gollark: I do not really consider arbitrarily excluding people from a thing "fun".
gollark: It is arbitrary unless they actually want to talk about, I don't know, how tech relates to hair loss.
gollark: I would probably dislike that, yes.
gollark: No, I would feel vaguely beeoidal about this unless it was actually about hair loss or something.
gollark: Fascinating.

References
  1. Melanie Paxson, Buddy TV
  2. About Melanie
  3. Merli, Melissa (December 17, 2013). "Actress from Mahomet Gives Thanks for Hanks". The News-Gazette. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.