Melissa Mars
International actress and French singer-songwriter, Melissa Mars received major notice in the United States and around the world after appearing alongside John Travolta in From Paris With Love produced by Luc Besson (Nikita, Lucy), winning a best supporting actress award for her performance in The Cabining, and having her song "Beautiful" be included in Coca-Cola's "52 Songs of Happiness" worldwide music compilation.
Melissa Mars | |
|---|---|
 Melissa Mars at the 2012 Deauville American Film Festival | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | actress, singer-songwriter, director, photographer |
| Website | www.melissamars.net |
She is well known in France for her pop music career. She released three solo albums with Universal Music, and featured on many duets, including "1980" which reached number 5 in the charts. She is also well known for her leading role in the successful musical Mozart the Rock Opera, a smash hit with more than 1,500,000 tickets sold.
Biography
She takes her first steps onto the stage, performing works in both French and English, at the young age of 13 in her southern French hometown of Marseilles. At 16 she moves to Paris with her single mother and continues acting in the theater while pursuing a curriculum of math and science at the top-rated Lycée Louis-Le-Grand. After graduation Melissa decides it is time to dedicate herself to her passion. The stage leads the way to cinema, and she makes her film debut in the Laurent Heynemann feature, One Way Ticket. It is around this time that a shift towards music takes place. During a fateful meeting with a film director, she catches the ear of a songwriter & music producer. After she auditions for him, she quickly begins a career path as a singer-songwriter, partnering with Lilas Klif, her mother, a writer and poet, to co-author lyrics. Within a few short years, she produces and releases three solo albums with Polydor - Universal Music as well as several duets and featured hit performances, among which the hit single 1980 reaching number 5 in the charts.
In 2009 she combines her vocal and acting talents for a leading role in the hit rock musical, Mozart The Rock Opera, directed by Olivier Dahan, who helmed the Oscar winning film, La Vie en Rose. She plays the role of Aloysia for an astounding 346 shows in front of over 1,500,000 spectators, resulting in three NRJ Music Awards, a diamond record (over 700,000 sales), and a 3D movie filmed by FX guru Mark Weingartner (The Matrix, Inception).
After the musical, Melissa’s acting career comes back in full swing, beginning with a high-profile appearance in the Super Bowl spot for From Paris with Love alongside John Travolta. Five more American feature films follow in less than a year, in which she stars alongside the likes of Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill), Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), David Proval (Mean Streets, The Sopranos), Vinnie Jones (Snatch, X-Men)...
In 2014, Coca-Cola comes calling, including her bossa nova infused song Beautiful in its 52 Songs of Happiness compilation.
In November 2014, her role in The Cabining garners a best supporting actress award at the FANtastic Horror Film Festival of 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 new TV show, Khamsa, which combines action, comedy and supernatural genres and which also gives Melissa the opportunity to train and perform her own fighting scenes – no stunt double! She is also one of the leads in Curse of Mesopotamia, the first international feature film shot in Kurdistan, Iraq! As she likes to say: «Because Music, Cinema and Art in general... have no borders, no religion! » The movie is interrupted by the events with ISIS in Iraq, the shooting resumes and wraps six months later in Jordan.
Mars has been traveling between Los Angeles, New York and Paris, moving between the worlds of music and film. She just had her American TV debut on Lifetime in Deadly Delusions, a thriller alongside Haylie Duff (Napoleon Dynamite) and Teri Polo (Meet the Parents, The Fosters...). Several other features are soon to be released: the thriller The Letter Red, a modern adaptation of Macbeth; the four-part series Texas Zombie Wars; and for the first time, Melissa explores a pure comedic character in Puzzled, a Michael Bergmann upcoming original series that features "Hors La Loi" an unreleased original song of hers in the opening titles.
When she’s not on set or in the studio, Melissa likes to write or dedicate some time to her other passion: the photography. Her series of Children of China portraits was exhibited in Paris for a month during the International Children’s day, printed on giant canvas, which measured nearly six feet long. With this exhibition, she launched her project to help promote children’s rights throughout the world, including all five continents and other children’s portraits…
Discography
Studio albums
- 2003: Et alors! (Polydor, #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, 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
| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "T'am – Tam" | (single) |
| 2000 | "Qu'Elles Aillent Se Faire Voir" | (single) |
| 2003 | "Papa M'Aime Pas" (#70 France) | Et alors! |
| 2003 | "Et Alors!" | Et alors! |
| 2003 | "Quelqu'un" | Et alors! |
| 2005 | "And … I Hate You" | La Reine des abeilles |
| 2005 | "Dans Ma Bulle Antisismique" | La Reine des abeilles |
| 2006 | "Apocalips" | La Reine des abeilles |
| 2006 | "1980" (duet with Pascal Obispo) (#3 Belgique, #5 France, #43 Suisse) | Les Fleurs du bien |
| 2007 | "Love Machine" (#93 France) | À la recherche de l'amour perdu |
| 2007 | "Horror Movies" | À la recherche de l'amour perdu |
| 2008 | "Et Si Nous 2" ((feat. Pascal Obispo) | À la recherche de l'amour perdu |
| 2009 | "Army of Love" | À la recherche de l'amour perdu |
| 2010 | "Digital" feat Riot in Paris | (single) |
| 2011 | "Et Je Veux Danser" | |
| 2011 | "Just Only Wanna Dance" | Just Only Wanna Dance E.P |
| 2012 | "Week-End Love", duet with Dogwalker | (single) |
| 2014 | "Beautiful" (Coca-Cola Music) | 52 Songs of Happiness Vol. 1 |
| 2014 | "Tweet n' Roll" | |
| 2016 | "I Will Rise" | Curse of Mesopotamia soundtrack |
Collaborations
- 2002: Garonne, she performs 4 songs in Garonne TV miniseries soundtrack
- 2005: Les Homéricains, duet with Lara Fabian, released on Lara Fabian 9
- 2006: La Machine, duet with Pascal Obispo, released on Les Fleurs du Bien (#5 in France)
- 2006: 1980, duet with Pascal Obispo, released on Les Fleurs du Bien (#5 in France)
- 2006: Les Frôleuses, duet with Louis Bertignac
- 2007: Eden Log, she performs on 2 tracks of the movie Eden Log's soundtrack
- 2009: Mozart, l'opéra rock, 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)
- 1998: Le Rire du bourreau, by Elsa Chabrol (short subject)
- 1999: Virilité et autres sentiments modernes, by Ronan Girre
- 2000: P.J. on France 2, by Gérard Vergez (TV series)
- 2001: Un aller simple, by Laurent Heynemann
- 2002: Garonne (TV series directed by Claude d'Anna, in which she also sings the title song)
- 2010: From Paris with Love, by Pierre Morel
- 2010: Mozart, l'opéra rock, 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
- 2015: Assassin's Game, by Anoop Rangi, Lionsgate Digital, starring Tom Sizemore, Vivica A. Fox
- 2015: Lost Angelas, by Ana Maria Manso & William Wayne - in post-production
- 2016: Six Ways To Die, by Nadeem Soumah, eOne, starring Vinnie Jones, Dominique Swain
- 2016: Curse of Mesopotamia, by Lauand Omar (first international movie shot in Iraq)
- 2016: Virtual Revolution, by Guy-Roger Duvert (multi-awarded science fiction movie)
- 2018: Puzzled, by Michael Bergmann, original comedy series pilot
- 2018: Deadly Delusions, by Nadeem Soumah, movie for Lifetime, starring Haylie Duff, Teri Polo...
- 2018: The Letter Red, by Joston Theney, modern adaptation of Macbeth
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 2010, FR
References
External links
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