Melinda Clarke Biography

Melinda Patrice Clarke (born April 24, 1969) is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. As of 2010, she portrays Amanda on the action-thriller television series Nikita. She was added as a recurring character on Vegas in 2013.

Early life

Clarke was born in Dana Point, California, the daughter of Patricia Lewis, a ballet dancer, and John Clarke, an actor who was an original cast member of the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives. One of three siblings, Clarke's sister, Heidi, died in 1994 of a malignant heart tumor. She has a brother, Joshua.

Career

Clarke appeared on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives as Faith Taylor (where her father was a senior cast member), and starred on Soldier of Fortune, Inc. for both of its seasons. She also guest starred on Xena: Warrior Princess as the Amazon chieftain Velasca, Firefly as the brothel madam Nandi, Charmed as the Siren, and has had six appearances on CSI where she played the dominatrix, Lady Heather. She also appeared in the Seinfeld episode "The Muffin Tops", playing Jerry's girlfriend who likes anything hairless.

She appeared on the Fox drama The O.C. as Julie Cooper, a cunning socialite who marries for money. Her character in the show is mainly portrayed as a manipulative, morally wrong woman, but as the show progresses the reasons behind her choices are explained. 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 as a fictionalized version of herself, married to Malcolm McDowell's Terrance McQuewick. Clarke also appeared as the Devil's girlfriend in The CW's 2007 series Reaper. She also auditioned for the role of "Number Six" on SCI-FI's smash hit Battlestar Galactica but the role ultimately went to Tricia Helfer.

In 2010, she appeared on The CW show The Vampire Diaries as Kelly Donovan. Other projects included the television film She Drives Me Crazy, which was produced by her former The O.C. co-star Kelly Rowan. She appeared as a guest star on Chuck, another series from The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz. She plays Amanda, a series regular role, on The CW's drama Nikita.

She lent her voice to several voice acting projects, voicing Alexa in The Animatrix: Matriculated, Sofia Ivanescu in the video game Mission Impossible: Operation Surma, Madame Macmu-Ling in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Charlene in King of the Hill. She has volunteered as an actress with the Young Storytellers Foundation.

Personal life

Clarke married Ernie Mirich in Dana Point, California on June 28, 1997; they have one child. The couple is now separated.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Hot Under the Collar	Monica
1992	Out for Blood	Laura
1993	Young Goodman Brown	Faith Brown
1993	Return of the Living Dead 3	Julie Walker
1995	Return to Two Moon Junction	Savannah Delongpre
1996	Mulholland Falls	Cigarette girl
1996	La lengua asesina	Candy
1997	Critics and Other Freaks	Mrs. M
1997	Soldier of Fortune	Margo Vincent	Television film
1997	Spawn	Jessica Priest
2002	Cold Sweat	Starring
2002	.com for Murder	Agent Williams
2003	'	Alexa (voice)	Segment: "Matriculated"
2004	Dynamite	Beta
2007	She Drives Me Crazy	Blithe Meacham	Television film
2013	Evelyn English How Divine	Chelsea Kirk	Television film; post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989"1990	Days of Our Lives	Faith Taylor	17 episodes
1991	Jake and the Fatman	Angel Alexander	Episode: "Every Time We Say Goodbye"
1994	'	Christy	Episode: "George Helps Sydney"
1994	Heaven Help Us	Lexy Monroe	Main cast
1996	Strange Luck	Lola Vale	Episode: "Lightning Strikes"
1997	Xena: Warrior Princess	Velasca	2 episodes
1997	Nash Bridges	Karen Decker	Episode: "Out of Chicago"
1997	Seinfeld	Alex	Episode: "The Muffin Tops"
1997	Sliders	Allasandra	Episode: "This Slide of Paradise"
1997"1999	Soldier of Fortune, Inc.	Margo Vincent	Main cast; 11 episodes
2000	'	Miss Eve	Episode: "Meltdown"
2000	Nash Bridges	Insp. Abby Gordon	Episode: "End Game"
2001	Star Trek: Enterprise	Sarin	Episode: "Broken Bow: Part 2"
2001"2011	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Lady Heather	6 episodes
2002	First Monday		Episode: "Pilot"
2002"2003	'	Detective Olivia Cahill	5 episodes
2002	Charmed	Siren	Episode: "Siren Song"
2002	Everwood	Sally Keyes	Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part"
2003	Tremors	Dr. Megan Flint	Episode: "Night of the Shriekers"
2003	Firefly	Nandi	Episode: "Heart of Gold"
2003"2007	'	Julie Cooper	Main cast; 88 episodes
2005"2011	Entourage	Melinda Clarke	6 episodes
2006	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Madame Macmu-Ling (voice)	Episode: "The Tales of Ba Sing Se"
2007	'	Brooke McCluskey	Unsold CBS pilot
2007	Reaper	Mimi	Episode: "Ashes to Ashes"
2008	King of the Hill	Charlene (voice)	Episode: "Untitled Blake McCormick Project"
2008	Chuck	Sasha Banacheck	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Seduction"
2008"2009	Eli Stone	Dr. Lee	3 episodes
2010	Ghost Whisperer	Donna	Episode: "Old Sins Cast Long Shadows"
2010"2012	'	Kelly Donovan	7 episodes
2010"present	Nikita	Amanda	Main cast
2013	Vegas	Lena Cavallo	4 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Mission: Impossible " Operation Surma	Sofia Ivanescu	Voice
2012	Nikita: Codebreaker	Amanda