Biography
Amanda Melby, a native Minnesotan, made her way to Phoenix via Southern California, Washington, DC and Cleveland. She has worked as a professional actress for over 30 years and is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA.
Amanda can be seen in the feature films Raising Buchanan with René Auberjonois and M. Emmet Walsh, Locker 13 with Ricky Schroeder, Jason Spisak and Jon Gries, Jake's Corner with Richard Tyson, Danny Trejo and BJ Thomas, Netherbeast Incorporated with Darrell Hammond, Steve Burns, Dave Foley and Jason Mewes, and The Majestic with Martin Landau and Jim Carrey, among others. Her short film credits include Ouroborous, Covet, Cult Status, Impotent, Viewfinder, Small Happys, The Fencestitute, Cocktail Wizard, and The Darkness Of Light. Her television credits include Candid Camera (TV Land), S.I.S. (Spike TV), Boston Public (Fox) and Screen Wars (AZTV).
Her Los Angeles theatrical credits include understudying for Peri Gilpin as Gwendolyn in Frasier Gone Wilde: The Importance Of Being Earnest at the Mark Taper Forum, starring as Sonia in the LA premiere of LIFE x 3 at the Elephant Asylum, as Doris in Same Time, Next Year at the Long Beach Playhouse, and as Amy in the premiere of Chenille Stems And Coco Midrib at the Secret Rose Theatre. Regional theatre credits include the Cleveland Play House, Porthouse Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Phoenix Theatre, TheatreWorks, Arizona Theatre Company, and Theatre Artists Studio.
She also works in commercials, industrials, voice over and print, on both national campaigns and local spots.
In addition to acting, Amanda also works as a producer, director, teacher and spokeswoman. She was the Executive Director of IFP Phoenix 2005-2011, is the owner/Head Coach of Verve Studios, a boutique acting studio and is a Faculty Associate at ASU teaching Screen Acting for over 7 years. She is a four-time Emmy® nominee for her work as Producer and Host of the television show Screen Wars and the Raising Buchanan trailer, was honored with the 2007 Phoenix Film Foundation Board Member of the Year, with the 2008 Layne Award and was nominated for the 2011 Governor's Arts Award for her contributions to the Arizona Entertainment Community.
She has studied in Gunnar Rohrbacher's Master Class at Actors Comedy Studio (LA) and Howard Fine's Master Class at Howard Fine Studio (LA). Amanda is an accomplished cellist and holds a BA in theatre and English from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota. www.AmandaMelby.com.
