Biography
Melinda deKay, born, raised, and schooled in Los Angeles, has been performing for over 50 years, She Lived in Houston for 40 years, and returned to her hometown after establishing herself as a very respected actor in the Houston regional area. Throughout the years she has been typically cast as a "character" actor being versatile in creating many memorable stage roles including Bodey in Tennessee Williams' "A Lovely Sunday At Creve Coeur", Catherine in Paul Zindel's "And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little", Suits also in Mr. Zindel's "Ladies at the Alamo", Julia in Maria Irene Fornes' "Fefu & Her Friends", Golde in the legendary "Fiddler On The Roof", Lady Macbeth, Rose in Tom Topar's "Nuts". And upon her return to Los Angeles, she was cast as Barbara in the world premiere of John Dubel's "Windchimes" and Coeurage Theatre Company's production of Tennessee Williams' "Vieux Carre" as Mrs. Wire. In 2016 she was cast by Darren Lynn Bousman for his "The Tension Experience: Ascension" in the role of Kathy. That was the beginning of her path into immersive theatre. Subsequent to Ascension, she joined a theatrical family, Just Fix It Productions' (JFI). With this company she has created memorable characters in the productions of JFI Productions/Amazon's 2017 production of "LORE", JFI's productions "AWAKE", "Inside", "HAUS of Creep", "CreepLA: Hallow House", and two seasons of "Night Fever". But the most rewarding character she has portrayed for JFI is that of Mrs. Rosemary Willows in "The Willows", which had its fourth season in the Fall of 2022.
Some of her feature film credits are "Ashes" directed by Barry Jay, in which she played Aunt Marion, the pivotal character of the film. Others include the feature film "Dolls" directed by Cuyle Carvin; her leading role of Clarelle, in the feature film "All Out Dysfunktion" directed by Imagen Award nominee Ryan LeMasters and written and produced by Golden Palm Award nominee David Bianchi. In addition to these she was cast as Eveyln in David Jung's the award-winning film "Roam", and David Ferino's film, "The Fortune Teller". She was also cast as the grandma in Sophie Galibert's "Cherry" that won the Audience Award at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, Gayle in Wendy McColm's "Fuzzy Head", and Mrs. Norris in Daniel Montgomery's "The Jessica Cabin", winning Festival Favorite, Cinema Diverse US; Best Feature at the LGBT Los Angeles Film Festival; Best Feature and Audience Favorite at the Anomaly- The Rochester Genre Film Festival; Funniest Film at the Soho Horror Film Festival; and Best Feature at the LGBTQ+ Toronto/La Film Festival all of which happened in 2022. And not to forget, her solo performance in the award-winning film, "Torment", directed by Luciana Caplan. This film gathered steam on the festival circuit, garnering Melinda awards for Best Actress in addition to directorial and technical awards.
After familiarizing herself with VR equipment she was cast in the VR live-performance theatrical project "Gumball Dreams" produced by the well-respected Ferryman Collective. The 2022 production was invited to numerous film festivals. In addition to being invited to the Biennale in Venice, Italy, it has garnered many prestigious awards: the XR Experience Competition Audience Award at SXSW, the VR Competition Golden Fireball Award at the Kaohsiung Film Festival, and Best Immersive Performance at Raindance Immersive.
