Melinda Clarke

Melinda Patrice "Mindy" Clarke is an American actress who has worked primarily in television. Clarke is 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. From 2010 to 2013, she portrayed Amanda on the action-thriller television series Nikita. She was added as a recurring character on Vegas in 2013, and played Tracey McKay in the revival of Dallas.

Melinda Clarke
Clarke at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born
Melinda Patrice Clarke

Upland, California, U.S. [1]
Other namesMindy Clarke
OccupationActress
Years active1989–present
Spouse(s)
    Ernie Mirich
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1997; div. 2005)​
      Adam Farmer
      ​
      (m. 2015)​
      Children1

      Early life

      Clarke was raised 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.[2]

      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 also played a lead role in the 1993 horror film Return of the Living Dead 3.[3]

      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.[4]

      In 2010, she appeared on The CW show The Vampire Diaries as Kelly Donovan.[5] 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 starred on The CW drama Nikita, where she played Amanda from 2010 to 2013.

      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.

      Personal life

      In 1997, Clarke had married Ernie Mirich, with whom she had a daughter born circa 2000. They divorced in 2005.[6] Clarke married Adam Farmer in September 2015.[7]

      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 Killer Tongue 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 The Animatrix Alexa (voice) Segment: "Matriculated"
      2004 Dynamite Beta
      2007 She Drives Me Crazy Blithe Meacham Television film
      2014 How Divine! Chelsea Kirk Television film

      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 The George Carlin Show Christy Episode: "George Helps Sydney"
      1994 Heaven Help Us[8] Lexy Monroe Main role
      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 role
      2000 The Pretender Miss Eve Episode: "Meltdown"
      2000 Nash Bridges Abby Gordon Episode: "End Game"
      2001 Star Trek: Enterprise Sarin Episode: "Broken Bow: Part 2"
      2001–2015 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Lady Heather 8 episodes
      2002 First Monday Unknown Episode: "Pilot"
      2002–2003 The District Olivia Cahill 5 episodes
      2002 Charmed Siren Episode: "Siren's Song"
      2002 Everwood Sally Keyes Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part"
      2003 Tremors Megan Flint Episode: "Night of the Shriekers"
      2003 Firefly Nandi Episode: "Heart of Gold"
      2003–2007 The O.C. Julie Cooper Main role
      2005–2011 Entourage Melinda Clarke 6 episodes
      2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender Madame Macmu-Ling (voice) Episode: "The Tales of Ba Sing Se"
      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
      2009 Hell's Kitchen Herself Episode: "13 Chefs Compete"
      2010 Ghost Whisperer Donna Episode: "Old Sins Cast Long Shadows"
      2010–2013 Nikita Amanda Main role
      2010; 2017 The Vampire Diaries Kelly Donovan 5 episodes
      2013 Vegas Lena Cavallo 4 episodes
      2014 Dallas Tracey McKay 2 episodes
      2016 Gotham Grace Van Dahl 3 episodes

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

      Awards and nominations
      Year Award/Festival Category Nominated work Result
      1990 Young Artist Awards Best Young Actress in a Daytime Drama Days of Our Lives Nominated
      1994 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Best Actress Return of the Living Dead 3 Won
      1996 Sitges Film Festival Best Actress Killer Tongue Won

      References
      1. "The Shower with Amanda Righetti". Welcome to the OC, Bitch. October 19, 2021.
      2. Melinda Clarke Biography at Yahoo! Movies
      3. Maslin, Janet (1993-10-29). "Review/Film; A Lust for the (Supposedly) Lifeless". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
      4. Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion
      5. Ausiello, Michael (January 8, 2010). "'Vampire Diaries' exclusive: Melinda Clarke is the mom from hell!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
      6. Crook, John (May 4, 2005). "Julie of 'The O.C.' striving to be a better mom". TV Guide. Gettysburg Times. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. p. 1. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
      7. "Exclusive: All the Gorgeous Details from Melinda Clarke's Wedding". October 7, 2015.
      8. Thomas, Bob (September 4, 1994). "Ricardo Montalban returns to television". Entertainment. Santa Cruz County Sentinel. Santa Cruz, California. Associated Press. p. B-5. Retrieved June 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
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