Melanie Lynskey

At 16 years of age, Melanie Lynskey captivated audiences with her astonishing debut in Peter Jackson's Academy Award-nominated Heavenly Creatures (1994). Her portrayal of an outcast teen whose relationship with her best friend (Kate Winslet) spirals dangerously out of control was described as "perfect" (Richard Corliss, TIME), and earned Lynskey a Best Actress prize in her native New Zealand. Following a three-year hiatus spent studying at university and re-locating to Los Angeles, Lynskey made a welcome return to the silver screen when she was cast opposite Drew Barrymore in EverAfter (1998). Parts in Coyote Ugly (2000), Snakeskin (2001), Abandon (2002), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Shattered Glass (2003), and Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (2006) came next. In recent years, Lynskey has emerged as one of the industry's most celebrated character actors, gaining plaudits for her performances in Sam Mendes's Away We Go (2009), Best Picture Oscar nominee Up in the Air (2009), Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! (2009), Win Win (2011), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Prolific supporting roles - opposite the likes of George Clooney, Edward Norton and Matt Damon - aside, headline parts in Hello I Must Be Going (2012), Happy Christmas (2014), The Intervention (2016) - for which she scooped a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival - and I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore. (2017) have proved that she is also a dynamite leading lady. On television, Lynskey has worked her scene-stealing magic in a variety of projects, such as the enormously popular Two and a Half Men (2003) - where she appeared for twelve years as Rose, Charlie Sheen's delightfully deranged stalker - and the acclaimed HBO dramedy Togetherness (2015), for which she received a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Most recently, she stars as Molly Strand in Castle Rock (2018), a psychological horror series based on the works of Stephen King. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Nate