Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melanie Haynes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Melanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I think I always knew I wanted to be a professional performer. At the age of 2, I was reciting nursery rhymes while standing on the kitchen table. I took dance lessons beginning at age 4 and participated in anything involving performing all through my school years. I grew up in a very small town in Kansas so there weren’t any professional performing opportunities, but I sang in the choir, played piano, and acted in any school plays and competitions. I was a cheerleader and twirler. My favorite play as a child was pretending.

I majored in theater in college, and then danced with Patsy Swayze’s Houston Jazz Ballet, but my first real professional acting began after making a voice over demo, getting an agent and beginning to get work in VO and acting.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Living in Houston, my bread and butter was voice over, and I was fortunate to have been the “voice of” many of the retail stores in Texas and beyond. I made a living almost as soon as I started, and haven’t let up yet. On camera opportunities were not as abundant, but I worked in made for tv movies that came to Texas along with commercials and industrial films. I had agents in multiple cities and traveled for work regularly. Those were boom times in Texas in the 80’s-90’s. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of our retailers and major ad agencies in the early two thousands. That’s when I created my home audio studio which I continued to upgrade through the years. I worked and continue to work for clients all over the country and the world.

In 2014 a friend invited me to come to LA to see what I could do. I’d always wanted to give it a try, and my kids were grown. My husband was supportive of the adventure, and so I began by staying with friends for a few months at a time and eventually, leasing an apartment with a roommate for my home away from home. I attended workshops and signed with an agent and a manager. It helped that I had professional television credits from Texas on my resume. Within about a year, I booked my first job in LA – an episode of The Middle. Since then, I have booked other major TV shows along with films including: Young Sheldon, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Barry, True Detective, Mayans, Danger Force, and others.

I continue to enjoy working on voice over projects of all kinds along with television and film and will as long as I am able and anyone will hire me!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I just love the work! I love the collaboration of the creative process. The people, the scripts, the ideas!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It’s not just my lesson, but how things have changed. To be a working actor, you no longer need to fit a perfect mold. You are valuable and can work no matter what your body type or age, etc..

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.melaniehaynes.com
• Other: http://www.imdb.me/melaniehaynes