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Melissa Brasselle was born on January 27, in Bronx NY. Coming from a talented and well known family of actors, singers, writers and producers it was inevitable that she would follow in their footsteps. Her mother Arlene DeMarco, was the lead singer of the famous singing group, "The Five DeMarco Sisters", as well as being the bestselling author of "Triangle" and "Make Believe Children." (NAL) Her father was actor Keefe Brasselle who starred in a number of films including Academy award winning film "A Place in the Sun." He was best known for his starring role in the "The Eddie Cantor St
Melissa Brasselle was born on January 27, in Bronx NY. Coming from a talented and well known family of actors, singers, writers and producers it was inevitable that she would follow in their footsteps. Her mother Arlene DeMarco, was the lead singer of the famous singing group, "The Five DeMarco Sisters", as well as being the bestselling author of "Triangle" and "Make Believe Children." (NAL) Her father was actor Keefe Brasselle who starred in a number of films including Academy award winning film "A Place in the Sun." He was best known for his starring role in the "The Eddie Cantor Story." Melissa's parents both met each other on the set of MGM's "Skirts Ahoy" starring Ester Williams. He too was a bestselling author first writing the controversial "The Cannibals" followed by "The Barracudas."
As a child Melissa was gifted vocally. She had perfect pitch, could harmonize to any song and played a variety of instruments without ever being taught, just like her mother and aunts had. Melissa was hand picked to be in the NY All City Chorus and even played Carnegie Hall.
She began modeling in her late teens. It was a struggle at that time because no one really hired ethnic looking models, especially busty ones. Melissa hung in there and got full page in a magazine as the spokesperson for 3M, which caught the eye of a local photographer. In1989 Playboy launched a nation wide search of over 50,000 girls for their 35th anniversary addition. A submitted photo of her taken on a Polaroid, placed her in the top five and landed her in the pages of playboy for their 35 anniversary addition. Melissa continued modeling but she hadn't found her true passion. While working at a restaurant in Trump Towers she saw a flyer that would change her life. It was for a twelve week course at the the Lee Strasberg Theatrical Institute, well known for method acting. Some of the best actors of all time had been taught there.. She studied there for three years. She made the move to LA and studied at continued taking on camera classes at Weist Barron and T.V.I. Studios. Melissa became a SAG/AFTRA Member by doing extra work. She also got a lot of her first small roles from the T.V.I classes that are taught by casting directors. Christy Dooley hired her for the Bold and the Beautiful straight out of class as did the casting director for The Young and the Restless.
Going to an open audition with a friend for the live Batman stunt show landed her the role of Poison Ivy. She took off in the stunt industry getting job after job. Including a spot on a team of four for Tru TV's "Impossible Heists." As soon as the show wrapped she was off to train in a wrestling camp for her role as The Italian Mafia Princess.
To have worked as an actress, writer, producer, wrestler, stunt woman, singer/songwriter...well let's just say she is one unstoppable woman! Melissa is known for her work in action films like "Demolition High" (1995) "The Curse of the Komodo"(2006) and "Camel Spiders" (2011), of which her daughter Hayley DeMarco was in as well. When Melissa wasn't acting in films she was writing them or doing stunts in major motion pictures, or writing songs and scores.
As successful as it sounds, Melissa gained the greatest notoriety however, on a reality TV show for VH1 titled, "I Know My Kids a Star," with her daughter Hayley DeMarco where she coined the phrase "So Bam" earned the nickname Rocky, and became an reality sensation. Melissa is returning to reality with a show of her own featuring her now grown up daughter Hayley. Unfortunately Rocky lost her mom on Feb 13, 2013. To pay homage to her mom she is recording a jazz album in her honor of the DeMarco Sister's hits, and her moms favorite songs to carry on her legacy in her debut album "DeMarco Legacy" The album will be released 12/2017. The beautiful voice she's carried all along will finally be heard. Melissa's daughter Hayley DeMarco just finished recording her first single titled "Separate Ways" and will be releasing her premiere video directed by the king of lighting and Kardashian alumni Nick Saglembeni in Sept/2017.
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