Today we’d like to introduce you to Jillian Melko.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always known from a very young age I was meant to be an actor. There was never a doubt in my mind growing up what I was going to be. Luckily, my parents have always been supportive despite their best efforts to steer me towards a more stable career. Though I wasn’t allowed to go to a performing arts high school, I took my education to New York City at AMDA and graduated with my BFA in partnership with The New School.
After a few years in NYC, I returned to Atlanta and although I started diving deeper into the film and tv realm, I have always had a first love with theatre. The pandemic shut down the last full MainStage show I was supposed to be in, however, it also opened the door to be seen on the professional theatrical market. I joke that it took a pandemic to put me on the map in Atlanta, but really it was years and years of making connections and doing the work.
Now, I’m starting to see the fruits of my labor and working with such incredible people I’m overjoyed. Aside from acting gigs, I teach online for film/tv with E.E.B. Studios, I am a headshot photographer with my own business PhotoPop! and I work as much as possible through all facets of the entertainment industry, learning striving and doing.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely been a rough road for me as a performer. Throughout most of my career, I’ve been stuck in ‘second place’ never quite achieving what my ambitious heart is after. Being typed into a character actress, I have constantly been told that I wouldn’t work until I was 40. It’s hard to hear that when you’re a young, impressionable mind that soaks every piece of information up like a sponge.
You don’t realize how damaging it is until you’re older and can look back through a clearer lens. I wish there was a way to empower young people to not let the people who ‘hold the power’, fictitious or not, to box them in and hold them back. I have been very blessed in many ways, but it has taken a long time to get where I am headed now and I think a lot of that has to do with all the mental anguish and falsities created through the lens of perfection.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a versatile actress who is no stranger to Stage, TV, Film, and VoiceOver. I also have creative interests in writing and photography. I have written several pieces, including a short film sehen/du. That got shut down in the middle of production due to the pandemic. My headshot photography is called PhotoPop! and I focus on creating affordable headshots for actors here in Atlanta. I would say my headshots are commercially driven, and what I saw as a need in the Atlanta Headshot market. I also lend my experience to teaching at E.E.B. Studios as an Accents Coach, Acting Foundations and private coach. Both teaching and photography have been a shining gem that came forth in the pandemic.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
The first time I had an audience laugh at me for being a comedic ham.
I was 6 or 7 and handed my first lead role after the kid I was sharing it with dropped 3 days before the show. It was a silly role, but it was the first time I got to deliver a joke and have the whole crowd laughing. That was a definitive moment in my performing life. All the awards in the world can’t top that first taste of live energy and the way it lights you up inside.
Contact Info:
- Email: jillianmelko@gmail.com
- Website: www.jillianmelko.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillianmelko/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jillianmelko/
- Other: www.photopopheadshots.com
Image Credits
Steph Girard Photography
Huebner Headshots
Kevin Harry Photography
Aleks Gilbert
