A young Chilliwack actress has been hopping from movie set to TV set and back again a lot lately.
Mellany Barros, 19, has been a professional actress for only about one year, but she already has several productions under her belt.
“It’s something I’m getting used to,” she says. “It’s very exciting that I get to play different characters.”
In the past year, Barros has played Katelyn Ogden in TV movie Spontaneous, plays recurring character Alice in TV comedy series Chad, guest starred in TV series iZombie where she played Laurie Beth in episode ‘The Fresh Princess’ (airs June 27 on CW), and plays supporting character Ann in TV movie Death of A Cheerleader.
Barros is also currently in the mix for a lead role on a Netflix series that will shoot in L.A.
“I’m putting on different hats all the time,” she says.
Wearing various costumes and working with the other actors helps her get into character as she goes from one production to another.
The start of her acting career began when she was just three years old when she started taking singing lessons. From there, theatre and drama became part of her elementary and high school life until she graduated from Chilliwack secondary in 2017.
It was then that Barros left theatre to study kinesiology at UFV. But it didn’t take long for her to get back into acting. During her first year of university, she took a drama class as an elective and ended up being part of a student film. That’s when she realized being a professional actor was an attainable feat.
She took a private acting class in Vancouver, found an agent and started auditioning for various roles.
“I started booking things really quickly… within a few months,” says Barros.
Over the past year, she’s been filming on location in Vancouver and Coquitlam.
The highlights of her career so far have been meeting new people and working with different directors. Some of the bigger names she’s worked with include Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer (in Spontaneous), and Saturday Night Live’s Nasim Pedrad.
“Katherine Langford was someone I watched on 13 Reasons [Why], and that was one of my favourite shows, so to be able to work with her was so crazy,” she says.
Once a show has aired, she admits it is strange to see herself on TV.
“I don’t recognize myself sometimes. It’s a little bit weird, a little bit scary to watch yourself.”
And as she’s watching, she can’t help thinking at times how she would have performed her role differently.
“I’m hard on myself,” she admits.
Everyone in her family is very supportive of Barros, including her dad Marco and younger sister Stephanie who helps her practice by reading scripts with her.
But her biggest inspiration is her mom.
“The person who inspired me the most would be my mom because she helped with my singing when I was younger — she’s the artistic one in the family.”
Though Barros says knowing where she’ll be filming a few weeks down the road often happens at the last minute, she doesn’t mind it.
“My goal is to continue doing this and be happy. I’m excited to see where the future will take me.”
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jenna.hauck@theprogress.com
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