Michelle Clunie


Michelle Renee Clunie is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Melanie Marcus on Showtime's critically acclaimed series Queer as Folk, as Mrs. Finch on MTV’s Teen Wolf and as Ellen Beals on Make It or Break It.

Early life

Clunie was born in Portland, Oregon, where she studied ballet, tap, jazz, and violin. She was awarded a scholarship to The Academy of Professional Ballet where she studied and apprenticed throughout her teenage years. At 19 years old she sold her violin for $200 and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue her acting career.

Career

At 23 years old Clunie's Los Angeles stage debut earned her a Dramalogue Award for Best Actress in Dean Orion's A Comedy of Eros performed at the Skylight Theatre.
Additional stage highlights include her portrayal of Abby in Neil LaBute's West Coast premiere of The Mercy Seat at the Ford Theatre, for which she won the Backstage Readers Best Performance Award, and the world premiere and Off-Broadway production of US, written and performed by Clunie at New York City's Lion Theatre at Theatre Row.
In 1995, she was cast in the Academy Award-winning The Usual Suspects and shortly thereafter played a supporting role in Lost & Found. She became a series regular on The Jeff Foxworthy Show and guest starred on ER, The Tony Danza Show, House M.D., Without a Trace, NCIS, among several others.
She played Melanie Marcus in the US adaption of Queer as Folk and the biology teacher, Mrs. Finch, on MTV’s Teen Wolf.

Personal life

In October 2014 it was announced Clunie was expecting a child with director Bryan Singer, and in January 2015 she gave birth to their son.

Filmography