Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Strong.
Melissa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised from Toronto Canada, with Caribbean and South American immigrant parents. Growing up in Toronto was a conservative life and acting was suppressed from cult religion and ethic culture. As a child living by the motto “destiny may be delayed but not done”…. was my spark for hope. Acting fate followed me with guest stars on Toronto series, pageant girl, winning Miss Toronto, billboards as The Toronto Fashion Week model campaign. I was seduced by American culture and knew I always wanted to be there to act. Upon moving to America, I lived in Miami, and NYC. NYC was really the spark of it all, I initially studied to be a host and then went on to study acting.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Learning American culture and being here alone was my biggest challenge. I felt like a misfit for years. A large obstacle was that it was apparent Hollywood didn’t know where to place me.
5ft Productions LLC – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
5Ft Productions LLC has recently been launched, specializing in Comedy Series, and a documentary. While these are vastly two different genres, my passion lays in both smart convincing comedy and history story telling. I studied comedy writing at Riverside College with Emmy award winning writer Chris Silber. Current projects I am working on are the following: https://www.5ftproductions.com/projects/
1. Documentary: The Lucky Negroes: The untold story of North American Caribbean people.
2. Comedy Series: Rich Girl Of Compton – Fish out water story, I live in Beverly Hills and my cousin lives in Compton, Our grandfathers owns $100million In land In Jamaica, He has had a heart attack so the twist is that the both of us have to run the restaurant in Compton living above the restaurant together. Essentially it is the revere of Fresh Prince of Bel Air and the urban version of 2 Broke Girls…. bringing the Caribbean culture again.
3. Comedy Series: Co- Dependent Friends: Living life struggles the ups and downs needing validation and support through everything.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My characteristic that is most important to my success is focus, just work harder than everyone else, be a student of life. Everyone that comes in my life is here to teach me something valuable. Believe in myself and the dream the universe has the cards stacked in your favor. And most importantly, don’t give up…. when you give up you come out of the game and you have quit. So, my relentless tenacity, perseverance and continuing to reinvent myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.5ftProductions.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @thatmelissa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThatMelissa
- Twitter: @msmelissastrong
- Yelp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-strong/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCga2VmAiAP5KQoNhoy1dlVw
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