Biography

Melissa Williams is one of the most innovative director/choreographers working in the entertainment industry today. Seasoned in providing professional and expert consultation in areas that include casting, production, dance choreography, musical staging, movement consultation, and creative direction, Melissa is recognized for her sexy, stylized, athletic choreography and her distinct ability to work with all types of talent, including dancers, non-dancers, singers, actors, recording artists, athletes, and models. With credits spanning the globe, Melissa has worked with some of the most established artists, actors and directors in the industry.

Born in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, Williams had her first taste of the industry at 16 when she competed in the ubiquitous talent show Star Search, as the hip hop/adage duo Johnnie & Melissa, making it to the semi-finals and several trips to Los Angeles to tape the show.

Returning to LA at the age of 19, Melissa embarked on a four-year experience with 'Mr. Purple Rain' himself, Prince. Hired by award-winning choreographer/creative director Jamie King, Melissa's first job in LA was dancing in Prince's late night cabaret Erotic City at his nightclub Glam Slam. Melissa aka 'Shockadelica' quickly proved herself as a dynamic performer and caught the eye of some of the biggest choreographers in the business as well as Prince himself. This lead to performing with Prince on several awards shows and appearances including his tribute performance on The American Music Awards. Simultaneously Melissa had landed her first feature film, Showgirls, and was requested by the director Paul Verhoven to read for a role. Melissa played the bitter marble-tossing character Julie, in one of the most controversial cult films of all time.

Prince hired Melissa to choreograph the three-act dance concert tour featuring the music of Prince and the NPG, Around The World In A Day. After spending months at Paisley Park studios choreographing, rehearsing and helping to develop the New Power Generation Dance Company, Melissa was hired by a European production company to direct and choreograph California Dream Men. Not your typical male revue, this multi-faceted production blended the fiercest professional male dancers LA had to offer, eight of the sexiest exotic male dancers from all over the country, grand scenery and elaborate production. California Dream Men was the first male revue to perform at Les Folies Bergere in Paris where it premiered and went on to become a huge success in France, Germany and Italy. After the success of CDM's tour Melissa was commissioned to choreograph and musically stage Grease-the musical and Hair-the musical, European tours.

In Los Angeles, Melissa was choreographing the sexy dance bumpers for the new television/internet show Farmclub.com, a musically based show featuring the hottest bands in the industry, choreographing Michael Caine, Catherine McCormack, and Randy Quaid in the movie The Debtors, and in pre-production meetings with Jamie King, Angelo Medina Entertainment, and Mandalay Bay to choreograph and musically stage an original Latin production for the Las Vegas Strip called Storm. Shortly after, Melissa began to write, direct and choreograph original shows and industrials for Cruise ships and Casinos including Generations, Bon Voyage, Piano Man and Undercover. In 2000 Melissa also founded Extreme Dance Conventions and Competitions, a dance workshop tour featuring some of the top working choreographers and teachers in the industry. In 2005 Melissa returned to Canada, settling in the Windsor area to be close to her family, and raise a family of her own, which now includes son Michael and daughter Ava.

Most recently Melissa has been a choreographer on seasons 1 & 2 of the new hit series Bomb Girls, an associate choreographer on Britney Spears' Femme Fatale Tour and was a guest judge and choreographer on seasons 1 through 4 of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Melissa has also directed local/regional productions including A Chorus Line, Grease and Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.

Keeping her finger on the pulse Melissa continues to push the envelope in every direction of her creativity, and in the future, looks forward to continuing with current projects, as well as further defining her creativity for the Broadway stage, television production, new artists and feature films.
- IMDb mini biography by: da Costa Webpage