MELYSSA FORD BIOGRAPHY
“Plan A is to succeed, at everything. There is NO Plan B.” This is the mantra in which Canadian beauty Melyssa Savannah Ford decided to live by the day she packed up her belongings and left her home with a one-way plane ticket, $25 dollars and two suitcases and headed to New York City.
Now, almost ten years later, she is recognized, not only as the original and top “urban supermodel”, highest paid and Complex Magazine’s voted “Video Vixen of the Decade”; she has also added the title of actress, television personality and budding philanthropist to her growing resume. Originally hailing from Toronto, Canada, this exotic beauty, with a combination of West Indian, Norwegian and Russian heritage was discovered while attending York University by a well-known video director who tapped her for a starring role in an upcoming video. Before long, the offers to star in videos alongside the likes of Usher, Jay Z and Alicia Keyes started to pour in from other video directors, as well as features in magazines.
With a mind for business in addition to her looks, Melyssa began to leverage her popularity from one field of entertainment to another. From high profile music videos and features in magazines came covers and a branding opportunity to market product with her image. From that came the offers to host TV shows on BET,
Starz in Black and correspondence work on ESPN for the ESPY Nomination show and Red Carpet Show. Also added to her list of accomplishments is hosting her own radio show on Sirius Radio’s Hip Hop and R&B channel for two years. In addition to all of this, Melyssa has been honing her talent in acting and has made memorable appearances on the big and small screen.
In 2007 Melyssa had supporting roles in ”Three Can Play That Game” and “Days of Wrath”, both movies featuring and all-star cast such as award winning actress Vivica Foxx and Tony Rock in the former and Laurence Fishburne, Taye Diggs and William Valderama in the latter. In the movie “Love For Sale”, Melyssa takes on a starring role opposite Jackie Long from Screen Gem’s “ATL”, and Grammy Award winning singer Mya amongst other notable actors.
Because of her position and status in the urban world as “the only one who transcended from the world of videos successfully” she is asked on numerous occasion for her opinion and presence on distinguished panels and forums held at universities and colleges around the country, as well as features on MSNBC, ABC Nightly News and CNN. In addition to this, the brand that is Melyssa Ford has been linked to several other recognizable brands such as Moet-Hennessy and Apple Bottom Ltd, having been asked to be the face of each.
With all these accomplishments and projects have kept Melyssa busy, she finds time to creatively develop her own future projects, such as the co-conceived and co-produced effort to bring a play to the stage based on her personal and professional journey, and to put together her foundation for mentoring young women. This is a woman on a true mission.
