Mel Gorham is a study in polarity at work.  In an interview with Movie Maker Magazine, she said, "Every day I say, 'Dear God, thanks for all the good things that happen and all the bad things that happen.'"  On both ends of the spectrum, then, Mel's had a lot for which to be grateful.  The ups and downs of her life and career have crystallized into the amazingly resilient, stunningly vibrant and fully alive Mel Gorham of today.

Her parents were an incongruity to start.  Her father, Sanford Schnier, is a retired entertainment journalist and a dedicated amateur theatre actor. Emma Netsch, her mother, Cuban-born, was a social magnet and ex-nightclub singer.  An only child, Mel's upbringing in Miami was a happy one, full of creative support, even through her parents’ divorce.  At age 12, she took to the stage for the first time in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and so it began.

Two weeks after graduating from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Mel began her love affair with New York City.  Her first gig there was the Broadway production of Oh! Calcutta.  After that, Hair, and more than 37 other productions.  Not limiting herself to musical theatre, Mel joined the Latin comedy troupe El Barrio USA, and quickly became recognized for her dozens of characters and ribald wit.

In 1988, she was cast in her first screen role in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.  The scene didn't make the final cut, but the buzz Mel created propelled her into a quick succession of roles opposite Hollywood heavy hitters: Awakenings with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro; Carlito's Way with Al Pacino and Sean Penn; both Smoke and Blue in the Face with Harvey Keitel, William Hurt and an all-star cast; Curdled with Billy Baldwin; Wishful Thinking with Drew Barrymore; and Copland with Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro.  

In the late 1990s, an extraordinary thing happened - Mel was approached by NBC to develop and star in a weekly sitcom based on her own life as a Cuban American actress who leaves Miami with her great dane to pursue her career in New York City. Directed by James Burrows, the show was called Union Square and landed between Friends and Seinfeld on NBC’s Must-See TV Thursday nights.

On Friday the 13^th of June, 1998, Mel Gorham received the phone call that no television star wants to receive. On the other end of the line were her ICM agents in London and Los Angeles. A decision had been made that the star of Union Square was going to be replaced. No explanation was given, but here's a review of the revised show when it hit the airwaves:

Shortly after the change was made the program was cancelled and a huge house cleaning occurred at the Peacock Network.

Getting back on the horse that bucked her, the resilient New Yorker then decided to pursue her film career by moving to the laid-back, sprawling entertainment mecca of Los Angeles - the Hollywood Hills, no less.  

But the veteran of more than three dozen New York stage productions couldn’t be kept away from where she truly belongs. Having lived with a fascinating true story that she has long needed to tell, Mel returned to New York City to develop the feature isabella moskovits as a producer and leading actress. The film is due to start shooting in the spring of 2009 with up and coming Hollywood director Mark David. Mel is currently teaming up with a major Hollywood studio producer to develop yet another true story into a feature film entitled The Dean’s List.