Melanie Kannokada was born to Malayali parents Suresh Kannokada and Sujatha at Buffalo Grove, a small suburb in Illinois.

Before entering the entertainment industry, Melanie was an athlete, pianist, and an engineering student. She is a 2nd degree black belt holder in Shotokan Karate and a two-time bronze medalist in the Pan American games, where she represented the United States in sparring as part of the United States Junior National Karate Team in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2000, Caracas, Venezuela in 2001, and Orlando, Florida in 2002.She was also a captain of her high school's varsity cheerleading squad which won statewide and national championships over multiple years. Melanie studied piano from the age of 6 and performed frequently at school and community events.

After high school, Melanie traveled to California to earn her degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. While at Stanford, she was a member of the Cardinal Cheerleading Squad and served as Student Body President for one academic year. She was also accepted in Stanford's Mayfield Fellows Program, a prestigious tech entrepreneurship fellowship offered to twelve engineering students a year. Toward the end of her college career, she entered and won the 2007 Miss India America contest.

Melanie initially began working at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, a job she left to concentrate on her interest in modeling and acting and become further involved within the entertainment arena.

She has worked as a model and commercial actress in national and international campaigns including Nescafe, Verizon, Glamour Magazine, P&G, Crocs, Acura, Herbal Essences, LG, DSW, Verizon, Kohls, and Clinique.

Within a week of moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, she auditioned for and booked a large guest star role in the CBS hit sitcom "Rules of Engagement" opposite comedian David Spade. She has also acted in ABC Family's "The Nine Lives of Chloe King," and "NBC's Parenthood."

Her first film role was in "Sex and the City 2" in which she played a minor role as a flight attendant. In 2012, Melanie played the title role in the indie feature film "Love, Lies and Seeta." Most recently, Melanie has been cast in the upcoming HBO series, "The Brink."

Mechanical Engineering, Entertainers, Movie Actress, Television Actress, Actress, Models, Celebrity Modeling, Actors, Acting,