What Is Melinda Clarke's Net Worth?
Melinda Clarke is an American actress who has a net worth of $4 million. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on "Days of Our Lives" (1989–1990), Lady Heather on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2001–2011; 2015), Julie Cooper on "The O.C." (2003–2007), and Helen "Amanda" Collins on "Nikita" (2010–2013). Melinda has more than 50 acting credits to her name, including the films "Return of the Living Dead 3" (1993), "Mulholland Falls" (1996), and "Spawn" (1997) and the television series "Heaven Help Us" (1994), "Soldier of Fortune, Inc." (1997–1999), "The District" (2002–2003), "Entourage" (2005–2011), "The Vampire Diaries" (2010; 2017), and "Vegas" (2013).
In 2021, Clarke began co-hosting "The O.C" rewatch podcast "Welcome to the OC, Bitches!" with Rachel Bilson, who played Summer Roberts on the teen drama. In August 2021, "Bustle" included "Welcome to the OC, Bitches!" on its "7 Top Celebrity Podcasts You Should Subscribe To Right Now" list. Melinda has also lent her voice to the video games "Mission: Impossible – Operation Surma" (2003) and "Nikita: Codebreaker" (2012) and appeared in the Bryan Adams' music video "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"(1995). In August 2005, she was ranked #5 on "TV Guide's" list of "TV's Top Ten Scene Stealers."
Early Life
Melinda Clarke was born Melinda Patrice Clarke on April 24, 1969, in Dana Point, California. Melinda is the daughter of actor John Clarke and ballet dancer Patricia Clarke, and she has a brother named Joshua. Sadly, her sister, Heidi, died of a malignant heart tumor in 1994. John, who passed away in 2019, appeared in more than 30 film and television projects and played Mickey Horton on "Days of Our Lives" from 1965 to 2004. He earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for the role in 1979 and received the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Clarke attended Dana Hills High School, where she was a member of the drama club and performed in school plays. Melinda also studied voice and is a trained soprano. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career full-time after graduating from high school.
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Career
From 1989 to 1990, Clarke played Faith Taylor on the NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives." Her father was one of the show's seven original main cast members, and Melinda appeared in 130 episodes. She guest-starred on "Jake and the Fatman" in 1991, then she appeared in the films "Hot Under the Collar" (1992), "Out for Blood" (1992), and "Young Goodman Brown" (1993). Clarke starred as Julie Walker in the 1993 zombie movie "Return of the Living Dead 3," which earned her a "Fangoria" Chainsaw Award, and in 1994, she guest-starred on "The George Carlin Show" and played Lexy Monroe on the syndicated series "Heaven Help Us." The fantasy series was executive produced by Aaron Spelling and also starred John Schneider and Ricardo Montalbán. Melinda appeared in the films "Return to Two Moon Junction" (1995) and "Killer Tongue" (1996), and she played a cigarette girl in 1996's "Mulholland Falls," which starred Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, and Chris Penn. In 1997, Clarke played two roles that would result in action figures being made of her: Jessica Priest in the superhero film "Spawn" and Velasca on the TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess" (a role she played in just two episodes). That year she also appeared in the film "Critics and Other Freaks" and the TV movie "Soldier of Fortune" and guest-starred on "Nash Bridges," "Seinfeld," and "Sliders." From 1997 to 1999, Melinda starred as Margo Vincent on the syndicated action-adventure series "Soldier of Fortune, Inc.," which ran for 37 episodes.
Clarke guest-starred on "The Pretender" (2000), "Nash Bridges" (2000), "Star Trek: Enterprise" (2001), "Charmed" (2002), "Everwood" (2002), "Tremors" (2003), and "Firefly" (2003), and in 2001, she landed a recurring role as dominatrix Lady Heather on the CBS crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." She appeared on the show six times between 2001 and 2011, and she returned for the two-hour series finale, "CSI: Immortality," in 2015. From 2002 to 2003, Melinda played Detective Olivia Cahill in five episodes of the CBS police procedural "The District," and around this time, she appeared in the films ".com for Murder" (2002) and "Dynamite" (2004). From 2003 to 2007, she starred as Julie Cooper on McG's Fox teen drama "The O.C." alongside Ben McKenzie, Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, and Rachel Bilson. The series aired 92 episodes over four seasons, and fan response to her character led to Clarke being promoted from a guest star to a series regular. In 2004, she co-hosted the E! special "50 Most Wicked Women of Primetime" with former "Dynasty" star Joan Collins, and from 2005 to 2011, she played a fictionalized version of herself in six episodes of HBO's "Entourage."
(Photo by J. Shearer/WireImage for GQ Magazine)
Melinda guest-starred on "Reaper" (2007), "Chuck" (2008), "Eli Stone" (2008–2009), and "Ghost Whisperer" (2010), and she starred in the 2007 TV movies "She Drives Me Crazy" and "The Man." From 2010 to 2013, she played Helen "Amanda" Collins on The CW series " Nikita," and in 2010, she had a recurring role as Kelly Donovan on another CW show, "The Vampire Diaries." Clarke then had recurring roles as Lena Cavallo on the CBS period drama "Vegas" (2013), Tracey McKay on the TNT "Dallas" revival (2014), and Grace Van Dahl on Fox's Batman prequel series "Gotham" (2016). She also appeared in the 2014 TV movie "How Divine!" and guest-starred on the American-Swedish comedy series "Swedish Dicks" (2018).
Personal Life
Melinda married Ernie Mirich on June 28, 1997, and they welcomed daughter Catherine on January 4, 2000. Clarke and Mirich divorced in 2005, and she married Adam Farmer on September 12, 2015.
Awards and Nominations
In 1993, Clarke won a "Fangoria" Chainsaw Award for Best Actress for "Return of the Living Dead III," and in 1996, she earned a Best Actress award for "Killer Tongue" at the Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival. In 1990, she received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Young Actress in a Daytime Drama for "Days of Our Lives."
