Melanie Kannokada – Bicycle Bride takes a Ride…
She’s probably the sexiest mechanical engineer around, and by her own admission, she’s also a bit of a geek who loves all things techie. And yet, Melanie Kannokada, 24, is so much more than a geeky mechanical engineer.
Recently, she was chosen as the face of Nescafe’s international campaign.
Her debut film ‘Bicycle Bride’ won the best feature film award at the South Appalachian Film Festival, and she was nominated Best Actress in this, her very first role. ‘Love, Lies and Seeta’, her second film, has three guys madly in love with her – and it’s set for a summer release. New projects are cooking and she’s been shuttling between New York, LA and London, having just signed with a management company in Europe.
So who’s the real Melanie Kannokada?
In this recurring post spotlighting emerging South Asian talent, Lavina Melwani checks out Melanie Kannokada’s story…
She’s beauty queen, veejay, model, dancer, dabbler in sketch comedy and budding actor, and even a do-gooder. A former Miss India America, she’s walked the ramp for Manish Malhotra and Deepika Gehani, and been part of international ad campaigns for Verizon, Nike, Herbal Essences, Glamour Magazine, Nikon and Rockport.
Melanie Kannokada has been the TV host of entertainment shows Pulse, the Desi Beat and Destination Bollywood which aired on two of India’s largest networks. She’s been seen on ‘The Daily Show’ and Sean Kingston’s ‘Bollywood Girl’ video. And she’s also a dancer with the SA Dance Company in New York.
She signed on as a veejay for Sony Pictures Television’s “In the Qube” which airs in over 60 countries, and is produced by the makers of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire.’ She says of this fun international pop show, “I love the gig because I can just be my super quirky self – it’s actually encouraged!”
So how does she reconcile all this glamour and celebrity stuff with her mechanical engineering degree from Stanford University? The daughter of hard-working immigrants from Kerala, Melanie and her brother grew up in a modest home in Chicago. While her parents were supportive of everything from cheerleading to piano to dance, education was the top priority. She says, “All of my pursuits in TV, modeling, and film didn’t blossom until recently, after I finished college.”
Melanie is intrigued by different worlds and curious to taste all of them. Hard to believe, but she’s also a Black Belt in Karate! “As young kids, I was taking piano lessons and my brother was studying karate,” she says. “After my lessons I would go and watch him practice. Also, the movie ‘The Karate Kid’ was really popular at the time so I just had to try it! By the time I was 14 I had reached a Black Belt and was competing in tournaments internationally as part of the US Junior National Team.” Now, many of the film auditions she goes for actually require martial arts skills!
Melanie’s Path to Hollywood
For Melanie, it’s always been a tussle between brain power and brawn power. “I loved math and physics so I wanted to pursue engineering and worked hard to get into a top school,” says Melanie. During her time at Stanford University she served as the Student Body President, was selected a Mayfield Fellow, and received the Book Award for her service and contribution to the university. She admits: “But over time I realized that my heart was really in the arts – eventually I had the courage to admit this to myself and take the leap away from engineering.”
Yet life is about bread and butter too, and after college, Melanie got hired by the consulting firm of McKinsey in New York City. “It was an awesome job – any kid out of college would be excited to have it,” says Melanie. “But I wasn’t completely fulfilled, so I started dabbling in the TV world on the side – just as a hobby – and then landed an opportunity to host ‘Pulse, the Desi Beat’ on IATV.”
As luck would have it, she was discovered by a talent agent and modeling and commercial work followed quickly with big name brands from Nike to Herbal Essence. With work in the entertainment world coming in, Melanie made the world of make believe her full time job.
“I separated from my ‘real’ job – my corporate job – not too long ago so I could follow my heart and pursue acting as a career,” she says. “I also find time to dance with the Sa Dance Company. I love to dance! I have a dance background in jazz, tap, and a bit of hip hop, which blends in nicely with Sa’s contemporary style.”
At Stanford, while studying mechanical engineering she also experimented with social entrepreneurship initiatives. One such project took her to India to volunteer with the NGO Jagriti Vihara, and the connections have stayed. Melanie has been working with other committed volunteers to fund the construction of a hospital for a village in the rural Northeast Indian state of Jharkhand, which is without a hospital, as the nearest hospital is miles away in the capital city of Ranchi.
The goal for ‘Hospital for Hope’ was to raise $100,000 to create a self-sustaining hospital, and says Melanie this was achieved in end-2010, and now begins the exciting part – building the hospital.
If you think this frenetic actor-performer-dancer-do-gooder – (not to mention mechanical engineer) – has not a moment to spare to do anything else, you have just to take a look at her schedule: in recent days she was the master of ceremonies for Nanubhai Education Foundation Gala, and participated in a fashion show to launch Rockport’s new collection in Boston.
In 2011, her acting career takes precedence over everything else, and several projects are in the work, including a Hollywood thriller. “I’m very focused on my acting career – I’ve been working really hard, training vigorously with an acting program and a great acting coach because you know you have to give your all in this – and I’m very serious at being the best in what I set out to do.”
Any Bollywood Dreams? She says, “My focus is on the Hollywood market. I grew up here and this is my home and there’s so many amazing opportunities coming up – even for South Asians – in the US, and I want to be here to take advantage of that.”
Ask Melanie Kannokada about her mantra for getting through good times and bad, and she says, “I’m all about positive thinking. I stay optimistic about the present and future, and when the bad times hit, I count my blessings!”
© Lavina Melwani
( Photo 1, 2 and 4 : Greg Konop – photographer, Maria Yeye – makeup artist, and Erik Hinczak – hairstyling)
Melanie Kannokada’s fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/MelanieKann
5 Comments
Hi Sudesh,
Missed answering this somehow! Thanks for your comment – and hope to continue to dig for offbeat and fun stories!
Lavina – You are a unique reporter – you find very uplifting and inspirational stories. I enjoyed this write-up about Melanie and I will share this with my family and friends!
I know there are lots of South Asians doing wonderful things across the US and would love suggestions from readers on who they’d like to see profiled in the series on South Asian emerging stars.
Thanks for your comment Mary. I agree with you – Melanie is smart and a stunner too, and yes, we do need more rep here for South Asians.
But why do you think Kal doesn’t cut it? I think he’s made South Asians pretty proud. As for Apu – I have a real soft spot for him!
Great to see such a talented and gorgeous star who stays true to her roots and has BRAINS! I like how she wants to make her presence well-known in AMERICA instead of just Bollywood…we need more representation here for South Asians! Kal Penn & Apu don’t cut it!