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Listen up, you puny (real) human! Information in this article is about real-life people, companies and objects, and might not relate inside the Invader Zim universe. |
| Melissa Fahn | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | April 28, 1967 |
| Positions | Voice Actor |
| Voice of | Gaz Membrane Various |
| Websites | IMDB |
| |
Melissa Fahn played Gaz Membrane as well as other minor characters in Invader Zim.
Invader Zim[]
Melissa in "The Voices of Zim" DVD special feature.
Fahn primarily provided the voice for Dib's sister Gaz.
Jhonen Vasquez has said she was cast in that role because she naturally sounded like a little girl.[1]
Aside from Gaz's voice, she is also credited for being the voice of other minor characters, including Mongo Slunchy's little brother, Tess the battery store clerk (at least in initial voice tests), and newborn Zim.
She can be heard discussing her roles in the show in both a DVD interview and the DVD commentary, most notably in the episodes "Game Slave 2", "Gaz, Taster of Pork", and "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever".
Biography[]
Melissa Fahn was born in New York and then grew up in Southern California. Her father worked in television production, giving her and her three older brothers (actors Tom Fahn, Jonathan Fahn and jazz trombonist Michael Fahn) performance experience while they were young. Melissa started singing and dancing at the age of three; she made her musical theater debut at age twelve and was privately trained in acting, dancing, and singing.
Melissa majored in dance at Cal State Long Beach but left after one year to devote her time to work and theater. At her job as a receptionist, her voice caught the attention of a casting director for a new Betty Boop featurette (after failing a callback audition for the voice of Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid, losing the role of Ariel to Jodi Benson). Melissa has since voiced many original animated characters and hundreds of anime characters including, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tirvrusky IV of Cowboy Bebop, Haruka Kaminogi of Noein, and Rika of Digimon.
Melissa as Glinda in the Los Angeles production of Wicked.
Melissa has performed on Broadway, in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Paris, Avignon (France), and elsewhere in shows including Hal Prince's 3hree, Gilligan's Island the Musical, "Singin' in the Rain", "No, No, Nanette", and the rock-opera Vox Lumiere. She was nominated for a Denver Critics Circle Award as Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Maria in West Side Story.
Stephen Schwartz invited her to join a workshop of his new musical "Wicked"; after a trial production in San Francisco, she performed eight nights a week in the Broadway ensemble. Melissa was the understudy for Glinda and provided the pivotal silhouette of Dorothy in the Los Angeles production. She recently made her debut as a producer for the Musical Theatre Guild production of "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!" in November, 2006.
However, most recently she has performed as Daisy Mae in the Los Angeles Musical Theatre Guild’s production of the musical comedy Li'l Abner, Hope Harcourt in Musical Theatre West's production of "Anything Goes", and has reprised her role as an ensemble soloist in the Los Angeles production of Wicked as well as understudying the role of Glinda. Incidentally, Melissa also recently performed in the role of younger version of Ezmerelda, a character similar to Glinda, in the 2007 parody of Wicked on the daytime drama Passions.
In 2000, Melissa Fahn met musician Joel Alpers on the set of Vox Lumiere in Los Angeles, and in 2002 they were married in Kauai, Hawaii. However, she works under her maiden name professionally.
Discography[]
- Avignon - A&M, 2007
Filmography[]
Selected anime voice roles[]
- Ah! My Goddess: The Movie - Sora Hasegawa
- Apocalypse Zero - Megumi
- Blue Dragon - Bouquet
- Cowboy Bebop - Edward (Ed)
- Digimon Tamers - Rika Nonaka
- Digimon Frontier - Narrator as Rika Nonaka (English dub)
- Digimon Savers - Kristy Damon
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again - Amy
- El-Hazard - Alielle
- El Hazard 2 - Alielle
- El Hazard: Alternative World - Alielle
- El Hazard: Wanderers - Alielle
- Eureka Seven - Ray Beams
- FLCL - Ninamori Eri
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Tachikoma
- Guyver (OVA) - Mizuki Segawa
- Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation - Neptune/Purple Heart
- Idol Project - Corvette Hyers
- Jungle De Ikou - Natsumi/Mei
- Kannazuki no Miko - Sister Miyako
- Karas - Chizuru
- Kikaider - Etsuko
- Love Hina Again - Kanako Urashima
- Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden - Chizuko
- Mega Man Star Force - Luna Platz
- Mezzo Forte (anime) - Mikura Suzuki
- Naruto - Woman, ep. 101 (uncredited)
- Nightwalker- Asami
- Noein - Haruka Kaminogi
- Please Teacher - Kaede Misumi
- Rurouni Kenshin - Seta Sojiro
- Sakura Wars: The Movie - Orihime Soletta
- Samurai Champloo - Budoukiba
- Tokyo Revelation - Kyoko
- Zatch Bell! - Tia, Additional Voices
Selected animated voice roles[]
- Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery - Betty Boop
- Invader Zim - Gaz
- OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes - Dendy
- Hello Kitty's Paradise - Kitty
- Ren and Stimpy - Fan (ep. Fan Club), Additional Voices
Selected film roles[]
- Fast Food (Short Film) - Cookie
- Salsa - Featured Dancer
- Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus! - Gaz Membrane
Selected television roles[]
- Passions - Young Ezmerelda
Selected stage roles[]
- Wicked: (original Broadway cast) - Understudy Glinda, Ensemble Soloist, Dorothy (Broadway and Los Angeles)
- Vox Lumiere: - Coloratura Soloist, Christine (Phantom of the Opera), The Good Diva (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
- Anything Goes: - Hope Harcourt (Musical Theatre West)
- The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd: - Urchin (Musical Theatre Guild)
- Li'l Abner: - Daisy Mae (Musical Theatre Guild)
- No, No Nanette: - Flora (Musical Theatre Guild)
- Grease: - Marty
- Redhead: - Tillie (Musical Theatre Guild)
- The Sunshine Boys: - The Nurse
- West Side Story: - Maria (Denver Critics Circle Nominee - Best Actress in a Musical)
- Singin' in the Rain. - Kathy Selden (Arvada Center) Lina Lamont (Cabrillo Theatre, Ovation Award Nominee - Best Supporting Actress in a Musical)
Selected video game roles[]
- Blue Dragon: - Sura-Sura, Kacura, Noluta Village Child, Lago Village Child
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Sara Trantoul
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Charlotte Aulin
- Digimon Rumble Arena - Rika Nonaka
- God Hand - Conchita
- Hyperdimension Neptunia series - Neptune/Purple Heart
- Kessen II: - Himiko, Huang Yue Ying
- Nicktoons: Globs of Doom: - Gaz
- Nicktoons MLB: - Gaz
- Samurai Warriors: - Okuni
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4: - Yumi Ozawa, Additional voices
- Star Ocean: First Departure: - Welch Vineyard
- Wild Arms 4- Asia, Fiore, Gob Princess
- Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles: - Tia
- Zatch Bell! Mamodo Fury - Tia
Facts of Doom[]
- Melissa wrote the lyrics to the song in "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", and even sung the high opera-style notes herself.[2]
- According to the commentary for "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", she supports ZAGR, the relationship between Zim and Gaz, as does Richard Horvitz, who voices Zim.