“Melissa is a dream to work with. Whether she was performing for an audience of 200 or 4,000, she won hearts with her spunky charm. Her poise, quiet dignity, humility, and wisdom makes it easy to forget that she is still at the beginning of her career.”
Melissa Mahoney is an actor, creator, musician, teacher, and clown based in NYC.
She has played title roles in three critically-acclaimed productions with the Atlantic Theater Company ("with spunk to spare", says The New York Times of her performance in NYT Critics’ Pick and Off Broadway Alliance Award Winner The Pirate La Dee Da), five Shakespeare productions with director Dan Hasse (most recently playing both Dromio twins in Smith Street Stage’s The Comedy of Errors), as well as at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, The Bushwick Starr, and in theaters across the United States. She is also a solo performer (Melissa Mahoney is a Robot), a voice actor (featured in the musical fiction podcast It Makes a Sound), and a hospital clown (with the Healthy Humor Red Nose Docs).
Melissa is currently an adjunct instructor at NYU Tisch and a faculty member of the Atlantic Acting School, teaching classes that focus on radical presence, clowning, and play. She also works as a private coach for students of all ages and experience levels.
When she’s not performing or teaching, Melissa can be found playing bass guitar, meditating, thrift shopping, overanalyzing Stanley Kubrick films, or expanding her (eclectic) musical horizons.
““Melissa is a talent and a force to be reckoned with. Any artist will have to decide whether to be intimidated or inspired by her.””