Lily of Popular

Background:

“In high school, everybody secretly wants to be one of the popular kids. Me? I never felt like I was really ‘in.’ People never knew what to make of me.” Tamara Mello

Television and movie actress hailed from Orange County, California Tamara Mello is most famous for her role as politically straight vegetarian Lily Esposito in the acclaimed WB series “Popular” (1999-2001). She has starred in the critically praised ABC drama “Nothing Sacred” (1997) and guested in such popular shows, “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane,” “7th Heaven,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “JAG” and “Strong Medicine.” More recently, she appeared in the episodes of “Psych” and “Worst Week.”

On the wide screen, the vegan actress is perhaps most known for playing the supporting role of Chandler in the popular teen comedy “She’s All That” (1999). Other movie credits include “Get a Job” (1998), “Spanish Judges” (1999), “Carlo's Wake” (1999), “Tortilla Soup” (2001), “In Scream at the Sound of the Beep” (2002) and “Clean” (2004, also a co-producer).

Californian Girl

Childhood and Family:

Tamara Beccam Mello was born on February 22, 1976, in Orange County, California. She found a knack for acting from an early age, but did not consider it as a career until an agent spotted her while performing in a local stage play. At that time, she was an anthropology student at a college.

The American beauty of Portuguese and French descent, Tamara currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She has a Pomeranian dog named Ashby. In her leisure time, she enjoys traveling, writing, reading, making her own jewelry as well as practicing yoga. She also likes spending time with her family.

She’s All That

Career:

Finding her calling from an early age, young Tamara Mello began to participate in a community theatre. While in her first year of college, she performed in a production of “Agnes of God” at the Vanguard Theater Group, an appearance that won her an agent. Before long, she headed to Los Angeles to try her luck as an actress.

Mello made her screen debut in the mockumentary “The Making of ‘...And God Spoke” in 1993, and followed it up with small roles in the hit spoof “The Brady Bunch Movie” (1995), the family film “The Adventures of Tom and Huck” (1995) and Brian Cox’s “Scorpion Spring” (1996). She also appeared with Gary Gary Stretch in the film “Infidelity/Hard Fall” (1997) and supported Fran Drescher and Timothy Dalton for the comedy/romance “The Beautician and the Beast” (1997).

Making her TV debut with a guest role in the WB “7th Heaven” (1996), Mello continued to land spots in “Diagnosis Murder” (1997) and “Boy Meets World” (1997), but did not make her debut as a regular until she won the role of Rachel on the critically acclaimed, short lived drama “Nothing Sacred” (ABC, 1997-1998). She played a Catholic who has a contentious abortion. An insulting and somewhat controversial series about a turncoat priest, “Nothing Sacred” was immediately axed despite its quality.

After the cancellation of the series, Mello revisited the big screen. She played Trinity/Con Artist in the comedy “Get a Job” (1998), starring Jason Wolk, Jeremy London and Brenda Strong, and appeared with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Christine Taylor in “Overnight Delivery” (1998). Besides, she appeared in the independent film “Carlo's Wake” (1999), starring Martin Landau and Rita Moreno, and the Oz Scott-directed crime/drama “Spanish Judges” (1999), opposite Vincent D’Onofrio.

It was also in 1999 that Mello got her breakout screen role when director Robert Iscove tapped her to play the memorable supporting role of Chandler Locklear, a malicious high schooler, in the hit teen feature “She’s All That,” which starred such hottest young actors as Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachel Leigh Cook and Matthew Lillard. She furthered gained popularity on television with her role as hardworking activist and outsider Lily Esposito in the WB topical teen comedy/drama series “Popular” (1999-2001). The success of the show brought Melllo fame. Still on the small screen, Mello appeared as Angela in a 1999 episode of The WB’s hit comedy series “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.”

Entering the new millennium, Mello had a small role in the indie-drama “Rave” (2000), which starred Douglas Spain and Aimee Graham and directed by Ron Krauss, and costarred withJacqueline Obradors in the comedy “Tortilla Soup” (2001), a remake of Ang Lee’s “Eat Drink Man Woman.” She played Maribel Naranjo, the daughter of a widowed father (played by Hector Elizondo). “In Scream at the Sound of the Beep” (2002), penned and directed by Lori Fontanes, she found herself essaying the small role of Tori, opposite Katharine Towne, Rainbow Borden, Todd Bridges and A.J. Buckley.

Next up for Mello, she acted along side Roselyn Sanchez in the TV film “Miss Miami” (2002), teamed up with Danny Glover in the made-for-TV film “The Law and Mr. Lee” (2003) and costarred with Paolo Cascardo and Patrick Fabian in the movie “Clean” (2004), a drama/thriller by Nyle Cavazos Garcia. The latter film also marked Mello’s first credit as a producer. Also in 2004, she returned to series TV as guest star in episodes of “JAG” and “Strong Medicine” and “What I Like About You.”

Mello resurfaced in 2007 when she played Amanda in an episode of “Psych,” a comedy series starring James Roday, Dulé Hill and Timothy Omundson. She followed it up in the following year with another one-episodic role in “Worst Week,” a U.S. version of the BBC series “The Worst Week of My Life.”

Awards:
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