Sunnyi Melles was born in Luxembourg October 7th, 1958 but grew up in Basel, Switzerland. As the daughter of a conductor and actress she spent much of her childhood on and around theater sets.
At the age of six Sunnyi Melles started to dance ballet, at the age of twelve she learned how to tap- and jazz dance and performed the first time on stage at the Schauspielbühne in Basel. In 1978 she started going to acting school at the Otto-Falkenberg-School.
Since 1980 Sunnyi Melles has been a cast member at the Münchner Kammerspiele. In 2004 the magazine «Theater today» honoured her extraordinary talent with the prize for best actress. Although Sunnyi Melles' passion is the theater she regularly likes to perform in from of the camera for film and TV.
Filmography (selection)
2005 Snow White, drama, 113min, directed by Samir
2003 Olgas Sommer, drama, 105min, directed by Nina Grosse
2000 Pumuckl, comedy, 87min, directed by Peter Weissflog
1999 Balzac - Ein Leben voller Leidenschaft, directed by José Dyan
1999 Long Hello and Short Goodbye, thriller, 95min, directed by Rainer Kaufmann
1997 Insel der Furcht, thriller, 92min, directed by Gus Trikonis
1995 Die Seekönigin, fairytale film, 89min, directed by Vaclav Vorlicek
1989 Geld, comedy, 98min, directed by Doris Dörrie
1987 Faust, drama, 169min, directed by Dieter Dorn
1986 Maschenka, drama, 103min, directed by John Goldschmidt
1985 '38-Heim ins Reich, drama, 97min, directed by Wolfgang Glück
1985 Drei gegen Drei, comedy, 105min, directed by Dominik Graf
1985 Der wilde Clown, tragicomedy, 103min, directed by Josef Rödl
1984 Dormire, drama, 91min, directed by Niklaus Schilling
1983 Die wilden 50er, comedy, 126min, directed by Peter Zadek
1981 Die Leidenschaftlichen, drama, 110min, directed by Thomas Koerfer