Trivia
- In August 2008 Melora played Fantine in a Concert performance of Les Misérables at the Hollywood Bowl.
- Melora contributed two songs to the soundtrack for the movie The Rocketeer. The songs she sang were "When Your Lover Has Gone" and "Begin The Beguine".
- Melora is also a singer, and had released two albums titled "Purr" and "The Melodrama".
- Melora was originally cast as the lead, Jennifer Parker, in Back To The Future but when Michael J. Fox was cast as Marty McFly, she was let go because she was taller than him. Claudia Wells then got the role.
- At age 13, Melora won a scholarship to study at Joffery Ballet Company in New York.
- Along with her The Office castmates, Melora won the 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. They also won the award in 2008.
- Melora loves dresses so much that she calls herself a "dress fiend."
- Melora went backpacking alone through Europe for three months, when she was 20.
- Melora only has four cavities, which were filled with white filling when she was a child, because her mother knew that she would use her voice for her career.
- Melora has three cats.
- Melora directed a feature film called You, which was written by her husband. They are both in it along with their daughter Rory, and friends: Joely Fisher, Don Michael Paul, and Amy Peitz.
- As a child, she did a theatrical show called Cliffwood Avenue Kids. It was her acting debut on stage.
- Melora attended Sarah Lawrence College in Brooklyn, New York. She also attended Rocamora School.
- If she didn't end up being an actress, she would have wanted to put up a dance company or become a writer or psychologist/therapist.
- Melora was part of several failed TV pilots including a late-70s drama called Thunder.
- Melora won a Young Artist Award for the 1983 short-lived ABC drama called Two Marriages.
- Melora took pole dancing classes in preparation for her directorial job of StripSearch.
- When she is not busy with work, Melora likes to spend time with her husband and kids, take dance lessons, and see movies.
- Among the actresses Melora idolizes are Judi Dench, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Helen Mirren, and Kartherine Hepburn.
- When she was still a kid, she appeared in a Peak Toothpaste commercial.
- Melora directed the one-woman show called "StripSearch" starring Adria Tennor.
- Her musical influences include Doris Day and Julie London.
- Melora's father is character actor Jerry Hardin. Her mother is acting manager Diane Hardin. Her brother Shawn is the Flock CEO.
- She is married to actor Gildart Jackson (Stargate: Atlantis, Charmed). They have two daughters named Rory and Piper. Rory was born in 2001, and Piper in 2005.
Quotes
- Melora: (on the differences between her and her The Office character Jan) Well, Jan is extremely different from me, but I identify with a lot of her struggles, everyone has struggles in their life. In terms of through your twenties and figuring out who you are, I think she's a little late in that process. She's spent so much time climbing the corporate ladder that she didn't have time to really look inwardly at all and figure out who she is, and I think she's amping up to get ready to do that.
- Melora: If there's anything else you can do and be happy, do it. If this is the only thing you can do and be happy, then that's the reason to do it. Otherwise, don't do it.
- Melora: The Office is pretty unique. I don't know if there's going to be enough for it to go for 30 years, but I do think it will go for a few years for sure and if it does go for 30 years, that would be pretty miraculous.
- Melora: (referring to "The Office") I think that most people are very casual about it, maybe excited. They like the show, people really love the show, so I think that when they see me, that makes them think of the show that they love.
- Melora: A lot of times women on television are very flat and one dimensional, so it would have to working with someone who can write women the way they write Jan in The Office. Just somebody who would be complex and exciting – sexy – flawed – hot – imperfect and struggling.
- Melora: I think there’s something really charming and really funny and really universal about just being able to reflect on your own journey.
- Melora: I believe the bumper sticker "Born to Perform" was made just for me! I’ve been writing songs all my life. My mom says I wrote my first song when I was two.
- Melora: (on her being a dress-fiend) There's something really sexy about having that breeze around your legs and not feeling constricted.
- Melora: I think that that character that is my songstress personality was one I worked long and hard to find when I was in my early stages of being a singer-songwriter. I was trying to find a voice that was really mine and felt right for me.
- Melora: Sometimes I like to be classic and other times I like to be wild and edgy. I'm not the kind of person you'll see in black every day, that's for sure. I wear clothes that excite me.
- Melora: I think the basic thing about making a movie on an extremely low budget like I did, there’s really no time to think of anything other than getting the job done. You can’t indulge any feelings of frustration. anger or concern or pettiness in any way. It’s mostly like petal to the metal – nose to the grindstone thing, and that’s what you’re doing.
- Melora: (on directing "StripSearch") I have to say it was a hugely fulfilling and satisfying experience to feel like all of your gifts are needed and wanted and required in every moment of every day.
- Melora: (on the characters of "The Office") That's why they're so appealing, because people can really see themselves in each character in different ways.
- Melora: (on the writers' strike) I do agree with them that they need to be looking at the web because the web is the future of this business and nobody really knows exactly how deep those pockets are going to get, but eventually things are going to change and the way that we watch television today is virtually over soon.
- Melora: (on her character in "The Office") I think just the way she has unraveled is kind of like the writers seeing something in me that I bring to the part and then me taking what they give me and being surprised by what they give me and it's a wonderful dance, kind of a collaborative little dance that we do together.
