Melanie Peres

Melanie Mariam Thanee Frasch (born December 1, 1971), better known as Melanie Peres (Hebrew: מלאני פרס‎) is an Israeli model and actress. She has been a model for over 20 years, and has acted on various television programs and movies; she played the title role in the 2010 Israeli feature film Naomi.

Early life

Peres was born in Berlin, West Germany to Peter and Nurith Frasch. She was named after American singer Melanie Safka. After her parents separated when she was 3 years old, she stayed with her father. At 15, under difficult relationship circumstances where her father remarried, she left and immigrated to Israel to join her mother; she stayed at an absorption center in Upper Nazareth. Peres mentioned in interviews that the move was a traumatic experience. Although her mother was born in Israel, Peres was not accustomed to the differences in mentality, and did not speak a word of Hebrew at the time of her immigration. She had also enrolled in an ulpan to learn Hebrew while attending the local high school, but considered that useless.