Melissa Mars

Melissa Mars (born 3 September 1979) is a French singer and actress.

Biography

Born in Marseilles, France, Melissa Mars began acting at the age of thirteen, at the Chocolat theater. Two years later, she began taking singing lessons.

At age of sixteen, she moved to Paris, and earned a baccalauréat in sciences at the Louis-Le-Grand high school twelve months later. Despite this accomplishment, she ended her studies, but continued to study Spanish, English, piano, and harmonica. She wrote short scripts and read modern theatrical works (Anouilh, Obaldia, Sartre, Cocteau, Miller, and others).

In 1998, her agent arranged for her to dine with André Téchiné and François Bernheim. However, the dinner didn't work out as planned: According to Mars, "the meal progressed, but the interaction did not." François Bernheim asked to hear her sing. With her mother's help, she wrote her first song, "Papa m'aime pas." Five others followed. Having performed under the stage names Melissa Sefrani and Melissa Maylee, she ultimately adopted the last name Mars, a reference to the planet Mars and her penchant for dreams.