Bio
Melissa Haiden is a South African actress best known for her starring role as Taryn in the SABC3 comedy-drama series Taryn and Sharon.
Having matriculated from Pinelands High School in Cape Town, she graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BA (honours) in Theatre and Performance in 2009 and has since worked steadily in theatre, film and television.
Theatre productions she has performed in include The Birds, directed by Roy Sargeant; Waiting For Godot, directed by Frankie Nassimbeni; Sexual Perversity in Chicago, directed by Chris Weare; Cock, directed by Paul Griffiths; Fred Abrahamse's production of Othello at the Maynardville open air theatre, in which she played Desdemona; and The Vagina Monologues, directed by Marlise Doubell.
Feature films she has appeared in include Konfetti, The Siege of Jadotville, Bypass and Finders Keepers; and she has acted in a number of short films as well including Bound, Adrift, Unspoken and Savage Ivy.
Melissa first appeared on television in 1997 at the age of 10, in an episode of the fantasy action series The Adventures of Sinbad, playing a village girl in the episode entitled "The Gift" (Season 2, Episode 6).
She has acted in a number of foreign television series shot on location in South Africa, including the BBC's science fiction series Outcasts and its comedy-drama The Wrong Mans; the Starz production of Black Sails; National Geographic's miniseries Saints & Strangers and its documentary series Origins: The Journey of Humankind; the BBC docu-drama Troy: Fall of a City; and the Discovery crime series Hear No Evil.
In 2017 Melissa landed the starring role of Taryn in the SABC3 comedy-drama series Taryn and Sharon, about two best friends who are desperate for husbands, not realising that they are practically already married to each other. It was her first starring role in South African-produced scripted television.