Heinrich Ludwig Schmelka (1 December 1777[A 1] – 27 April 1837) was a German theatre actor, mainly in comic roles, occasionally also a singer (tenor) Born in Schwedt,[1] according to his own account, Schmelka descended from a noble family and spent his earliest youth in splendid prosperity.
Schmelka made his debut at the municipal theatre in Riga, later he was engaged in Prague and Breslau until 1818, when he came to the Königsstädtisches Theater in Berlin.
There, he performed in plays by Adolf Bäuerle, Ferdinand Raimund, Karl von Holtei and others.
His colleagues were Friedrich Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Plock, Philipp Grobecker, Josef Spitzeder and Eduard Karl Rösicke.
A caricature from 1792 shows him in an operetta by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.