Melanie Jonas is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network.
Created by former head writers Rick Draughon and Dena Higley, the role is portrayed by Molly Burnett.
For her work on Days of Our Lives as Melanie, Burnett was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in both 2010 and 2012.
I look at it as four years of the best training any actor could have ever been given [...] I just want to go explore; see what's up with this whole world" Melanie was created by head-writer Dena Higley and Rick Draughon.
[3] Apart from Days of Our Lives, Burnett had previously appeared for one episode each on the NBC television series Life and Grey's Anatomy.
[4] On May 29, 2012, it was announced that Burnett was to depart Days of our Lives following her decision to quit the series due to her contract which expired that June.
[7] In April 2015, rumors circulated that Burnett had wrapped up filming in and would exit the series, following her six-month stint.
[13] Upon her debut, she is revealed as the daughter of Jane Layton and Trent Robbins, who is also the father of her half brother Max Brady.
[13] After finding a picture of a young girl that belongs to Trent, it is revealed that Melanie is Max Brady's sister.
She quickly makes enemies with Max's girlfriend Stephanie Johnson, who doesn't find Melanie's party girl attitude endearing.
In 2011, Melanie was involved in a storyline in which she would fall in love with her best friend Abigail Deveraux's (Kate Mansi) boyfriend Chad DiMera (Casey Jon Deidrick).
Speaking of this during an interview with Michael Fairman, Burnett talked about her admiration of the normality of the storyline, stating: "How many girls have fallen in love with their best friend's significant other?
It was later revealed that Nick Fallon, a friend of hers (he was in love with Melanie, but she wasn't interested in him) had killed Trent, due to problems with an alternative fuel project at the university.
He signed over his share of the fuel project to Melanie, allowing her to get a job at Titan, and she developed a crush on Philip Kiriakis, her boss at the time; however, she casually was dating Nathan Horton.
Melanie is both elated and confused to learn that Daniel Jonas (a doctor at the hospital) is her father, and later, it is revealed that Carly Manning is her mother (she was conceived during an affair they had many years ago) and that Trent isn't even blood-related to her.
On the day of her wedding, her mother's stalker (who was seeking revenge on Carly for killing her husband, who was Vivian's nephew, in self-defense) Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) (who had befriended and manipulated Melanie to kill her to get revenge on Carly) poisoned her comb.
When Phillip sees Melanie and Nathan together (they were not physical, just passionately holding each other), he goes to his former flame and Daniel's fiancée, Chloe Lane, and they have sex.
Initially the character was negatively received by fans; Burnett cited that in her first public appearance she was heavily booed by the audience.
[7] For her work on Days of our Lives as Melanie, Burnett was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in both 2010 and 2012.