Angela Melini

Infobox Playboy Playmate
name = Angela Melini
issue = June 1992


imagesize = 150px
caption =
birthname =
birthplace = Saigon, South Vietnam
birthdate = birth date and age|mf=yes|1969|7|25|mf=y
bust = 36" DD
waist = 26"
hips = 35"
height = height|ft=5|in=6
weight = convert|115|lb|kg st|abbr=on
ethnicity=flagicon|Italy flagicon|South Vietnam
Mixed
preceded = Anna Nicole Smith
succeeded = Amanda Hope

Angela Jane Melini (born July 25, 1969, in Saigon, Vietnam) is an American model, actress and entrepreneur. Melini was selected as Playmate of the Month for the June, 1992 issue of "Playboy" magazine, and her centerfold was photographed by Arny Freytag. Melini has appeared in several Playboy newsstand special editions and videos, working steadily for "Playboy" for more than ten years after she graced the magazine's fold-out page, first as a nude glamour and pin-up model, and then as a promotional model and a feature reporter for the Playboy Channel.

Biography

Melini's mother is Vietnamese, and her father was an Italian-American soldier who, prior to the birth of Melini and her twin brother, was a casualty of war, killed in action during the Second Indochina War (more commonly known as the Vietnam War). It is this mixed ancestry that gives Melini her exotic Eurasian appearance. In 1975, as part of Operation Frequent Wind, Melini, then age 5 and together with her mother, immigrated to the United States, settling in the suburbs near Olympia, Washington. Her brother was forced to remain in Vietnam, being one of the millions of Vietnamese people who were put to work in that government's collectivization of farms and factories, a policy implemented to restore its economy devastated by war. As of December 2007, he still resides in Vietnam.

Melini is a 1987 graduate of Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington. Melini was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Washington (Main Campus - Seattle) (UW) when,on a visit to Los Angeles, California, a Playboy photographer noticed her sitting on a curbside near Playboy headquarters, ironically while Melini was waiting for a girlfriend who was submitting photos to Playboy.

Melini owns and operates two commercial websites -- her personal adult-themed website, AngelaMelini.com, and a multiple model adult-themed website, MarquisModels.com (see below). In addition, Melini appears at various fan conventions, most notably Glamourcon, where she greets her fans and members of her websites, autographs and sells various "Playboy" memorabilia, and recruits female nude and pin-up models for MarquisModels.com. Occasionally still, Melini performs promotional work for "Playboy" at The Palms Casino Hotel near her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, a resort that affiliated with "Playboy" that houses the only active Playboy Club.

In May, 2008, Melini announced that she was entering her final year of modeling, her intent being to not model beyond the age of 40. Melini also announced a new business venture, a baby accessories line, called MaybeeBaby.

As of June, 2008, Melini resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband and their two children, a son, age 7, and a daughter, age 4.

Appearances in "Playboy" newsstand special editions

*"Playboys Playmate Review" "(# 9)", June 1993 - pp. 50--59.
*"Playboys Book of Lingerie" vol. 32, July 1993.
*"Playboys Book of Lingerie" vol. 33, September 1993.
*"Playboys Book of Lingerie" vol. 34, November 1993.
*"Playboys Book of Lingerie" vol. 35, January 1994.
*"Playboys Girls of Summer '94", June 1994.
*"Playboys Playmates at Play", July 1994.
*"Playboys Wet & Wild Playmates", September 1994.
*"Playboys Playmates in Bed" "(# 1)", January 1995.
*"Playboys Book of Lingerie" vol. 44, July 1995 - pp. 4-5.
*"Playboys Nudes" "(# 6)", October 1995.
*"Playboys Asian Beauties", August 2000 - pp. 54-55.

Appearances in "Playboy" videos

*imdb title|id=0483429|title=Playboy: 50 Years of Playmates (2004) - archival footage
*imdb title|id=0368928|title=Playboy: Playmates Bustin' Out (2000)
*imdb title|id=0354828|title=Playboy: Playmate Profile Video Collection Featuring Miss June 1998, 1995, 1992, 1989 (1998)
*imdb title|id=0201405|title=Playboy: 1992 Video Playmate Review (1993)
*imdb title|id=0466192|title=Playboy: Wet and Wild V (1993)
*imdb title|id=0201404|title=Playboy: 1993 Video Playmate Calendar (1993)
*imdb title|id=0824338|title=Playboy: Playmate Private Pleasures (1992)
*imdb title|id=0105800|title=Playboy: Wet & Wild IV (1992)

Filmography

*imdb title|id=0383971|title=Centerfold Babylon (2003, TV)
*imdb title|id=0111191|title=Silk Degrees (1994)
*"Fresh Prince of Bel Air" (1993, TV)
*"Family Feud" (1993, TV)

Trivia

* Melini is classified by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service as Amerasian.
* Melini is the cover model whose photograph appears on the dust jacket of "Dropping The Chase: The Enigmas of the Goddess" authored by broadcaster & physicist Paul Davies.
* Melini is referenced at page 30 in "Vanilla Slim: An Improbable Pimp in the Empire of Lust" authored by self-described low-end journalist for San Francisco-based "Exotic" magazine and convicted ex-pimp Bob Armstrong, who suggests that Melini's appearance in "Playboy" magazine is a more fitting image to signify the end of the Vietnam War than "Hueys" being dumped from aircraft carriers into the South China Sea. A second reference to Melini is made, noting that her "flotation devices were fully deployed" in her centerfold, a thinly veiled reference to Melini's exposed breasts.
* Melini is trilingual, with the ability to speak, read and write in the English, French and Vietnamese languages.
* Melini, while serving as a reporter for "Playboy TV" for a "Girls Of The PAC 10" story, discovered Stacy Marie Fuson. Melini photographed Fuson wearing a bikini and forwarded those photographs to Arny Freytag, a "Playboy" photographer, and subsequently, Fuson was selected as "Playboy" Playmate of the Month for February, 1999.
* Melini, while serving as a celebrity judge for a Hawaiian Tropic bikini competition at The Palms Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, discovered Destiny Davis, who was the winning entrant. Melini convinced Davis to forward photographs of herself wearing a bikini to Arny Freytag, a "Playboy" photographer, and subsequently, Davis was selected as "Playboy" Playmate of the Month for January, 2005.

ee also

* List of Las Vegans
* List of people in Playboy 1990-1999
* List of people in Playboy 1990-1999 by birthplace
* List of people in Playboy by Birthplace
* List of Playboy NSS models G-R
* List of Vietnamese Americans

External links

*imdb name|id=0577793|name=Angela Melini
*playmate|1992|6
* [http://www.angelamelini.com Official Website of Playboy Playmate Angela Melini]
* [http://www.marquismodels.com Official Website of Marquis Models of Las Vegas]
* [http://www.maybeebaby.com Official Website of Maybee Baby]
* [http://www.fobpro.com/photos/gc30/gc30f3290.php Photo of Angela Melini at Glamourcon 30]