Melissa Fitzgerald is an actor, producer, and social activist. Her acting career has included film, theater and television in New York and Los Angeles. She is best known for playing the role of Carol on NBC’s award-winning political drama The West Wing. Melissa recently completed filming the independent feature, This is Not a Test. Her other film roles include Simple Things, Monument Avenue, Frequency, and Love and Sex.

Earlier in her theatrical career, Melissa attended the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater, where she studied with Sanford Meisner. She worked closely with Israel Horovitz and starred in his plays North Shore Fish and Stage Directions. She also starred in the Los Angeles premiere of Graham Reid’s modern Irish classic, Remembrance, with James Gandolfini produced by Sean Penn.

Throughout her life, Melissa has been dedicated to community service and outreach. In 1995 she co-founded Voices in Harmony, a nonprofit youth arts organization committed to empowering at-risk teens by cultivating personal, academic, and artistic excellence.

Melissa has been extensively involved in local, state and national political organizations and campaigns. She has been a featured speaker at campaign stops in her home state of Pennsylvania and throughout the country, speaking on behalf of candidates and issues such as the environment. She was a spokesperson for and served on the board of Environmental Alliance, a political organization designed to educate voters about environmental issues.

She enjoys serving on the Advisory Board of the American Democracy Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to giving young people the skills and tools necessary to be powerful forces of social and political change.

Melissa served on the board of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS care (IAPAC). In 2004, she traveled to South Africa as an IAPAC volunteer where she worked with children and adults infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

In 2005, Melissa represented International Medical Corps at the Live 8 Concert and the G8 Summit as part of the ONE Campaign to end poverty. Major media coverage of Melissa’s work with the ONE Campaign included CNN, BBC Radio, NBC, CNBC, People Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer and others.

Currently, Melissa is deeply involved in advocating for peace in northern Uganda and has spoken several times on Capitol Hill and around the country. She has traveled twice to northern Uganda, once as a volunteer working with malnourished children and, most recently, as a producer of the film Voices of Uganda. Voices of Uganda documents 14 Ugandan teenagers as they participate in the Voices in Harmony theater program led by a group of American actors. The result will be a compelling film illuminating the situation facing teenagers in war-torn northern Uganda.

Melissa is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of the 2008 Take the Lead Award presented by the Girl Scouts and the 2008 Next Generation of Leaders Award, Woman Making a Difference.

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