Melissa Bell (actor)

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Melissa Bell
Born (1972-11-07) 7 November 1972 (age 52) [1]
Sydney, Australia
Occupation(s)Actress, fashion designer
Years active1988–present
Known for
Spouses
Jason Redlich
​
​
(m. 1996;div. 1998)​
Gary Dickinson
​
​
(m. 2000;died 2016)​
Grant Thompson
​
(m. 2022)​
Children4

Melissa Bell (born 7 November 1972) is an Australian actress and fashion designer. She is best known for her roles of Bonnie Tait in E Street , Lucy Robinson in Neighbours , and Emily Harris in Paradise Beach . Bell also made appearances in Home and Away and Water Rats .

Contents

Career

Bell's first major television appearance was the guest role of Janine in the soap opera E Street in 1990. [2] She joined the main cast of Neighbours as the third actress to play Lucy Robinson in early 1991. [3] After 18 months of playing Lucy, Bell decided to leave Neighbours. She filmed her final scenes in June 1992. [4] Bell then returned to E Street in the new role of eco-crusader Bonnie Tait, who became a love interest for Bruce Samazan's Max Simmonds. [4] Bell cited homesickness as her reason for leaving Neighbours, which was filmed in Melbourne. She returned to Sydney for E Street and to be closer to her family. [4] After E Street ended Bell made several brief returns to Neighbours. [2] Due to her popularity in the UK, Bell appeared in several pantomimes. [2]

Bell also acted in another soap, Paradise Beach , playing surfer Emily Harris. [5] In 1994, after returning from overseas, Bell secured guest roles in Over the Hill and G.P. . [6] In 1995, she co-wrote the fiction novel Living Famously with television writer and producer Jason Herbison. [7] The following year, she made a guest appearance as Suzie Hudson in an episode of Home and Away . [8] Bell had a regular slot on Sydney radio station Sea FM in the late 1990s. [9] She appears in the 1999 adventure sci-fi film Duran Duran, alongside Rebekah Elmaloglou and Ben Oxenbould. [2]

She appeared in the 2005 lifestyle program Celebrity Overhaul . [10] In 2007, she appeared on Seven Network's Mums and Bubs. [11]

In 1999, Bell developed a range of bath products called Bondi Baby, which were inspired her then two year old son. [2] She also opened Terrigal Babe, a clothing store on the NSW Central Coast, close to where she grew up. She also began designing her own clothing, which was modelled by actress Kate Ritchie in an issue of TV Week . [9] She sold kaftans and party wear from a boutique in Double Bay. [11] She opened a small boutique called Radical Love on Chevron Island in 2019. [12] In September 2024, Bell opened a clothing boutique store called Lilly Blue in Worongary on the Gold Coast. [13] After slow sales she moved to a smaller space in the same shopping centre but this ultimately failed and closed in June 2025.

Personal life

Bell was married to Jason Redlich from 1996 to 1998. [14] They have one son. Following the end of her marriage, Bell suffered from body dysmorphic disorder and depression. [15] In 2000, Bell married Gary Dickinson. They had three children and lived on the Central Coast, NSW. In November 2015, Dickinson, then 57, suffered a heart attack which left him in a coma. [16] Dickinson died on 13 February 2016. [17] In 2020, Bell became engaged to Grant Thompson, [18] and the couple married in 2022, with Bell wearing the dress her Neighbours character wore in her on-screen wedding. [19]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998The Venus FactoryEmily DuBois
1999Duran DuranEchidna
2012 Housos vs. Authority Model
2018 Occupation Mrs. Kyle
2021 The Possessed Helen

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1988 Rafferty's Rules Angela GriffinEpisode: "The Beast"
1990–1991 E Street JanineGuest role
1991–1993, 1995, 2005, 2013–2016, 2020–2024, 2025 Neighbours Lucy Robinson Main cast
1992–1993 E Street Bonnie TaitMain cast
1993–1994 Paradise Beach Emily HarrisMain cast
1994 G.P. Rachel WellerEpisode: "Breakfast with Gazza"
1996 Home and Away Suzie HudsonGuest role
1998 Water Rats Lisa HubbardEpisode: "Untouchable"

References

  1. ↑ "Chatterbox". TV Week . 30 November 1991. p. 71.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Herbison, Jason (9–15 January 1999). "Baby love". TV Week . pp. 36–37.
  3. ↑ Camp, Chrissie (6 April 1991). "Richard's bombshells". TV Week . p. 7.
  4. 1 2 3 McGowan, Mark (9 May 1992). "'I want to go home'". TV Week . pp. 8–9.
  5. ↑ Mercado, Andrew (2004). Super Aussie Soaps: Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows. Australia: Pluto Press. p. 297. ISBN   1-86403-191-3.
  6. ↑ Brown, David (30 July 1994). "Inside Info". TV Week . p. 6.
  7. ↑ Malins, Sue (25 November 1995). "Lucy's secrets shock street" . Daily Mirror . Retrieved 21 July 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ Herbison, Jason (27 July – 9 August 1996). "Home and Away here we come!". Inside Soap . No. 54. p. 38.
  9. 1 2 "Dressed for success". TV Week . 24–30 July 1999. p. 4.
  10. ↑ "Celebrity Overhaul: Melissa Bell". Ninemsn. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  11. 1 2 Gora, Bronwen (5 August 2007). "Wing's eye on Bell's view". Archived from the original on 16 September 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "Former TV star Melissa Bell's next chapter in fashion". 7News . 5 November 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  13. ↑ "From soap star to shop owner!". Woman's Day . No. 52. 6 January 2025. pp. 28–29 – via PressReader.
  14. ↑ Dowdney, Mark (31 January 1997). "Husband tried to kill me claims Oz soap queen Melissa; Punched: He struck as I cradled our four-week-old son". Daily Record . Retrieved 7 November 2022– via The Free Library.
  15. ↑ "Melissa Bell admits she suffered body dysmorphia leading to thousands of dollars of plastic surgery". The Daily Telegraph . 18 November 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  16. ↑ Koch, Phillip (8 December 2015). "Neighbours star Melissa Bell's brave battle to save her husband's life". Woman's Day . Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "Neighbours star Melissa Bell reveals heartbreak after husband Gary Dickinson battled for life". 21 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  18. ↑ Burrell, Zoe (9 August 2021). "Neighbours star Melissa Bell's wedding joy: 'How I found happiness again'". New Idea . Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  19. ↑ Julians, Joe (7 November 2022). "Former Neighbours star Melissa Bell ties the knot in dress she wore on the soap". Digital Spy . Retrieved 7 November 2022.
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