Melissa Beck

Melissa Howard was born February 12, 1977, in Okinawa, Japan to a Filipino mother and African-American father. She, her older sister Marlene and their younger brother, Michael, grew up in Valrico, Florida. She attended Brandon Senior High School and the University of South Florida, from which she graduated with a degree in journalism and mass communications. In 2000, Howard was one of seven people selected from a pool of 35,221 applicants to be cast on The Real World: New Orleans, the ninth season of the long-running MTV reality television series. MTV producer and casting director, Andrew Hoegl explains that she was selected on the basis of her audition tape, which he calls "hysterical", and credits the season's humor to Howard, who referred to herself in her audition tape as a "half-black, half-Filipino Chris Rock". Filming took place over the course of 124 days between January and late May 2000. Her 2000 MTV biography describes her as possessing a "manic wit". After filming ended, Howard moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in standup comedy, as well as to engage in acrylic painting, an interest she developed while in New Orleans. She stayed in Los Angeles for approximately five or six years.