Malese Jow

Malese Jow (born February 18, 1991 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Geena Fabiano, a girl interested in fashion and designing her own clothes on the Nickelodeon television teen sitcom Unfabulous, and Anna, a teenage vampire on The CW television teen drama The Vampire Diaries. A native of Tulsa, 16-year-old Malese Jow first developed her vocal and performance skills at charity benefits and local talent competitions. At 7 she gained valuable stage experience when she was chosen to sing with Rodney Lay and the Wild West, a group of retired country musicians from the television show "Hee Haw". Malese landed the gig beating out 75 adult women, and the "Sweetheart of the Opry" opened for such legendary acts as Brenda Lee, George Jones, Ty Herndon, Ray Price, and many others. Soon thereafter, the head of McDonald's advertising heard Malese's voice, and offered her the opportunity to appear in several world-wide McDonald's/Disney television commercials and radio jingles. In the spring of 2000, 9-year-old Malese and her family moved to Los Angeles for pilot season. In 2002 she competed on Ed McMahon's "Next Big Star" on PAX-TV and won 4 episodes against stiff competition. Her vocal abilities left an impact on Mr. McMahon, and he personally invited her on tour with his variety show in Branson, MO later that year. In 2003 Malese began to focus more on her acting career, and by the fall she had landed the role of funky and fashionable "Geena Fabiano" for Nickelodeon's hit show "Unfabulous". Unfabulous finished principal photography of their 3rd and final season in 2006, which gave Malese the opportunity to look to at other projects outside of Nickelodeon's realm. Soon thereafter, she booked a supporting lead role in the live-action adaptation of "Bratz - The Movie", playing the role of "Quinn" in the preppy/popular group of high school girls. As for upcoming projects, she's currently the front-runner for two separate developing shows which will begin principal photography in May/June of 2007. She will also be the subject of a back-to-school editorial for "Sweet 16" magazine, and has just completed her vocal demo CD, which is currently being shopped to major labels. for more information go to www.imdb.com/name/nm1679802/ or www.lacasting.com/malesejow Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.