Melanie Paxson
Paxson in 2007
Born	Melanie Deanne Moore Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Andy Paxson
Children	2

Melanie Moore Paxson (néeMoore) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jaclyn inCupid, Sara Brennan inHappy Family, and Julie inNotes from the Underbelly. She also playedFairy Godmother in theDescendants film series, being the only cast member present in all five installments. Paxson also appeared in a number ofGladware television commercials in the early 2000s.

Paxson was born inChampaign, Illinois, and grew up inMahomet, Illinois. She graduated from theUniversity of Missouri with a bachelor's degree in Theatre. She received training in acting atSecond City Chicago and performed with theSteppenwolf Theatre Company.

Paxson later became involved with "The Crew on the U" on Chicago'sWCIU-TV. The Crew was made up of a group of young actors (including WCIU personality George Blaise) that appeared in promos for the station shortly after WCIU became a full-time general English language station after Univision (its former affiliate) boughtWGBO-TV. Paxson also appeared as Velma in promos for WCIU's Scooby-Doo episodes the station aired on weekday mornings. She was still seen on WCIU andWFBT (The Chicago low power station that was first home toMeTV in 2003) in disclaimers for E/I Children's programming as late as the mid 2000s. Paxson by that time had become relatively famous on a national level.

She pursued a screen career. In 1997, she had an uncredited role in the seriesEarly Edition. Her first notable screen role was a recurring role as Jaclyn in theABC seriesCupid from 1998 to 1999. She went on guest star in the seriesThe Drew Carey Show,Quintuplets,Joey,Related,Kitchen Confidential,CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,Surviving Suburbia,Rules of Engagement,Medium andThe Exes. From 2003 to 2004, Paxson had a regular role in theNBC sitcomHappy Family as Sara Brennan. From 2007 to 2008, she co-starred as Julie in the ABC sitcomNotes from the Underbelly, the series aired for two seasons. From 2009 to 2010, she had a recurring role as Doris Madigan (née Aidem) on theNickelodeon sitcomTrue Jackson, VP. She is also the spokeswoman inRed Robin's burger commercials.

Paxson's film credits includeReady to Rumble (2000),Slackers (2002),Saving Mr. Banks as Dolly (Dolores Vought), Disney's secretary (2013), and starring asJoyce DeWitt in the television filmBehind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company (2003). She has appeared in television commercials forFiber One,Target,Yoplait,Red Robin,Glad Trash Bags,Hotels.com and Serta mattresses. From 2015 to 2019 she starred in theDisney Channel Original Movie franchiseDescendants with its sequels,Descendants 2 andDescendants 3. She played theFairy Godmother fromCinderella now serving as the Headmistress for the school, Auradon Prep. She also played a mother of a schoolchild in a second season episode of the ABC comedySpeechless, which played on October 4, 2017.

Paxson is married to Andy Paxson, co-owner of Los Angeles restaurants Sushi Note and Melanie Wine Bar. They have a son Miller and daughter Winifred.

• Melanie Paxson atIMDb

• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Illinois
• American film actresses
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• Living people
• People from Champaign, Illinois
• University of Missouri alumni
• Actors from Champaign County, Illinois

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Year of birth missing (living people)