Melanie Zanetti

Zanetti was born in 1985^[4] in Brisbane, Queensland,^[1] and grew up with five siblings.^[5]

She graduated from the University of Southern Queensland in 2007 with a Bachelor of Theatre Arts.^[6] After graduation, she started working as a stage actress.^[6] She appeared on stage for the Queensland Theatre Company in several plays, including as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (2011), as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (2012), as Catherine Earnshaw/Cathy Linton in a stage adaptation of Wuthering Heights (2014), as Laura/Eliza Wishart in Kate Mulvany's adaptation of the novel Jasper Jones (2018), and as Lea in the premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith's L'Appartement (2019).^[7] Her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion earned her a Matilda Award in 2011.^[8]

She subsequently transitioned voice-over, film, and television,^[6] relocating to Los Angeles, where she has been cast in various roles.^[2]

Since 2018, Zanetti has been the voice of Chilli Heeler, the mother of the titular character and her sister, Bingo, in the popular Australian television series for preschool children Bluey,^[9] which has received Peabody^[10] and Emmy awards.^[11] She was given the role three months after submitting her voice-over.^[12] She will reprise her role in the upcoming feature-length film, set to release in 2027.^[13] Cast members of the show recorded their voices separately. Zanetti did so remotely as well, while working on her other projects in different countries.^[2] On November 11, 2022, Zanetti and co-star Dave McCormack appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote Bluey. They told Fallon that they had only met two days prior.^[14]

In 2019, Zanetti was cast as the artless university student Julia Mitchell by producer Tosca Musk for the Gabriel's Inferno franchise on Passionflix, an adaptation of a series of best-selling erotic romance novels by Sylvain Reynard.^[3] In 2022, she portrayed Charlotte Ingram in the Edgar Allan Poe biographic horror film Raven's Hollow.^[2]

In 2024, Zanetti was chosen to be the voice of the Brisbane Metro.^[15]