Melinda Leanna Shankar (born February 18, 1992) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for starring as Alli Bhandari in the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2008–2015) and as Indira "Indie" Mehta in the YTV series How To Be Indie (2009–2011), for which she won several awards, including a Canadian Screen Award in 2013.

Early life

Melinda Shankar was born on February 18, 1992, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Canadian parents of Hindu Indo-Guyanese descent who immigrated to Canada. She has two older sisters and a brother, who is also an actor. She was raised in Orleans, Ontario, a suburban section of Ottawa. Her father owned a karate school in Ottawa, with her beginning to study the practice at three. She began to study ballet at the same age. Shankar currently has a black belt in karate. She attended Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School in Ottawa until grade 11 before moving to Toronto when she was sixteen, following her casting in Degrassi: The Next Generation in 2008.

Career

Acting

Shankar began her career as a child model and appeared in numerous print advertisements, including a Procter & Gamble billboard in Los Angeles. Shankar's mother was an actress and her paternal grandfather was a director in Guyana. Shankar's father would often drive up to five hours from Ottawa to Toronto for her auditions. In 2008, she debuted as an actress in the popular CTV television series Degrassi, joining the cast as an incoming 9th grade student. Shankar appeared in a total of seven seasons, until its finale in 2015. In 2009, she starred in a television series on YTV called How To Be Indie. She played the lead role of Indira "Indie" Metha for two seasons. The series aired its final episode on October 24, 2011. For her role, Shankar won a Gemini Award in 2011 and a Canadian Screen Award in 2013. She co-starred alongside Jennifer Stone and Vanessa Morgan in the 2010 children's television film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars. Shankar was cast in her first feature film, Festival of Lights in 2010. The movie was filmed on location in New York City and Georgetown, Guyana. Her father served as production manager for the film due to his familiarity with the locations in Guyana. She has appeared in all three of the Christmas with a Prince television film franchise as Bella since 2018.

Other work

In 2013, Shankar and a longtime childhood friend began working on an image consulting business. On February 22, 2014, Shankar launched Miss Conception, a professional styling and image agency based in Toronto.

Personal life

She currently resides in North York, a district in Toronto. Shankar is a supporter of the Breaking Boards, Breaking Chains campaign, an event to raise funds for young survivors of sexual assault in Bolivia.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations