Melinda Culea (born May 5, 1955) is an American actress.
Early life
Culea was born on May 5, 1955, in Western Springs, Illinois. She worked as a model before acting.
Career
The A-Team
Culea is best known for playing Amy (Amanda) Allen in the 1980s hit TV series The A-Team. Her role was as a newspaper reporter who joined the team for the first season and half of the second season.
Introduced in the feature-length pilot episode "Mexican Slayride",
Culea was ultimately dropped from the series in 1983, and her final appearance was in Season 2 Episode 12, "The White Ballot", although her character continued to be mentioned by the team during the show shortly thereafter. She could still be glimpsed briefly on one of the shots in the show's opening titles sequence. This scene was used for most of the show's run.
Other television roles
Culea acted in a number of other TV roles, mainly during the 1980s and 1990s.
Shortly after leaving The A-Team, Culea gained a leading role as Terry Randolph in the short-lived series Glitter. Another substantial role was playing the recurring character Paula Vertosick on Knots Landing for two seasons from 1988 to 1990. She also co-starred as Joey Lawrence's step-mother for two seasons on Brotherly Love from 1995 to 1997 on NBC and the WB.
She also made appearances on many other notable television series including Fantasy Island; Family Ties; St. Elsewhere; The X-Files; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Brotherly Love; Beverly Hills, 90210; and Murder, She Wrote.
Movie roles
Culea played the role of Constance Taylor in the movie Wagons East! (1994), directed by her future husband Peter Markle, and played Anna in Dying on the Edge (2001). She was an executive producer of Peter Markle's film Odds Are... (2018).
Other
, she is working as an author and artist. Her first book Wondago is an illustrated mystery novel published in January 2016 by Griffith Moon Publishing.
Selected filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Year
!Title
!Role
!Notes
|-
| 1981
| Dear Teacher
| Annie Cooper
| TV – pilot
|-
| 1982
| Sometimes I Don't Love My Mother
| Dallas Davis
| TV Special
|-
| 1982
| The Rules of Marriage
| Holly Stone
|
|-
| 1983
| Fantasy Island
| Shelley James
|
|-
| 1983
| The A-Team
| Amy Allen
| 24 episodes
|-
| 1984
| Hotel
| Adrianna Dupre
|
|-
| 1984–1985
| Glitter
| Terry Randolph
| 12 episodes
|-
| 1986
| Dear Penelope and Peter
| Judy Berlin
|
|-
| 1986/1987
| Family Ties
| Rebecca Ryan
| 3 episodes
|-
| 1986–1987
| St. Elsewhere
| McPhail
| 5 episodes
|-
| 1988–1990
| Knots Landing
| Paula Vertosick
| 28 episodes
|-
| 1991
| Beverly Hills, 90210
| Dr. Natalie Donner
|
|-
| 1991
| Jake and the Fatman
| Ellen Webster
|
|-
| 1992
| Star Trek: The Next Generation
| Soren
|
|-
| 1990–1992
| Murder, She Wrote
| Nicole Gary
|
|-
| 1992
| Likely Suspects
| Capt. Wendy Hewitt
| 3 episodes
|-
| 1992
| Through the Eyes of a Killer
| Alison Rivers
|
|-
| 1994
| Wagons East
| Constance Taylor
|
|-
| 1994
| Moment of Truth: Murder or Memory?
|
|
|-
| 1995
| Down, Out & Dangerous
| CeCe Dryer
|
|-
| 1995-1997
| Brotherly Love
| Claire Roman
|
|-
| 1996
| Buried Secrets
| Laura Vellum
|
|-
| 1997
| C-16: FBI
|
| 2 episodes
|-
| 1998
| Target Earth
| Allison, Emmett's Gang
|
|-
| 1999
| The X-Files
| Karin Berquist
| episode "Alpha"
|}