Melissa Roxburgh Takes A Walk In The South Street Seaport

ROSE & IVY Melissa Roxburgh Star of NBC's Manifest Takes A Walk In The South Street Seaport

ROSE & IVY Melissa Roxburgh Takes A Walk in New York's Seaport District.jpg

New York is the backbone of so much that we do each day at ROSE & IVY. We love how the city spawns ideas, inspiration and connections. In this series, I explore a neighborhood or iconic street that gives the city its heart and soul with a women in television or film.

Cobble stone streets and old maritime buildings are just a few of the elements that make New York’s Seaport District an iconic part of the city. We were excited to explore the area—much of which has been revamped like Pier 17—with Melissa Roxburgh, star of the hit NBC series Manifest. We wandered around Fulton street and Peck Slip before warming up in Malibu Farm and McNally Jackson’s newest light-filled outpost. We also spoke to the Vancouver native about her perfect day in New York, season two of the show, her upcoming film and the causes that she is passionate about.

Photography by Alison Engstrom

Hair by Cameron Rains and Makeup by Misha Shahzada at Forward Artists

A very special thank you to Malibu Farm and McNally Jackson Seaport

ROSE & IVY Melissa Roxburgh Star of NBC Manifest Takes A Walk In The South Street Seaport

Have you ever explored the Seaport area before?

No, I hadn’t been before, but it’s incredibly beautiful especially the cobblestones. I love it when cities preserve a bit of the old, it makes me smile. It’s like you go back in time. I’m from Vancouver and it’s so new, except for one neighborhood called Gastown and it has cobblestone streets—it’s pretty much the city’s only indication of a past.

ROSE & IVY Melissa Roxburgh Takes a Walk in New York's Seaport.jpg

What would be your perfect day in the city?

My boyfriend and I would grab a coffee—the other day we went to Kobrick Coffee in Chelsea—and then hit up a flea market, I love browsing flea markets. I like Artists & Fleas where you can see local designers putting up their crafts, paintings and jewelry. I also love book stores—I have an obsession with buying books. I have about 20 books I haven't read yet—I’m on to the next one before I finish the one before it. One of the great things about living in New York that you don’t get in Vancouver is the theater. They shut down a lot of houses because the funding got cut. For food here, I love Gato, Bobby Flay’s restaurant, and Mamoya, which my boyfriend introduced me to. They have this thing on the menu with truffle and spicy tuna, it’s like a baby sushi pizza. It’s the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. I love truffle.

Would you say you were you born a performer?

I am actually a super shy person even though I am a performer. I’m terrible with large crowds and public speaking but I know how to do it. I get crazy sweats if I have to talk in front of a large crowd. Growing up, I was in the finals of speech competitions at my school and I was always in plays. Acting was something that I always knew that I wanted to do. At a young age, I stole my mom’s video camera and made this terrible home video from a script I wrote. I tried to get all my neighbors and siblings involved in the movie (laughs). It was about a girl that gets amnesia and since I’m a pastor’s kid, I got cured by God. I was 8 or 9 at that point. From there, I always geared myself towards drama or English classes and by the time I reached grade 12, I felt like that was where I wanted to go. The Star Wars movies with Hayden Christensen were the main films that I look back on and think, that was the moment I knew I wanted to act. I don’t know if it was because of Star Wars per se or that Hayden Christensen was hot (laughs). I was asking for graduation gifts that had to do with getting into an acting class. I found this woman, who is still in my life, who was an acting coach. She steered me towards my agent and it went from there, she is like my second mom now. I totally believe in loyalty in this industry and finding a family, not just jumping around from one person to the next. She’s been with me since I was 17, she’s had my back over the past 10 years.

ROSE & IVY Melissa Roxburgh Takes A Walk In The South Street Seaport

Melissa is wearing two Michelle Waugh coats layered and carrying a Montunas Bag

Can you talk about your career before landing the lead of Michaela Stone on NBC’s Manifest?

I wanted to see what being on a set was even like, so before acting, I did background for a year and I wound up on the set of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They selected someone to be featured in a party scene—I was scared to death! I had no idea what I was doing but the camera was on me specifically—I didn't have to do anything, only give someone a look. The movie eventually came and went and when I started acting acting, I got an audition to be on the third Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. The opportunity was for a pretty big supporting role on a franchise movie and I hadn’t done anything in my career yet. I walked into the room and it was the same director as the last movie and he said ‘I remember you’. It ended up working out and it was my first role. Everyone on set was so supportive and lovely—someone gave me a chance.

How did the script for ‘manifest’ come about?

I was working on another show at the time and we were waiting to see if we were going to get another season; contractually, you aren't technically allowed to go out for anything else. I was auditioning with no hope of getting anything because production doesn’t want to take a chance on losing you and wasting all of that money. I also decided that year I was going to move from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Everyone has their meditative spots and mine is in a car. When you are driving you can listen to music or podcasts. I probably did 15 of the18 hours in silence and it was so nice, all you see is scenery, beaches and greenery. I moved in with a friend and the second day I got there, I received the audition for Manifest. I was actually going to turn the audition down because I didn't think I had a chance until I read the script and it was something different. I hadn’t seen a pilot like this in a long time where I immediately fell in love. It was equal parts excitement and mystery and it was also well written—the characters were real people. I decided to go in for it and see what would happen. I walked out and thought okay, whoever gets this role is very lucky and all the best to them. Then a week later, I got a call for a screen test and a couple of weeks after that I flew out to New York to shoot the pilot. It’s never ever been that easy. Every other time I have gotten a role, it’s been like five rounds of auditions, chemistry reads and screen tests.

What can viewers look forward to in season 2?

Each season has its own feel. Season one was a lot more about family while season two is about the mystery and there are higher stakes because more things happen. It is more of a roller coaster ride with bigger bangs. Our showrunner, Jeff Rake, wants this to be six-season series but I don't know what is going to happen. We usually get the script about four days before we have to shoot. Sometimes we get it while we are shooting the episode so there isn't a lot of time to digest what you are reading, which is good and bad because you don’t have a lot of time to overthink anything. On the other hand, you aren’t sleeping too much (laughs).

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In March, you’ll star in ‘I Still Believe’. Can you share more about the film?

It’s about a singer named Jeremy Camp and his relationship with his wife who unfortunately died of cancer. It’s about them, their love story and having faith. Gary Sinise and Shania Twain are in it and working alongside them was incredible. Shania is such a legend.

You mentioned how you’d like to get behind the camera one day and produce. What types of projects are you interested in?

There are a lot of ideas that have sprung up in my mind especially this year because I have felt stable enough, financially and in my career, where I can look at other things and think about what I would want to direct. The first movie that I have on the docket and slowly starting to write is about my mom. She played professional tennis at Wimbledon for a long time and the US Open. She played Chris Everet and she still coaches—she is such a badass woman and I would love to tell her story.

You work for the International Rescue Committee. What inspired you to get involved in this organization and can you share more about your work with them?

I have come into the organization over the past few years. My parents raised us with a lot of travel, especially to places that aren't super comfortable in the world; we went to Guatemala, Albania and countries in Africa. Seeing those parts of the world that are different than how we live in North America, just opened my eyes. It’s really good to help people and to not just stay in your bubble. They did a great job of raising us that way. When I started getting into film and TV, I knew that eventually the point of this platform was to raise awareness and be a voice about those sorts of things. I began looking into organizations that I wanted to help with and the IRC does a really great job. They created an organization called Gen R, which brings people in their 20s and 30s together, who would be the next wave in the organization. Cut forward to years later, Warner Brothers brought in a representative from GenR to speak at an event for our show. Afterwards, I hunted down the woman, she scooped me up and brought me under her wing and into the organization and it was right when Manifest began. I’m on the New York leadership team, there are 20 of us, we facilitate fundraising, raise awareness and advocacy. This year specifically, there is another organization that I feel is more of my heart and its called A21, it’s a human trafficking and slavery organization run by Christine Caine. I have a personal connection because it’s helping women locally and overseas who do not have control of their body—it’s not just for women, but also men and children—but the women part is where I want to help. For a human being to not be in charge of their own lives and to feel like they are an item rather than a human being breaks my heart.