Some have applauded our rankings, others have said we must have come up with our list after smoking the contents of a Bali tourist’s body-board bag.

By what criteria do you rank the people who have made the biggest impact?

There are stars who make our 2011 list because they guided shows that managed to blitz their opposition in the ratings.

Others are in the rankings because they played a part in developing a new trend, impressed us with their smarts, or had a year that produced an impressive arc of career progress.

And let’s not forget those who should be feeling more than a little crimson-faced about their performances.

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2. Melissa George
The Slap (ABC1)

Why she’s hot: Melissa George returned to Australia to make The Slap and immediately showed why she’s so sought-after.

Her performance as emotionally fractured mum Rosie, who presses charges after her child is slapped by another parent at a suburban barbecue, is extraordinary.

Prospects for 2012: George is on fire. She is to star in British espionage series Nemesis, appear opposite Julia Stiles in movie Between Us, and star in historical drama The Stolen.

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Oprah can’t get enough of the super talented Melissa George. So much so, that she just featured the actress/inventor in O Magazine!

Rightfully so, since the Bag Of Bones actress has her hand in so many inventions. In fact, most of her stuff is selling out on QVC.

That’s why we asked Melissa to give us the scoop on what’s she working on next and she broke it all the way down for us.

You’ve invented a lot of stuff, are you working on anything now?

Yes I am. Right now we’re still on QVC. We’re on twice a month. We have our infomercials running, we’re in every CVS, Duane Reade, Beth Bad and Beyond, Walmart, Walgreens in the country and in now we’re across 21 countries.

I have a patent with the product called Hemming My Way and then I have Style Snaps. When I invent, the results are all up to me, where as in acting it’s up to the audience or an agent, the director, the studio, there’s a lot of it that’s out of my control but when I invent, when I get the products on the shelves and in the stores, it’s definitely through my hard work and determination.

And now my business partner and I, we have three other products, one that QVC just bought and I’m working on two others, one with a skin care doctor and another with a professor at NYU and Columbia in New York. They’re putting together a mixture of a new product I want to release hopefully next year.

And I’m in London for six months working on the role of a lifetime, so in between with my company I’ve been on set, I’ve been in Morocco the last 8 days shooting an incredible sequence for HBO and BBC.

I play the lead role for a show that was created by the man who created X-Files. So I’ve been shooting that 16 hours a day.

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New York City! You’ve gotta love it. It’s a concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

Maybe that’s why Melissa George loves the Big Apple so much. We spoke to Melissa about her passion for the Empire City.

Here’s what we found out!

What’s your favorite part about being in New York City?

When I moved to New York it was a city that wrapped its arms around me and never let me go. It inspires me. All my favorite actors and directors live in New York City. They appreciate the arts. Not comparing L.A. to New York, but New York definitely lifts my spirits and makes me humble, it makes me get along with the person next to me. I love being on the streets and talking to strangers and sort of living anonymously. That city, I don’t think I’ll ever leave it.

You talk to New Yorkers when you’re here?

Oh I love it. I want to learn. For me as an actor, I get on the subway and I purely get on the subway to sit next to people and learn from people and strangers and take things from everywhere around me. I’m like a sponge when I’m in New York. I’m not isolated, where other cities like in London I get driven around and in L.A. you tend to be in a capsule. Where as in New York, this is my town, this is my place. I’m never happier than when I’m in New York. It suits me.

A lot of New Yorkers don’t talk to each other.

And you know what, I love that too. Sometimes you don’t want to talk and I think that’s great about New York. If the person next to you doesn’t want to talk or is in a bad mood, you have to get along with each other because you live right next door to each other and you have to walk and pass each other everyday. There’s something about that that makes you just fit in. You’re like a jigsaw puzzle, like the last piece, you want to fit perfectly and get on with your day. But I’m not hardened by New York, it makes me a better person.

Read more: http://globalgrind.com/entertainment/melissa-georges-favorite-city-world#ixzz1gO6SV7oy

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Melissa George is a love of all music.

After being locked in a damp and dark basement while shooting a movie like Bag of Bones, what do you think she listens to? It turns out Melissa is a huge fan of one of this year’s Grammy nominees.

Today we are giving you an inside look at the beautiful actress’s musical taste. Check it out below and be sure to check out the conclusion of Bag of Bones when it airs tonight on A&E.

What type of music do you enjoy?

Right now it’s Ethiopian Jazz, which is beautiful, it’s so amazing. I like all kinds of music, Spanish music, I like French music. I love listening to Brigitte Bardot singing. With a character – for example when I did Slap, the writer of the novel actually put together a compilation of music that the character Rosie would listen to. I would often listen to music that would suit the stage that the character was in in her life and that can include all kinds of music.

How did you discover Ethiopian Jazz?

It was a few years ago, I think it was through Josh Hartnett when I was doing 30 Days Of Night and he was given it from a friend in New York and ever since then I loved it. I think he only had a few songs and I’ve been buying a lot of Ethiopics, it’s called and getting into that a little bit more.

I’m loving Adele, even just pop like that, British pop. I’m loving Adele and music that makes me go to another place. But I’m a little bit home sick right now so I’m trying to not listen to anything that makes me feel like I miss home. So I listen to music that lifts my spirits.

Do you think Adele is going to win a Grammy for Album of the Year?

Absolutely, hands down.

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Written and created by the award-winning American television writer and producer Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, Strike Back), Nemesis is an original eight-part suspense thriller set in the world of international espionage, produced by Kudos Film & Television (Spooks, Life On Mars), in association with Big Light Productions, for BBC One and HBO’s Cinemax channel.

At the heart of the drama is Sam played by Melissa George (The Slap, In Treatment), a highly skilled operative for an elite private intelligence firm who survives an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team. Once she returns to the firm, she performs her secretive duties without knowing who to trust and who wants her dead.

Adam Rayner (Hawthorne, Mistresses) plays Sam’s colleague at the firm and love interest. The dedicated and complex members of the firm operate in the shadows, must often confront life and death situations on secret missions and are sometimes unaware of who or what they are fighting for.

Writer Frank Spotnitz says: “I’m incredibly excited about the ambition of this series. It’s got action on a cinematic scale, huge story twists and turns, and intriguing characters who are both emotionally and morally complex. I can’t imagine a better cast, director or production team to bring it all to life.”

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning, says: “Melissa George is a fantastic choice to play BBC One’s new leading lady known as Sam, a complex and mysterious Bourne style female spy unlike anyone we’ve seen on TV before.”

Chief Executive, Kudos Film and Television, Jane Featherstone, says: “Casting the lead role of Sam was always going to be a challenge, and we are very lucky to have the brilliant Melissa George in the role. She’ll bring guts, subtlety and strength to the role, which is exactly what we need. Starring opposite Melissa is the brilliant Adam Rayner as Aidan, together their fantastically complicated romance will keep audiences gripped.”

Additional cast includes Stephen Dillane (Game Of Thrones), Morven Christie (The Sinking Of The Laconia) Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, Strike Back), Lex Shrapnel (Captain America: The First Avenger), Uriel Emil (Criminal Justice), Patrick Malahide (Five Days, Billy Elliot), Stephen Campbell Moore (The Bank Job, History Boys) and Oscar Kennedy (Toast).

Filming has started and will take place on location in Scotland, London and Morocco. Commissioned by Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning, the producer is Eliza Mellor (Albert Schweitzer, Derek), director is SJ Clarkson (Dexter, Toast) and executive producers are Frank Spotnitz, Jane Featherstone, Stephen Garrett and Alison Jackson from Kudos Film & Television, and Christopher Aird from the BBC. Kary Antholis is President, HBO Miniseries.

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Controversial ABC series The Slap will soon be heard around the world.

Produced by Matchbox Pictures, the popular series – through international distributor DCD Rights – has now sold to DirecTV and TVOntario (TVO) for US and Canada distribution rights, respectively.

It follows the news last month of the acquisition by the Sundance Channel, which will screen the show in Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Asia. The BBC picked up the rights to the show in August and it went to air on BBC4 late-last month, netting an average audience of 830,500 (4 per cent share), according to Variety.

Californian-based DirecTV, which in the past acquired Underbelly, will screen the series on the Audience Network channel later this year.

“Selling The Slap to North America is something that we really hoped for,” producer Helen Bowden told IF today. “DirecTV is the home of the US dramas Damages and Friday Night Lights, so we are thrilled to be in that company.”

While in Canada, The Slap will be seen on public broadcaster TVO in the near future.

“TVOntario goes under the banner ‘Makes you think’, which seems like the right home in Canada for our show.”

It’s been a big week for Melbourne-based Matchbox Pictures, which on Monday was awarded the Independent Producer of the Year trophy at the SPAA Conference dinner and Awards night.

The Slap’s a series that has sparked controversy since airing in Australia in early-October. Based on Christos Tsiolkas’ book of the same name, it follows the repercussions of a single ‘slap’ from a man to a child at a summer barbecue. It brings up such debates as parenting, race, class, sexuality and the rights of children. Each episode covers a different character’s point of view.

Stars appearing in the series include Melissa George, Jonathan LaPaglia, Sophie Lowe, Alex Dimitriades, Essie Davis, Blake Davis, Sophie Okonedo, Anthony Hayes, Diana Glenn and Kingswood Country’s Lex Marinos.

The final episode screens on ABC1 next Thursday (November 24) at 8.30pm.

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The day before Hector’s 40th birthday, his wife is throwing him a barbie, little suspecting that before the celebration is over, the well-ordered lives of their family and friends will start to unravel in their back yard.

This eight part drama, set in the suburbs of Melbourne, is based on the novel by Greek Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas and each week it will take a different character’s point of view.

Tonight the focus is on Hector, played by Jonathan LaPaglia and his wife Aisha (British actress Sophie Okonedo).

The other face you’ll probably recognise is Melissa George who plays Rosie, mum of Hugo. She used to be Angel Parrish in Home and Away before she took her career to the US.

Although all the advance publicity for The Slap spells out pretty clearly who slaps who, you won’t hear that from me, because so much of the suspense of this first hour lies in wondering just where that inevitable smack will come from.

Hector’s social life gets more complicated and more culturally diverse by the minute.

And as each new party guest arrives, you find yourself mentally giving them marks out of 10 for slappability. Many of them rate surprisingly highly – including Hector himself.

The overly fruity narrator that bookends the episode lays it on a bit thick – it sounds like an advert for life insurance – but that shouldn’t stop you from choosing sides in this thoroughly modern storm in a tea-cup.

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A&E Network presents “Stephen King’s Bag of Bones,” a four-hour epic miniseries based on The New York Times #1 bestselling novel, and featuring Pierce Brosnan’s return to television. The two-night event from Sony Pictures Television premieres on Sunday, December 11 and concludes on Monday, December 12, airing at 9PM ET/PT on both nights.

“Bag of Bones” is a ghost story of grief and lost love’s enduring bonds, about an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire and a new love haunted by past secrets. Melissa George (“In Treatment”), Annabeth Gish (“Brotherhood”), Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), William Schallert (“The Patty Duke Show”), Jason Priestley (“Beverly Hills, 90210″) and Caitlin Carmichael (“True Blood”) also star.

In “Bag of Bones,” bestselling novelist Mike Noonan (Brosnan) is unable to stop grieving after the sudden death of his wife Jo (Gish). Suffering from writer’s block, a dream inspires him to return to the couple’s lakeside retreat in western Maine. While there, Mike befriends an attractive young widow, Mattie (George) and her daughter Kyra (Carmichael), and becomes involved in a custody battle with the child’s enormously wealthy grandfather, Max (Schallert). Though his ability to write suddenly returns, Mike is plagued by ever-escalating nightmares and mysterious ghostly visitations from Sara Tidwell (Rose), a blues singer whose spirit lingers in the house. As he is haunted by the many secrets at the lake, Mike comes to realize that his late wife still has something to tell him.

“Bag of Bones” is produced by Sony Pictures Television for A&E. Executive producers are Mark Sennet for Mark Sennet Entertainment, Inc., Mick Garris for Nice Guy Productions, Inc. and Stewart Mackinnon for Headline Pictures Limited. Brian Gary and David Davoli are the co-executive producers. Mick Garris directed the Matt Venne penned script, based on The New York Times #1 bestseller by Stephen King.

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Melissa George’s Pick for Samantha: Chloe Moretz
“Chloe Moretz would be great as Samantha. She played my daughter in The Amityville Horror when she was 6 years old. She’s a beautiful little thing.”

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The rights to Matchbox Pictues’ miniseries The Slap have been acquired by the Sundance Channel.

The channel, which is owned by AMC Networks in the U.S, will show the eight-part series in Eastern Europe, Spain, Portgual, Greece, Turkey and Asia.

The sale was made by international distributor DCD Rights at MIPCOM last week, with the agreement between Sundance and DCD stating that the show must be shown in the specified territories within a period of three years.

Based on the controversial novel by Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap follows the repercussions of a man slapping another parent’s child at a suburban barbecue in Melbourne. It stars Melissa George, Alex Dimitriades and Sophie Okonedo.

The first episode aired last Thursday on the ABC. With 946,000 viewers, it ranked as the fifth most watched program across the free-to-air networks. The ABC has confirmed that delayed screenings and regional viewings have brought that figure up the 1.3 million.

The BBC acquired the UK rights to the series in August, and will air the show from October 27 – just three weeks after its Australian premiere.

Producer Helen Bowden met with the British broadcaster recently and told IF she was surprised at the anticipation surrounding the series.

“It became clear how excited they are, which is very,” she says. “By the end of the year, the book will have sold a half a million copies in the UK. For a relatively unknown Australian writer, that’s really huge.”

DCD Rights also handled new Matchbox Pictures series The Straits at MIPCOM. The ten-part crime drama, which follows the fortunes of a family of smugglers in the Torres Strait Islands, wrapped shooting last month. According to Bowden, deals with buyers will be finalised within the next two to three weeks.

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