Actress Melissa George’s career path is skyrocketing, but while the 35-year-old star is enjoying her success, she admits that her desire to be a mom is often overwhelming.

Melissa tells the Herald Sun that her dreams of motherhood weigh on her “every minute of the day. Some days, it rips my heart out. And then, other days, I almost forget about it because I’m so busy. My company, Hemming My Way, is doing well; my acting is going great; I’m financially independent and I’m not short of love – it’s not as if I’m sitting around at home, moping.

“But whoever I have my baby with, I want to be proud of that man and I want to carry a child to a man who wants to do that as well. But, hey, I’ve got years when you think about it.”

Happily married for 10 years, the Bourne Supremacy star and her husband Claudio Dabed called it quits last year in large part due to their different views on parenthood.

“I did have the best marriage. It was so full of love, and he’s an extraordinary man. I think I made a great choice,” she says. “But, at some point, when it stops serving your needs as a woman and the things that you want for your life, it’s either get out now or wait until it’s too late. It was very hard for me, but I’m glad I did it.”

“I wanted children, yes,” she adds, “but I still have time. Now I can start from scratch.”

Soon after her marriage ended Melissa was dating millionaire dad-of-two Russell Simmons, who she describes as “so vibrant; he’s the air everyone should breathe. He’s an extraordinary man.”

Though the pair have since split, Melissa seems confident that things will work out as they should.

“Life makes no mistakes. We forget that. It’s all planned. As Pierce Brosnan, who I just worked with, told me, ‘Melissa, life is about many chapters.’ This is my new chapter.”

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The “X-Files” writer and the show’s lead actress sit down with THR to talk about one of the market’s most talked about new shows.

You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but Australian actress Melissa George — sitting under the sun poolside in Cannes bejeweled in Chanel — is sore from head to toe.

“I can’t close my right fist,” she said, adding of her intense fight scenes: “I get really into it. I cant even remember the next day after a fight scene how violent it was, but I know from muscle spasms in my neck the next day.”

As the lead in X-Files creator Frank Spotnitz’ latest small screen venture Hunted, George plays Sam, a spy who has just escaped an assassination attempt by a member of her own team and goes back to work undercover as a nanny, not knowing who tried to kill her or who to trust.

“There are no fancy little Jackie Chan moves. Everything has been catered to reality. I need to physically be able to do all of the stunts,” the actress said. “I get really lost in those fights. It’s so realistic that I get really scared for my life and I get cathartic.”

George also admits to taking the intensity home with her. “Of course, whatever role you take on affects your personal life. I have no energy to live my own life anymore!”

A small screen veteran now thanks to roles in HBO’s In Treatment of ABC’s Alias, George says she was drawn to Hunted immediately. “When I first read the script, I said ‘I don’t want to read for anything else this year.’ I just knew it was going to be a fulfilling role. It’s like meeting the right man. It was love at first sight. And it’s been the most complex dense emotional journey that I’ve been on in my career.”

Hunted will air on BBC One in the UK and on HBO Cinemax in the Fall of 2012. The show is written by Spotnitz and directed by SJ Clarkson, whose credits include Dexter, Heroes and Hustle. Produced by by Kudos Film and Television in association with Big Light Productions, the thriller was filmed on location in London, Scotland and Morocco.

“There are no sound stages. It’s all location filming. It’s really expensive and difficult to do, but it looks so much better and has a real feel of authenticity,” Spotnitz said. “It’s international and it looks international.”

Hunted marks Spotnitz’ return to TV post X-Files, but the writer-producer isn’t nervous about following up such a beloved show. “You can never anticipate how things are going to be received in the world and how deeply they’ll capture people’s imagination. You just need to love it so much if you want other people to love it as well. That’s the passion that I feel for it,” he said.

Spotnitz took an unconventional route back to the small screen. “I saw that the world was changing, that it was starting to become possible to do a show in Europe and sell it back to the states,” Spotnitz said of the new international business model. “The showrunner model works very well in the US, but it’s a different creative culture [in Europe]. I’ve been trying to take the best of both worlds and I’m still in process of figuring out how to do that.”

Spotnitz will remain in London for the time being, even after shooting wraps. Hunted differs from other spy dramas in that the agency that Sam works for isn’t the CIA or a government agency — it’s a private security firm. “She doesn’t know whether her client is a good guy or bad guy. You have to be on your toes as you watch this show,” Spotnitz said.

The first season will follow the same storyline over eight hours, and Spotnitz and his team are already thinking about upcoming seasons and different locations, though nothing has been confirmed just yet.

So will Spotnitz’ latest project take on the cult status of The X-Files? “It’s completely different from X-Files, but it has the intelligence and sophistication of it,” he said,

While Spotniz says that since The X-Files wrapped the international TV landscape has changed radically, he’s optimistic that Hunted’s international pedigree will be a selling point.

“It’s been quite an adventure doing it on the other side of the Atlantic,” Spotnitz said.“Everything I do I try and do the best work I’ve ever done. And this has the potential to be the best work I’ve ever done.”

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Gallery Link
Hunted > Season 1 > Promotional Photos > Posters / Ads

Melissa George left her suburban Perth home at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career in Sydney scoring early success as a regular on the TV soap series Home and Away. Now 35, she lives in New York and has an international film and TV career.

While Melissa knows something about her father’s side of the family there are a number of gaps in her mother’s ancestral story. Melissa has a sense of a number of secrets being held back, of things not talked about, even a sense of some shame. Her journey takes her first to Rottnest Island to investigate a case of suspected abuse of a prisoner in a colonial gaol.

Along another branch of her maternal family tree, Melissa seeks to uncover the truth behind the arrival of two of her great grandparents in Australia as child migrants. In both cases there are family myths of who was, and who wasn’t, an orphan. Melissa discovers the truth, learning how these myths have masked the grim reality of a tragic tale of heartbreak and abandonment.

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There are so many people I want to thank! First off, I want to thank Gertie over at The Fansites Network for hosting the site for so many years. I’ve had a wonderful experience being hosted with you! I want to thank all of the people who have donated photos, news articles, and more to the site! I would also like to thank all of the fans and visitors for supporting the site and continuing to visit. As we all know, I am terrible at keeping up with constant updates and I tend to update in bulk. So it means a lot that the visitors and fans are still supporting the site and continuing to visit, even with all of my sporadic updates. And lastly, I want to thank Melissa! Without you, this site wouldn’t even be here. She is an incredible talent and it has been such a pleasure watching her career rise like it has. I have been a fan for a really long time and I cannot wait to see what Melissa has in store for us. I also cannot wait for her new show Hunted!

Again, I just want to thank all of you visitors! I means a lot to have all of you supporting the site for so long. You can follow our Twitter account for instant updates from the site, as well as our RSS Feed. I will be setting up a Facebook page within the next few days. So look out for that! Also, I have been updating the gallery quite a bit today, as you can see in the posts below. So be sure to check out those photos, as well as all the new one’s coming soon! Take care and enjoy! -Eric

Gallery Links
Movie Productions > U.S. Attorney (TV Movie) > Production Stills
Movie Productions > Between Us > Production Stills
Studio Photoshoots > Outtakes > Set 060
Studio Photoshoots > Outtakes > Set 061
Studio Photoshoots > Outtakes > Set 062
Studio Photoshoots > Outtakes > Set 063
Magazine Scans > Scans from 2012 > Sunday Telegraph – March 18, 2012

Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie
Cloudstreet (Showcase, FOXTEL)
Offspring (Network Ten)
Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo (ABC1)
The Slap (ABC1)
Underbelly: Razor (Nine Network)

Most Outstanding Actress
Asher Keddie – Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, ABC1
Diana Glenn – Killing Time, ABC1
Essie Davis – The Slap, ABC1
Kat Stewart – Offspring, Ten
Melissa George – The Slap, ABC1