Melissa Leo was born in Manhattan, New York City, in the United States, on September 14, 1960. Melissa Chessington Leo is her given name. Her country of origin is the United States of America. Her zodiac sign is Virgo, and she is of White ethnicity.
Melissa was born into a well-to-do family, the daughter of Arnold Leo III (father) and Margaret Chessington (mother). Arnold, her father, was a Grove Press editor, a fisherman, and a former spokesman for the East Hampton Baymen’s Association, while Margaret, her mother, was a teacher.
She and her brother, Erik Leo, grew raised on the Lower East Side. However, Leo’s parents split, and her mother followed them to Red Clover Commune in Putney, Vermont. She spent her summers in Springs, a neighborhood in East Hampton, New York, with her father.
Melissa went to Bellows Falls High School in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and then moved to London at the age of 15 to study acting at Mountview Theater Arts, a prestigious theater school, and SUNY Purchase, but she didn’t graduate and instead moved to New York City to seek a career in acting. When she was younger, she took acting training at the Brattleboro Center for the Performing Arts and performed with the Bread and Puppet Theater Company.
