Biography
Melora Walters (born October 21, 1959) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Wanda Henrickson in the television series Big Love and Kathy Kone in PEN15, and has appeared in several Paul Thomas Anderson films.
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Idea
2025
A bored couple's fascination with spying on their younger neighbors blurs the line between curiosity and intrusion.

Where Are You
2022
as Edith
A grieving fashion photographer searches for his missing girlfriend.

Offseason
2022
as Ava Aldrich
Upon receiving a mysterious letter that her mother's grave has been vandalized, Marie travels to the desolate island town where she's buried. Just as ...

The Accursed
2021
as Naida
Hana spends twenty years suppressing a maleficent curse that was placed upon her bloodline, only to have a family member knowingly release it forcing ...

Hard Luck Love Song
2021
as Gypsy Sally
Jesse, a charismatic but down on his luck troubadour, finds himself at an existential crossroads as bad choices catch up with him during an unexpected...

Far More
2021
as Evie Flores
Adrian Grenier stars as Sean McAllister, a successful fashion designer who hasn't seen his family in years. He returns to his hometown for a painstaki...

Pink Skies Ahead
2020
as Hayley
A young woman struggles with an anxiety disorder after dropping out of school.

The Pale Door
2020
as Maria
The Dalton gang escape to a nearby town after a train robbery goes south, but they are met by a coven of witches with sinister plans for the unsuspect...

Adeline, the Great
2019
A woke boarding school student questions her commitment to activism when she finds herself with no friends, countless enemies and facing some very ser...

Drowning
2019
as Rose
A mother deals with the grief associated with her son going off to war.

Drowning
2019
Writer, Director
A mother deals with the grief associated with her son going off to war.

Robert the Bruce
2019
as Ylfa
In 1306, Scottish King Robert the Bruce turns a defeated outlaw when his country is invaded. But before to free his sacred land, he must manage to reg...

Beneath The Leaves
2019
as Rose
Four small-town boys are kidnapped by James Whitley, a warm-eyed psychopath. His grotesque pursuit to reunite orphaned children with their deceased bi...

In a Relationship
2018
as Mia Ziniti
Long-term couple Owen and Hallie are breaking up—or maybe not?—and just as their relationship reaches a turning point, Matt and Willa embark on a roma...

The Amaranth
2018
as Lily Kendrick
Lily and Richard move to a luxurious and cult-like community, where Lily becomes unsettled by the transformation she observes in her older husband and...

The Lover in the Attic: A True Story
2018
Director
This is the lurid, true story about femme fatale Dolly, her murdered husband, and her lover, Otto -- the man in the attic. In the 1930s, Dolly met and...

Cam
2018
as Lynne
A young camgirl discovers that she’s inexplicably been replaced on her site with an exact replica of herself.

Venom
2018
as Homeless Woman Maria
Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful al...

Waterlily Jaguar
2018
Producer, Director, Writer
A famous writer's obsession leaves his relationships and marriage in shambles.

Doubting Thomas
2018
as Kate
After a white couple inexplicably gives birth to a black child, the purest bonds of trust, friendship, and love are put to the ultimate test.
Odious
2017
as Beatrice
When recovering alcoholic Joe McNeal's nephew is abducted, his personal investigation leads him to powerhouse undercover African American Detective Ma...

The Lovers
2017
as Lucy
The separation of a long married couple goes awry when they fall for each other again.

Good After Bad
2017
as Victoria Ackerman
Wes Thorne and Shelly Ackerman — two people living in opposite worlds. Shelly’s mother is off her medication so her home life is in shambles and she’s...

Sugar Mountain
2016
as Tracey Huxley
Two brothers, down on their luck, fake a disappearance in the Alaskan wilderness so they'll have a great survival story to sell, but the hoax turns ou...

Indiscretion
2016
as Dr. Harper
A married woman's affair comes back to haunt her when her obsessed lover infiltrates every part of her life.

Sacrifice
2015
as Enid
Four teenagers from a small Texas town come face-to-face with their own consciences after a tragic accident.

Sex, Death and Bowling
2015
as Evie
Two brothers separated by one continent and two decades reunite when one of them becomes sick with cancer.

The Young Kieslowski
2014
as Barbara Kieslowski
Grand romantic gestures need not apply in this comedic tale of star-crossed young love. Instead, freshman Brian Kieslowski displays endless reserves o...

Short Term 12
2013
as Dr. Hendler
Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled ...

Underdogs
2013
as Nancy Smith-Burkett
The story of a small-town high school football team in rural Ohio destined to play their cross-town rival, a perennial powerhouse, while standing up f...

Lonely Boy
2013
as Betsy
While seeking answers to a past he cannot remember, a schizophrenic must find the strength to control his mental illness as he tries to build relation...

Mary
2012
as Mary
An emergency room doctor is distressed when a familiar face is brought in for treatment.

The Master
2012
as Band (Voice)
Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto th...

Missing Pieces
2012
as Delia Greenly
A heartbroken man kidnaps two strangers in hopes they will fall in love.

Missing Pieces
2012
Associate Producer
A heartbroken man kidnaps two strangers in hopes they will fall in love.

The River Murders
2011
as Agent Glover
The sins of the past are not forgotten in this chilling suspense thriller. When the first body was discovered, it seemed a coincidence. But now homici...

Love Ranch
2010
as Janelle
Story of a couple that starts the first legal brothel in Nevada and a boxer they own a piece of.

Shit Year
2010
as Shelly
Renowned actress Colleen West abandons her successful career for a secluded life in the hills. But the peace and quiet she longed for is disrupted by ...

Case 219
2010
as Victoria Lash
A journalist tries to uncover the circumstances that led to a shocking episode of violence in this drama from director James Bruce. Leonard Grey was a...

Hurt
2009
as Helen Coltrane
There are terrible things happening in the desert...unexplainable, frightening things. Tragic, inexplicable incidents… ever since she arrived.

Black Crescent Moon
2008
as Katelan Beacon
A small town sheriff who's investigating a murder at the local diner ends up finding more than he bargained for in the town and in himself.

Harrison Montgomery
2008
as Margo Fleming
In a rundown apartment complex in San Francisco's Tenderloin, a septuagenarian seer is waiting for his final message. For decades the eccentric reclus...

Brothers Three: An American Gothic
2007
as Loren
Three brothers reunite at a remote cabin in the woods, when beckoned by their father. The brothers are left to deal with the dark secrets and demons t...

Dead Poets: A Look Back
2006
Documentary about the making of Dead Poets Society (1989) including interviews from various cast members.

The Butterfly Effect
2004
as Andrea Treborn
A young man struggles to access sublimated childhood memories. He finds a technique that allows him to travel back into the past, to occupy his childh...

Cold Mountain
2003
as Lila
In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts ...

Melvin Goes to Dinner
2003
as Trenice (uncredited)
Marital infidelity, religion, a guy in heaven wearing a Wizards jersey, anal fetishes, cigarettes and schizophrenia, ghosts, and how it’s going to get...

Matchstick Men
2003
as Heather (uncredited)
A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.

The Big Empty
2003
as Candy
Struggling actor John Person agrees to drive a blue suitcase from Los Angeles to the small town of Baker, Calif., and hand it over to a mysterious cow...

WiseGirls
2002
as Kate
Meg, Raychel and Kate are three waitresses at a restaurant frequented by mob bosses. Their lives become complicated when one of the women witnesses a ...

Desert Saints
2002
as Bennie Harper
Banks is a hit man, the best, usually working for Latin American drug cartels. He picks up solitary women, uses them briefly for a job, then kills the...

Speaking of Sex
2001
as Melinda
A counselor, an expert on depression, and two attorneys try to help a couple who have marital problems.

Rain
2001
as Ellen Biddle
A tragedy that tells the story of murder, sex and redemption against the backdrop of a dead-end town.

That Moment: Magnolia Diary
2000
as Self
A very in-depth documentary that follows the very over-worked director Paul Thomas Anderson through a gruelling 80+ days of shooting for the film Magn...

Magnolia
1999
as Claudia Wilson Gator
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy geniu...

Twice Upon a Time
1998
as Alannah Merribone
An unhappy woman makes a wish for a different life which whisks her to a parallel world where she falls back in love with her boyfriend.

Boogie Nights
1997
as Jessie St. Vincent
Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his cra...

Los Locos
1997
as Allison
In the Wild West of the 1800s, a gunman is hired to take a group of emotionally-challenged people across the desert.

American Strays
1996
as Cindy
Somewhere on the fringe of society, ten dangerous strangers are on a road to Red's Desert Oasis Diner. Packing more fire power than the LA police forc...

Eraser
1996
as Darleen
A Witness Protection specialist becomes suspicious of his co-workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.

Hard Eight
1996
as Jimmy's Girl
A stranger mentors a young Reno gambler who weds a hooker and befriends a vulgar casino regular.

Ed Wood
1994
as Secretary #2
The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever...

Midnight Run for Your Life
1994
as Lorna Bellstratton
When an accused murderer flees to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, bounty hunter Jack Walsh is hired to bring her back, unaware that the police, a hitman and a...

All Tied Up
1994
as Bliss
Brian Hartley has finally found the girl of his dreams in Linda. Unfortunately, he can't convince her or himself that it's really true. When she catch...

Dead Man's Revenge
1994
as Bunny
Bitter and vengeful fugitive Luck Hatcher, dignified former slave turned bounty hunter Jessup Bush, and wily deputy U.S. Marshal Bodine all converge i...

Cabin Boy
1994
as Trina
A foul-mouthed finishing school graduate mistakenly winds up on an ill-fated fishing boat, and faces the wrath of a crew that considers him bad luck.

Twenty Bucks
1993
as The Stripper / Funeral Director
A story about the life of a twenty dollar bill as it weaves in and out of the various lives of several people.

Telling Secrets
1993
as Karen Blake
Through a series of elaborate schemes, a wealthy woman arranges for the murder of her husband's mistress and then takes steps so that the crime won't ...

America's Deadliest Home Video
1993
as Gloria
A man videotaping his road trip is taken hostage by three criminals and forced to tape their crime spree, including robberies and murder.

Beethoven
1992
as Pet Shop Owner
The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their h...

How to Murder a Millionaire
1990
as Ginger
A Beverly Hills housewife suspects that her husband of thirty years is trying to kill her.

Rude Awakening
1989
as Punky (uncredited)
In the later 1960s, two hippies are forced to leave their friends as they are wanted by the FBI, who sees them as criminals. They hide in the jungle f...

Dead Poets Society
1989
as Gloria
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize th...

Staring at the Dark
1988
Thesis film from Jack Perez for NYU. Guy stares at the dark until Melora Walters enters his life.