Melissa Kent grew up in Washington, D.C., New Jersey and Los Angeles. Having studied piano and dance from the age of 5, she was a Theater major at UCLA and an intern at Entertainment Tonight when she was first exposed to the world of editing. Within a couple years of graduating, she had her first editing credit on Gregory Nava’s multi-generational feature film My Family. That film was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola which led to Melissa collaborating with him on numerous projects, including serving as co-editor on John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, and editing Eleanor Coppola’s behind-the-scenes documentary, HBO First Look: Francis Coppola Directs The Rainmaker, as well as Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides.
Having spent a year at design school, plus stints in a rock band and as a swing dancer, Melissa’s wide variety of interests has led her to work in nearly every genre of film, including romance, drama, comedy, thriller, sci-fi, and dance movies/musicals. Some of the directors she has collaborated with include Ewan McGregor, Kenny Leon, Deon Taylor, Lee Toland Krieger, Emily Ting, and Sanaa Hamri.
Her work in television includes Mahalia, American Son, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Reagans, all of which were nominated for the Emmy for Best Made-For-TV Movie.
In her time between editing projects Melissa directed an award-winning 14-minute short film, Bernie and Rebecca, which screened at 36 festivals worldwide and can now be streamed online.
Melissa is married to concept designer, Scott Robertson. She feels truly fortunate to be working in a field she enjoys so deeply.