Melissa Lauren (born October 16, 1984 in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France) is a French pornographic actress and director. Lauren started off studying as a cook for three years and worked for a year in a fine food restaurant Paris as a pastry chef. After reading an ad in a newspaper from French director, John B. Root, Lauren began filming six days later, in June of 2003.Her parents, who had expected her to be a lawyer or doctor, were initially shocked when they discovered that their daughter was doing pornography. After assuaging their fears of drug use and mistreatment, they were able to accept Lauren's career choice.
However, due to her forays in the industry, she twice had chlamydia and suffered from a serious bout of pelvic inflammatory disease, which required an emergency trip to France for surgery. In November 2006, Lauren stated that she would stop performing in heterosexual pornographic scenes, and instead would focus more on directing pornographic films. She would continue to perform with women, in solo scenes, and in photo shoots. She had already directed several films.