Melissa Graziano is currently a third-year MFA Animation student at UCLA. She made Love on the Line while in her second year at the UCLA Animation Workshop, during which she won the coveted Dan McLaughlin Award for Best Animated Film for 2008. Her first film, Because You’re Beautiful, is currently being used for promotional purposes by Girls Speak Out!, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping girls “express their true selves and build girls’ strengths and power as leaders”.

Melissa has always loved to tell stories, whether it be in her writing, in her visual art, or in her films. While a visiting student at the University of Central Lancashire as an undergraduate, Melissa started experimenting with different media in animation. She enjoys telling stories in the traditional sense, but using materials and technology in ways that not only make audiences wonder, “How did they do that?” but which also enhance the story. She aspires to become a Feature Animation Director at a major animation studio after a stint at Storyboarding. Originally a New England girl, she now resides in Los Angeles.