Her name isn’t the easiest to spell or to pronounce, but that minor point hasn’t stopped actress Melina Kanakaredes from heading right for the top of her profession. “People kept suggesting that I change my name, when I first came to Hollywood,” Kanakaredes says with a throaty laugh. “I heard, ‘Melina, what are you going to do with that name?’ I also got, ‘Lighten the hair, straighten the hair, and change the name.’ I had lots of things going on. According to them, I needed a boob job, nose job, hair job.” Keeping the assets she was born with has stood the raven-haired beauty with the riot of curls in good stead, for she can barely keep up with all the career opportunities presenting themselves these days.