Michelle Clunie was born in Portland, Oregon. As a child, she was very shy and introverted, obsessed only with her rock collection. Michelle's mother introduced her to dance, art and music in an effort to "break her out of her shell." She took up dancing and playing the violin, went on to win several competitions in both, a scholarship to The Academy of Professional Ballet, and spent the last year of high school receiving class credit for work she did with The Keith Martin ballet company.

Her first taste of acting was in 5th grade in, "Cinderrabbit," a "rabbit" version of the timeless story, in which she played the title roll. Her next moment of inspiration came when she saw Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not." After high school she hocked her violin for $200 and moved to Los Angeles. There she landed a Crest Toothpaste commercial for MTV, produced the play "Comedy of Eros," for which her one act was entitled, "Confessions Of A Raging Male Heterosexual." Playing an insane Greenwich Village woman that takes out her aggressions on men, the role earned her the Los Angeles Dramalougue award for Best Actress. Milton Katselas soon took her under his wing. She studied with him for ten years, work-shopping and performing under his direction. She had the opportunity to work on Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neil plays, of which her favorites include; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, After the Fall and Antigone.

Michelle has worked regularly in television and film, and was a series regular on The Jeff Foxworthy show for CBS, as the Cajun-Italian spitfire Dee-Dee Landreaux. She was looking for something challenging and revolutionary to work on when her agent sent her the script that would change her career. The Boston Globe reviewed her Performance on Queer as Folk: "Michelle Clunie is irresistible as Melanie. Her rage is wonderful to behold, it's what Queer as Folk at it's best can be, honest and unashamed."She toured briefly with the critically acclaimed "Vagina Monologues," raising money to stop violence against women. The New York Times reviewed her work in "Damaged Care" (the film in which she appeared with Laura Dern for Showtime) and applauded her, saying, "She proved she could go beyond her series regular role... with a character like a chocolate covered spider."

Currently, she is developing two projects with her business partner, is in the midst of writing her second script, and looks forward to two more years on Queer as Folk, playing the role of Melanie Marcus.