If you’ve spent any time at all in a room with a toddler lately, you know her voice. It’s warm, it’s steady, and it has that distinct Aussie lilt that has comforted millions of exhausted parents. Melanie Zanetti is the voice of Chilli Heeler on Bluey, the show that basically took over the world. But honestly? Most people have no clue what she actually looks like. Or that she’s been grinding in the industry for years, doing everything from Shakespeare to steamy romance novels brought to life.
She’s a bit of a chameleon. One minute she’s playing a cartoon dog teaching us how to be better parents, and the next, she’s the lead in a series of movies that are... well, definitely not for kids. It’s a wild career trajectory.
The Bluey Phenomenon and the "Invisible" Star
Let’s get the big one out of the way first. When we talk about Melanie Zanetti movies and tv shows, Bluey is the elephant in the room. Or the dog in the room. Whatever. She’s been voicing Chilli since 2018. The funny thing is, she records most of her lines in a booth, often thousands of miles away from her co-stars. She’s mentioned in interviews that she didn't even meet David McCormack (the voice of Bandit) in person for years.
It’s a weird kind of fame. She can walk through an airport surrounded by kids wearing Bluey t-shirts and nobody looks twice. She’s even joked about passing families kitted out in "Heeler" gear while she remains completely anonymous. That might change soon, though. With the massive success of the "The Sign" special in 2024 and the hype building for Bluey: The Movie (slated for 2027), her voice is becoming one of the most recognizable on the planet.
From Brisbane Stages to Gabriel’s Inferno
If you only know her as a cartoon mom, her role in the Gabriel’s Inferno series will give you whiplash. Based on the erotic romance novels by Sylvain Reynard, these films are a huge deal for a very specific, very dedicated fanbase.
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Zanetti plays Julia Mitchell, an art history student who falls for a complicated professor. It’s a total 180 from the Disney+ vibe. Since 2020, she’s starred in a staggering number of these for the streaming service Passionflix:
- Gabriel's Inferno (Parts I, II, and III)
- Gabriel's Rapture (Parts I, II, and III)
- Gabriel's Redemption (Parts I, II, and III)
That’s nine movies playing the same character. That kind of consistency is rare. It allowed her to build a massive international following that has nothing to do with animation. She’s basically a superstar in the "BookTok" world.
Genre Hopping: Horror, Sci-Fi, and History
Zanetti doesn't just stick to romance or kids' stuff. She seems to have a thing for the weird and the atmospheric. In 2022, she starred in Raven’s Hollow, a gothic horror film that imagines a young Edgar Allan Poe investigating a series of gruesome deaths. She plays Charlotte Ingram, and it’s a great showcase for her "live-action" range—lots of tension, period costumes, and moody lighting.
Then there’s Love and Monsters (2020). You might have missed her in this one because, again, she’s partly behind a mask. She voiced the robot Mav1s and also played the character Kala. It was a hit on Netflix during the pandemic, and it showed she could hold her own in a big-budget Hollywood production alongside Dylan O'Brien.
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A Quick Look at Her Notable Credits
Honestly, her resume is all over the place in the best way. She’s appeared in Young Rock as Stephanie, took a turn in the Netflix mermaid drama Tidelands, and had a significant role in The Bureau of Magical Things.
Before the screen took over, she was a titan of the Australian stage. We’re talking Pygmalion (where she won a Matilda Award), Romeo and Juliet, and Wuthering Heights. You can see that theatrical training in her voice work. The way she handles Chilli’s subtle emotional shifts—the "mum" look that you can hear—that comes from years of performing for a live audience.
Why Her Career Path Matters
It wasn't always easy. Zanetti has been very open about the "year of no." In 2016, she didn't book a single job. She’s talked about how her hair was literally falling out from stress. She almost quit.
But that "failed" year is actually why she leaned into voiceover work. If she hadn't been "struggling," she might never have auditioned for a little pilot about a Blue Heeler family in Brisbane. It's a reminder that the "overnight success" we see on TikTok or IMDb usually has a decade of rejection behind it.
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What’s Next?
Right now, the world is waiting for the Bluey movie. It’s basically the Avengers: Endgame for seven-year-olds. But keep an eye on her other projects. She recently popped up in Darby and Joan and continue to take on indie roles like in 2023’s Head Count.
If you're looking to dive deeper into Melanie Zanetti movies and tv shows, don't just stop at the cartoons. Watch Raven's Hollow for the scares, or The Leisure Class to see her early work produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
The best way to support her work is to follow her projects on smaller platforms like Passionflix or check out her Australian TV credits on streaming. Most of her work, especially the Australian series like The Bureau of Magical Things, is widely available on platforms like Nickelodeon or Netflix. Keep an ear out—you’ll start hearing her everywhere.
Actionable Insights for Fans
- Follow her career updates: If you want to see her on-camera work, Raven's Hollow is currently one of her best-reviewed live-action performances.
- Support Australian Media: Many of her roles are in Queensland-based productions; watching these on official streaming services helps the local industry she grew up in.
- Voiceover Inspiration: If you're an aspiring actor, her interviews on the podcast Don't Be So Dramatic offer a real-world look at the grit required to make it in both voice and screen acting.