Ainsley Melham

Ainsley Melham is an Australian actor and theatre performer born on 2 December 1991 in Australia and raised in Bathurst with his sister Nadia. He trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, graduating in 2012, and also studied at the NIDA Open Program, the Australasian Tap Dance Academy, and La Belle School of Dance. During his time at WAAPA, Melham performed in productions including Ragtime, Violet, Crazy For You, A Chorus Line, Xanadu, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Into The Woods.

Before establishing himself as a theatre performer, Melham joined the Australian children's musical group Hi-5 in January 2013 as part of a new generation of members, following a late-2012 audition process that was documented in the cinematic release Some Kind of Wonderful. During his three years with the group, he appeared in three television series of Hi-5 House and participated in national and international tours before departing in January 2016 to return to theatre.

Melham's stage career gained significant momentum in 2016. In March of that year, he played Sonny Malone in an Australian production of Xanadu for Matthew Management and Hayes Theatre Co. Later that same year, he was cast in the title role of Disney Theatrical Company's Australian debut of Aladdin in Sydney, a role he held through late 2018. His performance earned him a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Male Actor in a Musical in 2017.

Melham transferred his role as Aladdin to the Broadway production at the New Amsterdam Theatre, beginning on 19 February 2019. He reunited with Michael James Scott as Genie and Arielle Jacobs as Princess Jasmine, the same trio that had formed the original Australian cast. In November 2020, he took on the title role in Pippin at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, and in 2022 he portrayed Prince Topher in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, performing in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. In July 2024, Melham joined the Australian production of Wicked as a mid-season replacement for Fiyero in Melbourne and Brisbane, stepping in while original cast member Liam Head recovered from a knee injury.

Melham originated the role of Dwayne in the pre-Broadway world premiere of Boop! The Musical, which began previews in November 2023 at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago. He subsequently reprised the role when the production made its Broadway debut in 2025, marking his return to Broadway following his run in Aladdin.