Michelle Van Der Water is a South African native born in Cape Town. Her parents moved the family to Australia soon after Michelle's birth. The family settled in a small town just an hour outside of Sydney. Michelle attended and graduated from Inaburra High School in the Sutherland Shire before going on to attend Wollongong University. At Wollongong, she graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Graphic Design and New Media. Michelle started out modeling in Sydney while taking acting classes on the side. This sparked Michelle's passion for acting she continued training in the field once she moved permanently to Los Angeles. Michelle began her professional career in 2000. Among her performances, most of which are film shorts and television, Michelle appeared in the horror/fantasy film Minotaur (2006) starring alongside Tom Hardy and Tony Todd. Other works include the 2009 revival of the series Melrose Place (2009), followed by work on Castle (2009) in 2011 and NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) in 2012. She continues studying acting at the John Kirby Studio in Hollywood.