Michelle Meyrink
Michelle Meyrink (born September 1, 1962) is a Canadian actress. She performed roles during the 1980s in both television and in feature films, mostly playing roles as offbeat teen girls. She is best remembered as the female nerd Judy in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds and as the hyperactive whiz-kid Jordan Cochran in Martha Coolidge's 1985 film Real Genius.Meyrink was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She appeared in many comedy films, including 1983s Valley Girl and as Suzi Brent, 1983's The Outsiders as Cherry Valance's best friend Marcia. In 1984 she guest-starred on the television show Family Ties as Mallory's friend (and Skippy's latest infatuation). Her last Hollywood role was in the 1988 film Permanent Record. Thereafter, Meyrink gave up acting as a career, deciding she wanted more out of life than the profession was offering. During this transition period, she became interested in the practice of Zen Buddhism. Toward her goal of reshaping her life, Meyrink moved for a time to the Dominican Republic to be near family members living there. She later returned to her hometown of Vancouver, where in 1996, she met her future husband, John Dumbrille, at the Zen Centre of Vancouver. Thereafter, following their marriage, she and John began raising a family of three children.In 2010 Wired.com named Jordan Cochran, Meyrink's Real Genius character, as #6 on their "Top 10 Greatest Minor Characters in Geek Fiction" list. Writer Matt Blum noted "Michelle Meyrink deserves most of the credit for Jordan’s appearance on this list".Meyrink and Dumbrille live in Vancouver, BC. She and her family were the subjects of a 2004 episode of the Canadian television series Quiet Mind, which focused on their embrace and practice of Zen Buddhism.With her now older children raised, Meyrink started her own acting school, Actorium, in Vancouver; it is modeled in part after the Loft Studio, which she attended with several Hollywood actors while she worked in Los Angeles.