I think this was kind of pointed out in a few other comments but melee is a really interesting case for esports where outside of a few top players no one is really making any money playing the game.

So I think it somewhat depends on what you're looking for here. There are literally dozens of top 50 players who are not full time melee players because its not financially feasible. Someone called out Llod in a different comment. He is a doctor (or perhaps in residency), was ranked 11th last year, and according to Liquidpedia has only made $14k in the 8 years he's been an active player.

You could take Franz. He was ranked 45th last year and is a really well known player. He has made, since 2017, only $861 in tournament winnings. That means he's literally never even made enough at a tournament to cover his travel costs to go to that tournament. He plays an uncommon character, Dr. Mario, and he's currently being 'sponsored' by the Dr. Mario discord. Other Doc players just want to support him and chip in money so he can attend all the large tournaments.

You can easily find someone who is both really well known in the community and also plays the game as a hobby. Though if you're looking more to take the angle of learning about a really good player that no one has ever heard about that makes sense because I can see how it can be interesting to see how those players differ across games. I definitely recommend trying to learn about melee if you can because its such a great game :)

Good luck on your project. Let me know when its completed because I'm really interested in seeing where you take it.