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Melissa was born into a creative family that includes
musicians, writers, photographers, and entrepreneurs. She was interested in
performance from an early age. At age 4, she would use her school lunchtime to
prepare for music class with the Cepeda Brothers - a famous Puerto Rican folk
music group -and remembers rushing her mother to school at age 5 for a
performance done standing on a chair. She continued to seek out performing roles
throughout her school years.
She studied music and drama at the University of Puerto Rico - majoring in music -
while she continued to act and perform in plays, musical theater, and
television. Her primary training was in voice, but she also developed a knowledge of
piano, saxophone and guitar. Her talent for singing, along with years of training,
took her to the Mexican TV hit singing competition "La Academia" in 2009. Melissa
has also trained in ballet, jazz dance, and salsa.
After graduating Melissa moved to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in acting.
She developed her talents by training with highly respected acting and vocal
coaches, including Larry Moss and Arthur Mendoza for acting, and Seth Riggs and
Brett Manning for voice, and continues to take classes at The Groundlings.
Melissa stage credits include leads as Maria in West Side Story, as Dolly in Hello
Dolly, and as Adela in the Spanish stage classic La Casa de Bernarda Alba (The House
of Bernarda Alba). More recently, she has starred in, written, and directed the
Web Series Ragdolls (2013), a comedy about making it in L.A., that was nominated for Best Dramedy at
the LA WebFest adding to her list of accomplishments.
She speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
