Melissa Rivera(I)

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.