Melissa Benoist

Melissa Marie Benoist (born October 4, 1988) is an American actress, singer and producer.

In 2006, The Denver Post named Benoist one of Colorado's five "Can't Miss Kids".

She graduated from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, in 2007, and then moved to New York City to pursue a career in musical theatre.

Benoist's first film was Tennessee in 2008 along with singer Mariah Carey.

Afterwards, she made guest appearances on shows like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Blue Bloods, Homeland, and The Good Wife, while attending college.

She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts in 2011.

While attending college, she played Millie Dilmount in an urban off-off-Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Rosalind in As You Like It at the Theresa Lang Theatre.

She played Kelly in the 2011 Goodspeed Musicals theatrical production of The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown by Bree Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan at the Norma Terris Theatre.

Her first major role was Marley Rose on the Fox musical comedy drama Glee (2012–2014), in which she was a series regular during the fifth season.

In May 2012, she auditioned for the musical comedy-drama series Glee in New York at the Roundabout Theatre Company, singing a different song for each of her five auditions including: "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor, "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles, a Colbie Caillat song, and several musical theatre pieces.

In July, she had two screen tests in California for series creator/writer, Ryan Murphy, the casting directors, and executive producers.

She portrayed Marley Rose on the fourth and fifth seasons of Glee.

Her first appearance as Marley Rose was in the first episode of season four, titled "The New Rachel".

Because the creators had been looking for Marley for a long time, she started working the day she found out she got the job.

Benoist's first performance was a duet of "New York State of Mind" with Lea Michele, during the first episode of season 4.

The cover of the song reached twenty-four on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

She and Glee co-star Darren Criss appeared with Josh Duhamel in the opening of the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards.

That same year, she was selected as an ambassador for Coca-Cola's new product, P10 300 mL Coke Mismo.

In June 2013, they were flown to Manila, Philippines, to endorse the product by visiting various malls and meeting with fans.

In mid-2013, Benoist and Blake Jenner held a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the production of their feature film Billy Boy.

The project reached its $100,000 goal.

Benoist's film appearances include the psychological drama Whiplash (2014), the comedy drama Danny Collins (2015), the crime comedy Band of Robbers (2015), the romantic Western The Longest Ride (2015), the action thriller Patriots Day (2016), the drama Lowriders (2016), and the comedy drama Sun Dogs (2017).

She, along with several other actors, was not called back for Glee in early 2014.

Benoist played Nicole in Damien Chazelle's 2014 independent drama film Whiplash, which won top prizes (Grand Jury and Audience awards) at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

In June 2014, she joined Nicholas Sparks' film adaption The Longest Ride as Marcia.

She rose to widespread prominence for portraying the title character on the CBS / CW superhero series Supergirl (2015–2021), along with related media in the Arrowverse franchise.

She also portrayed the wife of cult leader David Koresh on the Paramount Network miniseries Waco (2018).

On stage, Benoist made her Broadway debut in 2018 as Carole King in the jukebox musical Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Benoist was born in Houston, Texas, to Julie and Jim Benoist, a physician.

They divorced when she was thirteen years old.

Her paternal great-grandfather was of French descent.

She has two sisters: Jessica, a novelist, and Kristina, an ecological scientist, and five half-siblings from her father's remarriage.

She was raised mostly by her mother in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, after her parents' separation.

Growing up in Colorado, a large part of her childhood was spent exploring national parks and immersing herself in nature.

She started dance classes at the age of three, focusing on jazz, ballet, and tap.

When she was four years old, her aunt put her in a church play she was directing; after that, she began doing community children's theatre in her hometown.

As a teenager, Benoist performed anonymously at Disneyland in various medleys of musical songs for three summers with the Academy of Theatre Arts, a musical theatre school she was attending, located in Littleton, Colorado, run by Paul Dwyer and Alann Worley.

She performed locally in a number of theatrical productions, including A Month in the Country, Cinderella, A Chorus Line, and Bye Bye Birdie at the Town Hall Arts Center, a professional theatre located in the Denver metro area.

Instead of attending high school graduation parties, she performed the play Evita with other cast members at the former Country Dinner Playhouse.

She initially attended Marymount Manhattan College for the BFA musical theatre program but in her sophomore year, she switched majors to theatre, due to her admiration for 19th-century Russian plays.