Biography
Date of Birth
4 December 1988, Littleton, Colorado, USA
Birth Name
Melissa Marie Benoist
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Melissa Marie Benoist is an American actress, singer and dancer. She was born in Littleton, Colorado , the daughter of Julie and Jim Benoist, a physician. Her paternal great-grandfather was of French descent. The rest of her ancestry is German, English, and Scottish. She started dance classes at the age of three and when she was four years old her aunt put her in a church play she was directing.
As a teen, Benoist performed anonymously at Disneyland for three summers with the Academy of Theatre Arts, a musical theatre school located in Littleton, Colorado run by Paul Dwyer and Alann Worley. She performed locally in productions including Cinderella and Bye Bye Birdie at Town Hall Arts Center, and Evita at the Country Dinner Playhouse. 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 from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City in 2011 with a Bachelor of arts in theatre arts.
Benoist is known for her portrayal of the title character in the CBS/CW superhero drama series Supergirl (2015).She rose to prominence for her portrayal of Marley Rose on the fourth and fifth seasons of the Fox musical comedy-drama television series Glee (2009), and has appeared in films such as Whiplash (2014) ,Danny Collins (2015), The Longest Ride (2015), Lowriders (2016) , Patriots Day (2016) and Sun Dogs (2017).
Trivia
Has two sisters: Jessica, a novelist and Kristina, an ecological scientist.
She has three tattoos: a wolf on her left wrist, a feather and the word "free" on the back of her neck, and a bicycle on her left foot.
In 2015, it was announced that she married Glee (2009) co-star Blake Jenner. Public records later revealed that the couple actually married in 2013. The couple separated in late 2016 and divorced in December 2017.
Has been cast as "Supergirl" in the CBS TV series Supergirl (2015). [January 2015]
Was the very first of a thousand actors to audition for the title role of Supergirl (2015), just as Stephen Amell for Arrow (2012) and Grant Gustin for The Flash (2014), all produced by Greg Berlanti.
Was wearing an eye-patch reportedly after suffering an eye injury when she first put on her Supergirl (2015) costume. It was later revealed, by Melissa on Instagram that the injury was in fact caused by an incident of domestic abuse. A phone was thrown at her eye resulting in one pupil becoming permanently enlarged.
Cited Susan Sontag and Gloria Steinem as inspirations for her portrayal of Supergirl (2015).
Was given Superman-styled costumes for each of her dogs from Ellen DeGeneres as a guest on her show The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003).
Started reading the New 52 'Supergirl' comic book title after landing the part.
Both she and Helen Slater, who also played Supergirl (1984), are brunettes turned blondes for the role of Supergirl.
Her paternal great-grandfather was of French descent. The rest of her ancestry is German, English, and Scottish.
One of her dogs is named Otis, also the name of Lex Luthor's assistant in the Superman (1978) films.
She has played the same character (Kara Danvers / Supergirl) in five different television series: Arrow (2012), The Flash (2014), Supergirl (2015), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016) and Batwoman (2019).
First auditioned for the role of Jessica Kensky before being cast as Katherine Russell in Patriots Day (2016).
On The Late Late Show with James Corden: Melissa Benoist/Olivia Wilde/Saoirse Ronan (2015), along with Olivia Wilde and Saoirse Ronan, Melissa Benoist stated that the original French pronunciation of her surname was "Benoit".
Involved in a mental health awareness movement called 'I Don't Mind' with current partner Chris Wood who played on-screen love interest Mon-El in Supergirl.
She has unequal size of the eyes' pupils due to an eye injury.
Lived her youth in Littleton, Colorado.
Became engaged to Chris Wood on 11 February 2019.
Supergirl (2015) Season 5 marks her directorial debut.
(March 4, 2020) Expecting her first child with husband Chris Wood.
Became a mother for the first time after giving birth to her son Huxley Robert Wood born on September 2020.
Trademarks:
Piercing blue eyes
Quotes
I love female singer-songwriters!
I'm obsessed with Michael Fassbender. He's unbelievable. I think he's a modern-day Marlon Brando. Every movie that he's done in the past couple years, I just died for him. He's extremely fascinating.
At school, when it came to being social, I had no idea how to do it.
Reading about myself on 'Perez Hilton' was kind of the weirdest thing ever.
I'm definitely interested in doing movies. I've always focused more on acting than singing because that's where my true passion lies.
If I had any advice for my 16-year-old self, it would just be to stay strong, because acting is not an easy lifestyle, especially when you are starting out. That being said, it definitely makes it all worth it when it does happen.
I have a very optimistic view of my future right now. I'm very excited to see where it goes, but I try not to make plans just because I know how unpredictable life can be. Especially the life of an actor, and especially the life of an actor on 'Glee.' I just want to be happy and healthy and surrounded by people I love, as cheesy as it sounds.
I was such a wallflower in high school. I did a lot of extracurricular theatre shows, but at school, I spent a lot of time by myself. I ate lunch by myself, and I was always okay with it. But I was definitely made fun of, and I always felt like an outsider.
Every day, I just thank the universe that I am as lucky as I am. Because, I went through periods of time when I didn't have a single bit of work. Months and months where I was auditioning all the time. I mean, all the time, and nothing was happening.
[on Supergirl (2015)] I think what's feminist about it is that it's for everyone.
[on being a superhero fan growing up] I was a DC fan, not so much the comics. I loved Michael Keaton's Batman (1989). I grew up with those movies.
[on her Supergirl (2015) costume] It's impossible not to feel empowered when you put it on. You would think, "Oh, it's silly. I'm putting on tights. I'm putting on a leotard and a skirt. There's muscles built into the suit. There's a cape. I'm going to feel like it's Halloween." But something changes internally. I feel like a different person almost. It really is an alter ego, where I feel inspired, hopeful and empowered.
I think it's modest in that you can believe someone could fight for their lives in that suit without having a wardrobe malfunction and something popping out. That's what I never understood about Wonder Woman. I'm like, 'How does she fight?'
[on on-screen female superheroes] I don't really understand why people haven't always been ready for this. I think there are so many really successful franchises right now like The Hunger Games (2012), and I was a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) fan. I wish there were more of a pattern and more of a consistency to there being really strong female-driven stories.
I don't think I've ever hit anyone before, and so I definitely had to learn technique - like how to actually punch someone and not hurt yourself more than you're hurting the person you're punching. And core work and Pilates and [plyometrics], a lot of it.
Kara is so optimistic, and so positive, and just full of hope all the time. My tendency can sometimes be 'Oh, man, if I were in this situation, I'd feel hopeless.' But she never feels that. There's never really a horribly dark moment in Supergirl's life.
This job [Supergirl (2015)] is definitely teaching me to stand up for myself and to not take any -- I don't want to say a bad word. This is me being modest -- not take any crap, yeah.
[on her role in Danny Collins (2015)] I [had] such a small role in that movie, yet every single person in that movie went to Al Pacino's house to rehearse.
I don't think of myself as that tough, kick-ass, badass woman. I've always been a pacifist, for one, and I was [always] weirder and quirkier and dorkier.
[on Whiplash (2014)] I had never read anything like [that script]; I mean, he has entire pages that are stage direction.
[on the impact of wearing a hijab for her role in Patriots Day (2016)] [There was an impact] in the way I walked, the way I conducted myself, the way people talked to me. A lot of people didn't recognize me when I would come on set afterward; having changed out of it, they didn't know it was me, even though they'd spent all day with me. Immediately your vanity just vanishes. That felt like a valuable lesson to me: You can put on a garment and be a body that exists for your mind, and not externally.
[on not meeting the real life Katherine Russell, who she plays in Patriots Day (2016)] That wasn't an option for me because of the nature of her involvement.
I honestly prefer working on indie films. I prefer the people, I prefer a more intimate setting. That's how I find the moments that I'm looking for as an actor., but that doesn't mean I don't have respect for the other side of the business.
I want there to always be humanity driving my work. I want to do things that I care about, that I connect to.
[on the character of Rachel Koresh] She's not about truth, justice and the American way.
[on playing Rachel Koresh in Waco (2018)] Some of the biggest challenges were filling in a lot of the gaps because there wasn't a lot of tangible information for me to base developing a character on. [...] There are a few accounts of her being around, but for all intents and purposes, she was sort of a mystery to me, so that was difficult. [...] Also, the challenge was that the subject matter was so heavy. Spending three months with these people, the end was truly difficult and is something that I'll carry with me, forever. It's something I don't think I'll ever shake.
when fame and financial success are not on the agenda at all, that's when the true art form emerges. I really respect that.
Singing is much more of a visceral thing, where you can lose yourself. But acting's like therapy to me.
I love sitting at a pottery wheel, even if I mess up every piece I'm trying to throw. It's such a meditating and calming feeling; it kind of grounds me .
What I find the most interesting about playing Kryptonians is that they're so squeaky clean. Be it Clark Kent or Kara Danvers, they're so all-American that sometimes you want their moral compass to stray a bit, for them to have a dilemma.
You're as strong as you think you can be.
Supergirl is this unattainable, idealistic optimist of an alien, and all of us can escape into her world, and she always saves the day.
Just because you might not be happy doesn't mean you're not inspired or fulfilled or stimulated."
I love solitude, and I'm not afraid of it.
My life day in and day out is accessing my emotions and bringing them to the forefront. While everyone else in this country, for the most part, shoves them down. Especially so when it comes to women's issues, because it's such an important conversation right now, which I'm very happy about.
It's life experience-experiencing tragedies, which we all do, experiencing heartbreak and joy and fear and love, and being open to all of it. And ready to face what the world is gonna throw at you, because it throws dodge balls at all of us. I understand things now, at almost 30 years old, that I wouldn't have at 21
[on her Broadway debut] Living out a story eight times a week is difficult and draining emotionally but very fulfilling. I will absolutely always be looking for more.
[on her Broadway debut] I always feel very cheesy and earnest when I talk about it because it was always what I wanted to do as a kid. So I am essentially living out my childhood dream, and that's fun. But it has given me a newfound respect for what I do for a living and kind of reignited this passion that I have.
[on the Supergirl (2015) Season 5 costume update] I just think it's more adult. Part of my goal in this whole series for whenever the show ends, I just want there to be a very clear arc for this character that she evolved as a woman and found her femininity and her adulthood, just a self-discovery.
[on her directorial debut on Supergirl (2015) ] I've been wanting to direct since season 3, but couldn't last year because of scheduling conflicts, so [co-star] David Harewood did it first. I just felt really drawn to it for a couple of seasons now, just because you know the show so well, and you get to know the character, and the world, and the tone of the show so well that you can't help but envision certain scenes in a certain way. I want to play with that.
