Melissa Fumero

Biography

Melissa Fumero is an American actress of Cuban ancestry. She is popular for playing Adriana Cramer in "One Life to Live" and Amy Santiago in "Brooklyn Nine-nine".

Her recent works include playing Jasmine in "Night Court", Natalia in Lopez vs Lopez, voicing Sophie in the animation series Verlma.

Childhood- Family

Melissa Gallo was born on 19th August 1982 in Lyndhurst, New Jersey to Cuban immigrant parents- Carlos Gallo an Archeologist and Martha Gallo, a Travel guide. Her parents were high school sweethearts who escaped together to the USA.

Her mother also worked as a hair dresser. Her father taught Mathematics classes and worked in Jewelry store. 

She has a brother named Maximillian Gallo, and has two sister in Julia Gallo & Johanna Gallo.

The family spoke Spanish at home when the kids were small, apparently there was an incident at school  involving language, after which there were no strict rules about speaking Spanish at home.

Education

• Lyndhurst High School: She studeid at the Lyndhurst High School, a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Lyndhurst, in Bergen County.
• New York University (2003): She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU with major in Drama. She landed a major role on her last day in the acting school (NYU), 
• Tisch School of the Arts: It was only natural she ended up at Tisch, her "dream school". She was always destined to end up as an actress ever since she watched the broadway play 'The Secret Garden' at the age of ten. She remained fascinated by theatre ever since, she took professional drama classes, participated in school drama with friends. She took dancing and acting classes all through her childhood till graduation.

Marriage

David Fumero

David Fumero was Mellissa's co-star (a fellow Cuban American) on the show One Life to Live(OLTL), the couple grew closer and started dating during the filming of the series, they got engaged in the later half of 2006 and got married a year later on December 9, 2007 in New Jersey.

Her husband David is 10 years older to her. David and Melissa had kept their relationship private for the first  6/7 months.

[Image: Melissa Fumero & David Fumero Wedding]

David was her MTV Crush: As a 13/14 year old girl she was obsessed with David who was then a model on MTV, he was on Mariah Carey's 'Honey', she only realized it when she was already dating him for a  couple of months.

Mellissa and David consider themselves clumsy and awkward.

Melissa became pregnant for the first time in 2015 and delivered a baby boy on March 24, 2016 (baby weighed healthy 7 pounds, 15 ounces at birth), the boy is named Enzo Fumero. On the Valentines day of 2020 (February 14th), Melissa delivered her second child, also a son- Axel Fumero.

Career

OLTL(One Life to Live)

Melissa Fumero landed the role of Adriana Cramer in the soap opera drama OLTL on the last day of her student life at New York University, she joined the series in January 2004, she continued in the role till 2008, she rejoined the group later in September 2008 and acted in 15 more episodes.

 Adriana Colón is a 15 year odl teen who has come to Llanview to stay with her grandmother Carlotta Vega for the summer, she falls in love, she finds out her biological mother is Dorian Cramer Lord, thern she falls in Love with another guy..

In the ABC Series "All My Children" she appeared as Adriana Cramer in 2005 in two episodes of the series.

In the 2007 drama thriller Descent directed by Talia Lugacy with Rosario Dawson, Chad Faust, Marcus Patrick, she played in an uncredited role.

In the series Important Things with Demetri Martin, she played April in the episode Coolness (S1E6)

In Haute & Bothered she appeared in the role "Jo" in the episodes- Chanel your inspiration (S1E1) and Getting Juicy (S1E2)

In the 2009 comedy movie I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, she played Melissa. incipal cast Matt Czuchry and Jesse Bradford played the lead roles.

In the psychological thriller The Mentalist, she appeared as Carmen Reyes in the episode "Red Letter" (S2E22)

In the romantic drama Gossip Girl, she has appeared in season 1,3 and 4, in about 6 episodes total, as Zoe.

In the comedy drama Royal Pains she plays Brooke in the episode "Pit Stop" (S2E14)

Half Empty(2011): In the short drama directed by David McKinley Johnson, she played Jill alongside Jen Araki, who played Maggie.

In the Crime Investiagtion series CSI: NY, she played Michelle Rhodes in the episode The Real McCoy (S9E10)

In the romantic comedy series "Men at Work" she played April in the episode The New Boss (S2E3)

The House That Jack Built(2013)

In the family Drama directed by Henry Barrial, Melissa played the lead role of Lily. E.J. Bonilla played Jack, the other lead chracter. 

Jack is into shady business, he sells marijuana, his fmaily and his girlfriend don't know about it. It is only a matter of time before his family gets to meet his other side.

In the animation series Mack & Moxy, she was Admirable Melissa in the episode A Bop-Topus Garden (S1E2)

In the series Mourners, Inc., she played Monica Herrera in the Pilot episode.

In the drama movie DriverX(2017), the story of which is about a middle aged stay at home dad who is starting out as a taxi driver to support his family, she played Jessica. It was written and directed by Henry Barrial. 

In the 2019 TV movie The Play Date, she played Emma. Vivian Lyra Blair played Lila in this family comedy written and directed by Lara Everly. 

In the 2019 thriller movie A Stone in the Water, directed by Dan Cohen, she played Alexa

A Stone in the Water(2019)

In the psychological thriller set in Central Oregon, a reclusive spinster abducts a pregnant woman to steal her baby. A ruthless murderer is out to kill the pregnant woman and the paths are going to cross.

In the animation adventure series "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", she voiced Starla in the episode Stranded (S5E4)

In the series One Day at a Time, she played Estrellita in the episodes S3E1 and S4E7

In 2020, she voiced the role of Cantaloupe in the series Big City Greens

She appeared in the episode "Bangs" (S4E4) of series "Room 104" in 2020 as Eva

In the adventure series Elena of Avalor, she played Antonia, the royal seamstress. She appears in three episodes as a guest star.

M.O.D.O.K.

In the stop-motion animation series M.O.D.O.K created by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt based on the Marvel Comics. She plays Melissa Tarleton. a 17 year old daughter of M.O.D.O.K, the villain. She is a supervillain trying to gain her father's appreciation. 

Melissa Tarleton is one of the main characters and appears in 8 of the 10 episodes of season 1.

In the teen comedy series "Diary of a Future President" built around a Cuban American girl who is on a journey to become the future president of USA, she plays Ms. Ortega in the episodes "Strategic Alliance" and "The National Stage"

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

In the Fox (later NBC) comedy police series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, she appears as Amy Santiago, a neurotic, nerdy detective. She becomes a sergeant in season 5. She dates Jake in season 3, marries him in season 5 and they have a son named Mac in season 7.

Interesting Facts

• Her parents immigrated to United States when they were teenagers
• She loves Food.
• Actors she would like to have as her on screen love interest- Chris Paine(handsome), Bill Hader(funny)
• She is Yoga Enthusiast.
• She one time had a vow to 'Date no actor', it was inspired from a date in college with an actor.
• She was pregnant when 3rd season of one of her shows started, she initially wanted to not disclose it, but on advice from one of the creators of the show she posted her baby shower picture on instagram.
• She loves pets, has a pet dog named Bella.
• She rides Ford Focus car.
• She likes Captain America more than iron man.
• She supports Democratic party.
•  

Controversy

On December 2015 she tweeted- "OMG dumb white people who don't know The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz are 2 completely different things based on the same book." which attracted some attention, she is believed to have deleted the tweet later.

Activism & Philanthropy

• She helped raise awareness about Mexican earth quake, Porto Rican electricity problems.
• Don't Give Up Campaign: She supports the campaign which is a support system for struggling individuals.

Filmography

Movies

Series

Awards

• She received multiple nominations at ALMA Awards, NHMC Impact Awards, Imagen Awards for her roles in One Life to Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
• She won NHMC Impact Awards for her role in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Quotes

• I have to say blondes have more fun.
• I think comedy is so specific, so hard.
• David is very very good looking, I was quite intimidated at first to talk to him.
• I'm little bit of a control freak.
• Diversity these days in Hollywood in incredible, when we saw 2 Latino characters on the sets we thought one of us is going to get fired, you know.. the formula.. one Latino, couple of black guys..
• I want to record my toddler's tantrums & save them to use as an alarm clock for him when he's older.
• Motherhood made me face so many fears and live out of my comfort zone. It has made me stronger.
• Everything challenging doesn't last forever, always try different tactics to see what works.
• I'll never forget the day I got the call that I had booked the pilot. I collapsed on the floor.