Melissa Benoist

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Melissa Marie Benoist (; born October 4, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her portrayal of the title character in the CBS/CW superhero drama series Supergirl (2015-present).

Benoist rose to prominence for her portrayal of Marley Rose on the Fox musical comedy-drama television series Glee (2012-2014), and has appeared in films such as Whiplash (2014), Danny Collins (2015), The Longest Ride (2015), Patriots Day (2016), Lowriders (2016), and Sun Dogs (2017).

Video Melissa Benoist

Early life

Benoist was born in Littleton, Colorado the daughter of Julie and Jim Benoist, a physician. They divorced when she was young. She has two sisters, Jessica a novelist and Kristina an ecological scientist. 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 instead of attending high school graduation parties , she performed the play Evita with other cast members at the shut-down 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.

Maps Melissa Benoist

Career

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

In May 2012, she auditioned for 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 theater pieces. In July, she had two screen tests in California for series creator/writer, Ryan Murphy, the casting directors, and executive producers. 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 the summer of 2013, Benoist and Blake Jenner held a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the production of their movie Juvenile. The project has reached its $100,000 goal. Benoist played Nicole, the love interest of Miles Teller's Andrew Neiman, in the 2014 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 had a role in the 2015 film Danny Collins, starring Al Pacino. She played the part of Jamie, a desk clerk at a hotel frequented by one of Jamie's all-time favorite rock stars. In May 2015, it was announced that Benoist would be playing Lorelai in the film Lowriders, replacing Lily Collins and Nicola Peltz, who were in talks for the role previously. In August of that year, she landed the leading role in the Screen Gems drama feature film Oxford, with Sam Heughan as her leading man.

In October 2015, the superhero adventure series Supergirl, with Benoist in the lead role of Kara Zor-El, premiered on CBS. She became the first woman to play a superhero on prime time TV since Wonder Woman went off the air in 1979. The second season of the series moved to The CW. She reprised her role in crossover episodes of The WB's Arrowverse collection of series.

She appeared as a presenter in the 42nd People's Choice Awards, which aired on January 6, 2016, on CBS, and at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, broadcast January 10, 2016. In June of that year, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting; in the video, Benoist and others told the stories of the people killed there.

In May 2016, Benoist was cast as Katherine Russell, the widow of deceased Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in Peter Berg's Patriots Day.. In June of that year, it was announced that she was set to start alongside Michael Angarano in the comedy-drama film Sun Dogs .

In April 2017, Benoist was cast as Rachel Koresh, the legal wife of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh in Paramount Network's miniseries Waco.

On November 18, 2017, Benoist was featured on "The Super Duper Minecraft Musical!" which was made for Minecraft's Super Duper Graphics Pack .

Supergirl' Stars Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood Share a Sweet Kiss ...

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Personal life

In 2015, Benoist suffered from an injury that tore her iris, which caused one pupil to be a larger size than the other, leaving it permanently enlarged.

Benoist married her former Glee co-star Blake Jenner in 2015. In late December 2016, she filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized in December 2017.

In October 2017, Benoist helped with her co-star Chris Wood's launch of his website "I Don't Mind" that works to put a stop to the stigma around mental illnesses, admitting that she has struggled with depression and anxiety attacks since she was 13 years old. She said because of Wood's words that she was able to admit to others her own issues with depression.