Lively and alluring actor Melissa Benoist made her first big splash with audiences in 2012, when she was cast as the fresh-faced Marley Rose on the hit musical series "Glee" (Fox, 2009-2015). Born in Littleton, Colorado in 1988, Benoist began appearing in regional theater as a child, even performing with future Broadway star Annaleigh Ashford in a Town Hall Arts Center production of "The Sound of Music" when she was 12 years old. Benoist would go on to enroll at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, even as she simultaneously pursued a professional career as an actor. She made her on-screen debut in an independent drama called "Tennessee" (2009) starring singer Mariah Carey, while continuing to act in college plays, starring in Marymount productions of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "As You Like It," both in 2009.
In 2012, she completed a rigorous, multi-step audition process for the series "Glee," beginning with a singing audition at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York. She would go on to complete two more live auditions, in addition to two screen tests for various producers in both New York and Los Angeles. Benoist eventually won the role of Marley, and soon followed it with a memorable turn in the sleeper hit "Whiplash" (2014). In 2015, Benoist was cast as the teenaged caped crusader for a TV version of "Supergirl" (CBS/The CW 2015- ), which was a critical and audience success. Between seasons, Benoist co-starred in the Mark Wahlberg thriller "Patriots Day" (2016) and indie drama "Lowrider" (2016). Benoist also starred in "Juvenile" (2018), the writing and producing of her then-husband, Blake Jenner, but the film's release was delayed by the couple's 2017 divorce. The following year, Benoist co-starred in "Waco" (Paramount 2018), a miniseries about the siege at a religious cult's compound near Waco, Texas in 1993, and the indie drama "Sun Dogs" (2018).
