Melanie Cruz

"Melanie has a quiet power as well as a deep humanity that makes her audiences care. She is generous, authentic, imminently watchable, and a delight to work with. I am a huge fan." - Risa Bramon Garcia, Director/CD/Producer/Teacher "[Melanie] did fabulous work and it's been cutting together great." - David Graziano, Executive Producer "I'd work with Melanie Cruz again and again. She is a fine actress, who brought great heart to her role on 'Big Love'." - David Knoller, Executive Producer "Melanie's role in 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' needed to quickly establish authority while staying relatable to the audience, which she did effortlessly and with grace." - Ron Underwood, Director Melanie Cruz is a SAG-AFTRA/Equity actor who has performed in over 40 plays, three features, and numerous short films, commercials and voiceovers. In January of 2020, she joined Rubicon Theatre Company to play Allison Davis in the West Coast Premiere of "Never Not Once" by Carey Crim. A dedicated theatre actor, Melanie starred in her first play, "The Ice Wolf", at the Denver Civic Theatre when she was 14. Theatre credits include Stella in "A Streetcar Named Desire", Lily in "The Skriker", Belarius in "Cymbeline", Sara in "Lucky Me" and Miss Ovington in "Dr. Du Bois and Miss Ovington" with veteran actor Ben Guillory at the esteemed Robey Theatre Company. Television credits include "American Horror Story", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", "Big Love" and "Scandal". Melanie is a self-described American Mutt who is of Scots-Irish, Spanish-Mexican, Czech and German descent. Originally from Aurora, Colorado, Melanie attended Gateway High School and spent her junior year as a foreign exchange student in Dinan, France, where she became an avid Francophile and learned fluent French. Melanie went on to earn her BA in English and Theatre from Barnard College - Columbia University and has trained in London with BADA, in improv with Darren Yalacki, in voiceover with Paul Pape and in acting with Krater and BGB Studios. Melanie's love of travel has taken her all over the world, including Thailand, Western Samoa and even a year in Antarctica, where she worked at McMurdo, the largest of the American bases. She is a motorcyclist, a certified diver, a DIYer and an avid animal lover who has two cats and two dogs, all rescues, whom she serenades on a regular basis. She speaks fluent English and French and conversational Spanish.