Melissa Fumero (née Gallo; born August 19, 1982) is an American actress. She made her professional debut in 2004, in the recurring role of Adriana Cramer in the television soap opera One Life to Live. Following several minor roles, Fumero had her first main role as Amy Santiago in comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a role she played from 2013 to 2021. Since then, Fumero has voiced Melissa Tarleton in the animated series M.O.D.O.K. (2021) and starred as Eliza Walker in Netflix's comedy Blockbuster (2022). She is married to actor and former model David Fumero, with whom she has two sons.
Early life
Melissa Gallo was born in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, on August 19, 1982. Her Cuban parents moved to the U.S. as teenagers. Her mother was a homemaker and hairdresser, while her father taught mathematics and worked at a jewelry store. Gallo grew up in Guttenberg and moved back to Lyndhurst at age six. She and her family spoke Spanish at home but her parents stopped forcing her and her brother to do so after he encountered issues at school. She attended Lyndhurst High School.
As a child, Gallo enjoyed creating and performing plays, and began taking dance lessons. She expressed interest in acting after seeing Broadway's The Secret Garden at the age of ten. Her parents subsequently sent her to acting classes. She enjoyed theater lessons because she and her classmates were focused on performing rather than their physical appearances. She remained enrolled in dance and acting classes until her graduation. When she received the acceptance letter for New York University (NYU), which she called her "dream school", she believed she would be unable to attend due to the cost. To ensure she could attend, her parents spent much of their savings, took out many loans, and had Gallo live at their home until she moved to New York City at age 19. In 2003, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama.
Career
2004–2012: One Life to Live and other roles
Gallo felt ostracized when she began working in the entertainment business. She was only able to audition for certain roles. Hours after her final exam at NYU, she was offered the role of Adriana Cramer on soap opera One Life to Live (OLTL), which she described as "the biggest redeeming moment". Gallo joined the series on January 20, 2004. She reprised her role in two 2005 episodes of All My Children. Fumero was set to leave the show shortly after her contract with OLTL expired in January 2008, but stayed until June 11; her final scenes were filmed in May. Fumero returned to One Life to Live on several occasions between September 2008 and January 2011.
In 2008, she starred in Tiny Dancer as Ati, a seventeen-year-old who is persuaded to dance. For the role, Fumero learned the character's Spanish Harlem accent—a task she found difficult—and extensively trained in stretching and yoga to perform the modern and contemporary dance. After One Life to Live, Fumero expressed interest in performing comedy and booked a role in Important Things with Demetri Martin for Comedy Central in 2009. The following years, she appeared in Gossip Girl, Royal Pains, The Mentalist, and CSI: NY.
2013–2020: breakthrough with Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Fumero's first starring role and breakthrough came in 2013, when she was cast in Fox's untitled comedy pilot as the female lead opposite Andy Samberg. The show's title was announced in April 2013 as Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It follows a group of New York Police Department detectives in Brooklyn's fictional 99th precinct. Fumero portrays the rule-following, competitive character Amy Santiago. To prepare, she and Brooklyn cast received police and firearm training. Fumero is one of the show's two regular Latina cast members, the other being Stephanie Beatriz, who portrays Rosa Diaz. Fumero described this casting as groundbreaking, though the two feared one of them would be fired. As a result, they tried to make their appearances as distinct from one another as possible; for example, Fumero's character has straight hair while Beatriz's has wavy hair. Due to her lack of experience in comedy, Fumero was usually nervous, a trait the writers incorporated into Amy's personality. On September 17, 2013, Brooklyn Nine-Nine pilot aired, garnering over six million viewers and positive reviews. The A.V. Club praised the contrasts between Samberg's and Fumero's acting styles, calling her "a real find". Reviews of the first season were also positive, and it received 5.2 million total viewers.