Melissa Fumero

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