Melissa Barrera
Melissa Barrera Martínez is a Mexican actress, stage actress, singer-songwriter, producer, and activist. She is a three time Imagen Award nominee, and her accolades include a Satellite Award nomination for playing hairstylist Vanessa Morales in the 2021 movie adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights. She began her career as the lead characters Olvido Pérez and Mia González in Azteca Uno’s telenovelas Siempre tuya Acapulco and Tanto amor, then joining in as socialite Isabel Cantú in the third season of the Netflix original series Club de Cuervos.
Barrera transitioned to Hollywood in 2018, earning recognition playing the sexually liberated and free spirited vegan woman Lyn Hernandez in the Starz comedy-drama series Vida, for which she received the 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, and another two GLAAD Media Awards nominations in 2020 and 2021, marking her as a two time GLAAD Media Award nominee and winner. For leading the slasher films Scream and Scream VI as Sam Carpenter, as well as leading the horror-comedies as the former millitary nurse and drug addict Joey in Abigail and aspiring breast cancer survivor stage actress Laura Franco in Your Monster, she established herself as a scream queen. Since then Barrera has left the Scream franchise alongside co-star Jenna Ortega.
¡HOLA! has named her one of the Top 100 Latina Powerhouses of 2022.
Early life
Melissa Barrera was born on July 4th, 1990 in Monterrey, Nuevo León to businessman and entrepeneur Tomas Barrera and homemaker Rossana Martinez. She is the oldest out of her three sisters, Rosanna, Regina and Mayelah.Career
1994–2017: Early work in theater, La Academia, and telenovelas
Melissa Barrera's early career in childhood was marked by her passion for theater and performance. She began her journey in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, where she discovered her love for the arts at the young age of 4 years old. Barrera starred in school plays and musicals at the American School Foundation of Monterrey such as The Wizard of Oz, Aida, and Romeo and Juliet. Her performance in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet secured her lead role, and she later portrayed Ariel in Footloose. Her early involvement in theater and musicals laid the foundation for her future success in the entertainment industry. After graduating high school at 18, she then studied musical theater at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.Her television debut was on the Mexican reality show La Academia in 2011, where she showed off her talent for singing. In 2013, she was part of the duet Melissa y Sebastian, with whom she recorded her first album and had her first top ten radio hit with their debut single "Mamma Maria", a cover of Ricchi e Poveri's song from the 1980s. In 2015, she recorded the theme song "Volver a caer" alongside the Mexican singer Kalimba, for her telenovela Tanto amor.
In 2010, while still in college, she starred as Kennedy in the film L for Leisure. In 2012, she had recurring roles in the telenovelas La mujer de Judas and La otra cara del alma. In 2014, she obtained her first starring role in the telenovela Siempre tuya Acapulco as Olvido Pérez.
In 2015, she starred in her last telenovela Tanto amor as Mia González.
2018–2023: Transition to Hollywood; Vida, In The Heights and Scream
Barrera had her international breakthrough playing Lyn Hernandez in the Starz original comedy drama series Vida. The show ran for three seasons and holds a Rotten Tomato score of 100.In 2021, In the Heights was released with Barrera co-starring in the Jon M. Chu directed musical film, an adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In The Heights. The film earned widespread critical acclaim, with Monica Castillo of The Wrap praising Barrera's performance: "Vanessa's upbeat anthem, 'It Won't Be Long Now', is perhaps one of the more underrated sequences: It's an impressive showcase for Barrera's talents, giving her a wide range of emotions to move through in one number and one of the few moments in the musical to belt out."
In 2022, Barrera starred as Sam Carpenter in the fifth Scream film, which was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The film was released on January 14, 2022. It was a huge box-office success that reinvigorated the franchise. She then starred in Keep Breathing, a six episode survival drama released on Netflix on June 28, 2022. That same year, she starred as the title character in the film musical Carmen, co-starring Paul Mescal. The film directed by Benjamin Millepied had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. She also starred in Bed Rest, quietly released with limited promotion on Tubi in December 2022.
In early 2023, Barrera reprised her role as Sam Carpenter in Scream VI, which scored the highest opening weekend of the franchise.
2024-present: Recent works and The Copenhagen Test
It was announced in 2024 that Melissa teamed up again with the directors of Scream V and Scream VI to star in the vampire horror comedy movie Abigail, where she played former army medic Joey. Melissa found success and critical acclaim for her role as Laura Franco in the indie film Your Monster. Barrera's performance in the film was deemed by critics and fans alike to be the best performance of her career. The performance led Melissa to receive the Sundance London Audience Award. Also the film led to Barrera being nominated for multiple Best Actress Awards at the Imagen Awards, The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association Film Awards, and a win at the Sun Valley Film Festival.In October 2024, Melissa was cast alongside Simu Liu in James Wan's Peacock spy thriller The Copenhagen Test. Melissa plays Michelle, who is a spy and the girlfriend of Simu Liu's character, Alexander Hale. The show aired on December 27, 2025, securing the number one spot on Peacock's streaming platform alongside being in the top 3 of HBO Max's international streaming charts.
Collider said of her performance that Barrera "adeptly handles Michelle's complex emotional landscape and good-natured company woman vibes. As a dancer and Scream queen, she's also believable when it comes to the series' big action moments." In October 2025, it was announced that Melissa would co-star along John Travolta in Renny Harlin's orca survival movie Black Tides.
In November 2025, it was also reported that Melissa teamed up with John Leguizamo to produce a Palestinian documentary called Traces of Home.
Personal life
Barrera met musical artist Francisco Xavier Zazueta on the set of La Academia in 2011, and performed a rendition of Enrique Iglesias' "Cuando Me Enamoro" for its fourth episode. They began dating in September of that year, and announced their engagement via Instagram in June 2017. Barrera and Zazueta married in February 2019. She was raised as Catholic.Activism
In November 2023, it was reported that Barrera had been dropped from her lead role in the upcoming sequel Scream 7. The firing was a result of social media posts she had made which described Gaza as a “concentration camp” and the Israeli government's actions in the Gaza war as "genocide and ethnic cleansing". Following her firing, Barrera released a statement which denounced antisemitism and Islamophobia and said criticism of a government should not be conflated with attacks on the people of a country. Barrera described the year following the firing to be a downturn in opportunities to work, and stated that "For the longest time, I gave myself value as a human because of my work. So when I saw it potentially ending, I was like, who even am I? And I realized that I'm so much more than just an actor – I'm a great sister, a great daughter, a great friend. And I'm very capable of finding success in something else if I wanted it." In January 2024, she participated in a protest against the genocide in Palestine at the Sundance Film Festival.Melissa Barrera's activism gained international attention following her social media posts condemning Israeli actions during the Gaza conflict, which she described using terms such as "genocide and ethnic cleansing". She amplified her advocacy by encouraging donations to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, drawing both support and controversy.