Melissa De Sousa

Melissa De Sousa
Born	New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present

Melissa De Sousa is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Shelby in the 1999 romantic comedy-drama film The Best Man, its 2013 sequel The Best Man Holiday and the 2022 Peacock series The Best Man: The Final Chapters, Gabriella Jimenez in BET's Reed Between the Lines (2011), and Ana Lopez in Black Lightning.

Early life

Born and raised in New York City by Panamanian parents, Melissa De Sousa attended the High School of Performing Arts as a ballet major, and began her career as a principal dancer with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Company before transitioning into acting.

Career

De Sousa is best known for her performance as Shelby in the Universal Studios franchise The Best Man, The Best Man Holiday, starring opposite Terrence Howard, for which she earned an NAACP Image Award nomination, and The Best Man: The Final Chapters which streamed on Peacock. Currently recurring as Mirta Herrera on Showtime's On Becoming a God in Central Florida, she also led the cult hit series Single Ladies for BET.

De Sousa also starred opposite Matthew Perry in the TNT original presentation of The Ron Clark Story, which garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Made For Television Movie. Other film work includes Laurel Canyon, Miss Congeniality, and Constellation. Her television credits include series regular roles on Reed Between The Lines, Second Time Around, One on One, The $treet, Valley of the Dolls, and Damon. Guest star credits include Criminal Minds, Elementary, Shameless, and countless others.

In 2021, De Sousa appeared in the final season of Black Lightning as Police Chief Ana Lopez.

Personal life

De Sousa currently resides in New York.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Spark	Nina	Short
1998	Ride	Leta
1999	The Best Man	Shelby
2000	Lockdown	Krista
	Miss Congeniality	Karen Krantz, Miss New York
2001	30 Years to Life	Natalie
	I Shaved My Legs For This	Melissa
2002	Laurel Canyon	Claudia
2003	Biker Boyz	Sheila
2005	Constellation	Lucy Boxer-Seras
2006	The Ron Clark Story	Marissa Vega	TV movie
	Saturday Night Life	Darlene Maye	Short
2007	Bats: Human Harvest	Lieutenant O'Neal	TV movie
2008	A Good Man Is Hard To Find	Monica	Video
	Danny Fricke	Erika Valdez	TV movie
2009	The Killing of Wendy	Angie
2010	The Bannen Way	Catalina
	Ashes	Camille
2012	She Is Not My Sister	Stacey
2013	The Best Man Holiday	Shelby
2014	C.R.U.	Michelle Hughes
2015	Supermodel	Detective Lacey
2017	Haters	Graciela	TV movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	The Trials of Rosie O'Neill	Cricket	Episode: "Sweet Sixteen"
	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Melissa Skyler	Episode: "Words Up!"
1993	Getting By	Randee	Episode: "Do the Fright Thing"
	Silk Stalkings	Ellie Rose	Episode: "Tough Love"
	Living Single	Lisa	Episode: "In the Black Is Beautiful"
1994	The Sinbad Show	Actress	Episode: "David Goes Skiing
	Valley of the Dolls	Neely O'Hara	Main Cast
	Living Single	Carmen	Episode: "Who's the Boss?"
1995	Simon	Brenda	Episode: "Simon Hunts a Rat"
1996	Married... with Children	Jaclyn	Episode: "The Hood, the Bud & the Kelly: Part 1 & 2"
	ER	Estella	Episode: "Baby Shower"
1997	The Wayans Bros.	Charmaine	Episode: "I Do..."
	Moesha	Jennifer	Episode: "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number"
1998	Damon	Stacy Phillips	Main Cast
1999	Grown Ups	Donna	Recurring Cast
2000-01	The $treet	Donna Pasqua	Main Cast
2002-03	One on One	Natalie Odessa	Recurring Cast: Season 2-3
2004-05	Second Time Around	Coco Herrera	Main Cast
2006	Ghost Whisperer	Christine Nelson	Episode: "The Ghost Within"
2009	CHICK: Within Me Lives a Superhero	Wildfire	Episode: "Episode #1.1 & #1.5"
2010	Castle	Liz Penn	Episode: "A Deadly Game"
2011	Reed Between the Lines	Gabriella Jimenez	Main Cast: Season 1
2013	Shameless	Tina	Episode: "May I Trim Your Hedges?"
2015	Single Ladies	Austin Aguilera	Main Cast: Season 4
2017	Family Time	Shauna	Episode: "College Bound"
2018	Criminal Minds	Adele McCord	Episode: "Bad Moon on the Rise"
	Elementary	Luz Horowitz	Episode: "The Visions of Norman P. Horowitz"
	Ladies of the Law	Tina	Main Cast
2019	On Becoming a God in Central Florida	Mirta Herrera	Recurring Cast
2021	Black Lightning	Ana Lopez	Recurring Cast: Season 4
	Our Kind of People	Alex Rivera	Recurring Cast
2022	The Best Man: The Final Chapters	Shelby	Main Cast

External links

• Melissa De Sousa at IMDb