Melissa Benoist
MELISSA BENOIST IN NEW YORK, APRIL 2015. TANK TOP: T BY ALEXANDER WANG. STYLING: KARL TEMPLER. COSMETICS: DIOR, INCLUDING DIORSKIN NUDE AIR HEALTHY GLOW ULTRA-FLUID SERUM FOUNDATION. HAIR: JAMES PECIS/D+V MANAGEMENT. MAKEUP: PETER PHILIPS FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR. MANICURE: YUKO TSUCHIHASHI FOR DIOR VERNIS/SUSAN PRICE NYC. SET DESIGN: STEFAN BECKMAN/EXPOSURE NY. PRODUCER: SARA ZION FOR PRODN/ ART+COMMERCE. PRODUCTION MANAGER: ASHLEY SCOTT FOR PRODN/ ART+COMMERCE. RETOUCHING: GLOSS STUDIO. DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: NICHOLAS ONG. PHOTO ASSISTANTS: SIMON ROBERTS, HUAN NGUYEN, MARU TEPPEI, AND DEAN PODMORE. STYLING ASSISTANTS: MELISSA LEVY AND ALEKSANDRA KOJ. HAIR ASSISTANT: ADLENA DIGNAM. MAKEUP ASSISTANTS: EMIKO AYABE AND TALY WAISBERG. SET DESIGN ASSISTANTS: MAX ZINSER AND YONATAN ZONSZEIN. PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: KAIA BALCOS AND JOHN DANIEL POWERS. SPECIAL THANKS: SOHO LOFTS.
Learning to fly isn’t easy; Melissa Benoist knows. For her role as the preternaturally gifted title character on CBS’s forthcoming Supergirl, Benoist, 26, spent long hours training to (pretend to) do just that. “You have to hold your entire body weight up with just your abs, sometimes while suspended 30 feet in the air,” she says. Training meant lots of planks and exercises that “work the muscles you really don’t want to work.” But it all paid off. “I am now the only human who knows how to fly,” she jokes. Even without superpowers, Benoist has already proven her talent on the small screen as Marley Rose on Glee, as well as on the big screen in indie darling Whiplash. After performing in the community theater circuit throughout her childhood and teenage years in Colorado, Benoist moved to New York to study acting at Marymount Manhattan College. “I didn’t know anyone but I just plunged right in. I thrived there even though the city kicked my ass a few times.” For instance, Benoist says she was so broke she couldn’t afford to take the subway and rode her bike instead, once getting hit by a car. Incidentally, it’s mishaps like these that she’ll be drawing on to play Supergirl. “I wanted her to be someone who is eccentric and messed up and makes a lot of mistakes,” says Benoist of her spin on the storied character. “She’s more human than alien.”
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