Melissa Dudek was born in Chicago, but was raised in the San Diego suburb of Poway, Calif., and has always self-identified a proud Powegian. She got her first taste of acting at the age of five and has been a victim of the bug ever since. She honed her skills at the Patio Playhouse, a community theater in Escondido, Calif., before going on to minor in theatre arts at Loyola Marymount University. Of all of her screen credits, the one she is most proud of is the three seasons she spent as a featured regular on KOFY-TV's Dance Party (2010-12), a local production in the San Francisco Bay Area.