Melissa Barrera

Age: 29

Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico

Now Lives: Ms. Barrera divides her time among a one-bedroom apartment in Midtown Manhattan, a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles and a “newlywed house” in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico.

Claim to Fame: After making her mark on Mexican telenovelas including “Siempre Tuya Acapulco” and “Tanto Amor,” Ms. Barrera stars in “Vida,” a Latinx drama series on Starz about two Mexican-American sisters who run a bar in Los Angeles.

After getting the part, Ms. Barrera made such an impression on the “Vida” showrunners that they postponed the shooting schedule for her working papers to clear.

Big Break: Ms. Barrera was 23 and fresh out of college when she auditioned and got cast in “Siempre Tuya Acapulco.” “It was a big deal because I’d only done small parts in telenovelas prior to that and I was young compared to leading ladies in other telenovelas,” she said. “I was shocked and nervous. I had never led a telenovela, which meant shooting 20 or more scenes a day, six days a week and basically carrying the story.”