Skip to content
Motif
Melissa Barrera

Melissa Barrera

Actor and producer · Born July 4, 1990 (36) · Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Melissa Barrera Martínez (born 4 July 1990) is a Mexican actress, stage actress, singer-songwriter, producer, executive producer and activist. She began her career as the lead characters of Azteca's Mexican telenovelas as the humble and kind village girl Olvido Pérez in Siempre tuya Acapulco (2014) and as struggling hard working woman Mía González in Tanto amor (2015), then joining in as socialite Isabel Cantú in the third season of the Netflix original series Club de Cuervos (2017). 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 (2018–2020). For playing Sam Carpenter in the slasher films Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023), 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 (both 2024), she established herself as a scream queen. She is a 3-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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Melissa Barrera, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Read more

Biography from TMDB.

Born
July 4, 1990 (36)
From
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Works as
Actor and producer
Titles
15 on Motif · 28 credits in all
TMDB popularity, last 157 days to Oct 28Down 13% in 30 days

What are Melissa Barrera's films like?

Across their 14 Motif titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Self.

What they feel like to watch

their average across 11 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category

A split, not a type: Light 4 · Serious 3 · Dark 4

Grounded 4 · Stylized 4 · Heightened 3

A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 2 · Intense 7

Steady 3 · Shifting 5 · Whiplash 3

Straight-faced 4 · Some laughs 6 · Funny 1

Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 7 · Relentless 1

Casual 3 · Engaged 7 · Full focus 1

Resolved 8 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 1

Roles they play

10 analyzed roles

Usually the Hero: 8 of 10 analyzed roles.

Hero
8 of 10
Shapeshifter
2 of 10
Show the 10 roles

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Tense
9
Hopeful
6
Melancholic
5
Thrilling
4
Contemplative
3
Other
14

How their films end · 5 with a twist

  • Happy3
  • Bittersweet7
  • Ambiguous4

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Melissa Barrera's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 12 of their 15 Motif titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (4).

Subscription and free streaming for Melissa Barrera's titles on Motif; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

28 credits, 15 with a Motif page; 6 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

  • Traces of Home(2025)

    Executive Producer

    Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
  • Life Support (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2026)

    Executive Producer

  • The Copenhagen Test(2025)

    Show 8 episodes · as Michelle

    Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all shows
  • Your Monster(2024)

    as Laura Franco

    Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all films
  • Abigail(2024)

    as Joey

    Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
  • Land of Gold(2022)

    Thanks

    Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films
  • Carmen(2022)

    as Carmen

    Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all films
  • Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all films
  • Scream VI(2023)

    as Sam Carpenter

    Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
  • Bed Rest(2022)

    Producer · as Julie Rivers

    Midcredits score: 16th percentile of all films
  • Keep Breathing(2022)

    Show 6 episodes · as Liv Rivera

    Midcredits score: 4th percentile of all shows
  • Scream(2022)

    as Sam Carpenter

    Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all films
  • In the Heights(2021)

    as Vanessa

    Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
  • Two Times You (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2018)

    as Daniela

  • Vida(2018)

    Show 22 episodes · as Lyn

    Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all shows
  • Shake Off Your Sorrows (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2018)

    as Luisa

  • El Hotel(2016)

    as Karina

    Midcredits score: 2nd percentile of all films
  • A Beginner's Guide to the Presidency (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2016)

    as Brisa Carreiro

  • Club of Crows(2015)

    Show 10 episodes · as Isabel Cantú

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
  • Tanto Amor (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2015)

    Show 120 episodes · as Mía. González

  • L for Leisure (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2015)

    as Kennedy

  • Siempre tuya Acapulco (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2014)

    Show 136 episodes · as Olvido Pérez / Olvido Balmaceda Pérez

  • A Love To Remember (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2014)

    Show 136 episodes · as Olvido Pérezová

  • La Mujer de Judas (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2012)

    Show 6 episodes · as Zulema Sánchez

  • Black Tides (not in the Motif catalog yet)

    as Rebecca Pierce

  • In the Cradle of Granite (not in the Motif catalog yet)

    Actor

  • Inhabit (not in the Motif catalog yet)

    Actor

  • The Collaboration (not in the Motif catalog yet)

    as Maya

Career shape

Star power in the 99th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 28 titles, 24 of them dated from 2012 to 2026.

Film career

Top draw in 9 Motif titles.

  • 2014Screen debut· A Love To Remember
  • 2021First film· In the Heights
  • 2022First top-billed film· Scream

By role

only this rolewith another role
Acting25 of 28: 24 only acting, 1 with another role · typical Midcredits score61stProducing3 of 28: 2 only producing, 1 with another roleOther crew1 of 28: 1 only other crew, 0 with another role

By decade

2010s11 · acting2020s13 · 10 acting · 4 crew

Billing

usually 1st · top billed in 86% of 7 roles

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on Motif, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.

How do Melissa Barrera's films land?

Their typical Motif film has a Midcredits score in the 61st percentile, the median of all 11; across their 11 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 60th percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

60thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 11

Approval · how many liked their films

56thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 11

Reach · how many have seen their films

83rdpercentile
Typical film, the median of 11

Midcredits score across 15 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up3
  • 50th to 74th5
  • 25th to 49th4
  • Below 25th3

Shape of the crowd

7 of their 15 titles are Crowd Pleasers.

  • Universally Loved1
  • Universally Panned1
  • Divisive1
  • Cult Classic2
  • Crowd Pleaser7
  • Mixed3

Reviewers score the acting 70/100 in their films, across 8 reviewed titles; fans 79, detractors 45. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on Motif; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their Motif titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Is Melissa Barrera's work okay for kids?

Across up to 10 Motif titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity and frightening / intense run heavier than most films.

Their medianMedian of all filmsMiddle 80% of their titles
Violence & Gore9 titles24–94 · median 58 · moderateheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 44
Sex & Nudity10 titles14–53 · median 32 · mildnear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 32
Profanity9 titles44–87 · median 59 · moderateheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 36
Alcohol & Drugs9 titles32–55 · median 39 · moderatenear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 33
Frightening / Intense9 titles21–87 · median 67 · intenseheavier than most filmsMedian of all films: 39

Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.

Who does Melissa Barrera work with?

People who share at least 2 of Melissa Barrera's Motif titles, grouped by what they did on them; James Vanderbilt shares the most, 4.

Directors

Writers

Actors

Composers and cinematographers

Producers

Mixed roles