‏Mekenna Melvin‏

Born and raised in Saratoga, CA, Mekenna Melvin spent most of her childhood in her mother's drama classes and rehearsals. Thus, Mekenna gives her mom, a drama teacher and director, credit for igniting Mekenna's interest in acting. After high school, Mekenna moved to New York City and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and in between semesters spent a summer studying in England at The British American Drama Academy, Midsummer in Oxford Program. As a child with a learning disability, Mekenna had always felt 'different' but acting she recalls, "was one of the things in (her) life that seemed to make sense."The emerging actress can be seen on NBC's hit show, Chuck (2007) Mekenna made her debut on "Chuck" in season 3 as Alex McHugh, the daughter to Adam Baldwin's character, John Casey. Her role as Alex last season left fans of the show intrigued and excited to hopefully get to know her character a little more. Mekenna rejoined the cast of "Chuck" this past fall and so her recurring role continues. Mekenna's character plays an integral role and "Chuck" fans are falling more and more in love as her character develops and they get to know Alex."Chuck" is a dramedy centered around a computer geek named Chuck Bartowski who becomes the CIA's most important agent when he accidentally opens a top-secret email full of government secrets. CIA and NSA assign two agents (John Casey and Sarah Walker) to protect Chuck and exploit such knowledge, turning his life upside down. As a first-degree black belt since age 16, the role as John Casey's daughter was naturally the perfect character for Mekenna to portray. After all, Casey isn't going to have a daughter who can't defend herself.Prior to landing her role on "Chuck," Mekenna has appeared in numerous television shows including her first guest starring role on Fox's Lie to Me (2009) alongside Tim Roth, and CBS's Three Rivers (2009). Mekenna appeared in ABC's 2010 drama series Detroit 1-8-7 (2010), about fictional documentarians that follow and film Detroit homicide police. She has also acted in festival award-winning films and co-created and starred in Amber Lake (2011) an independent film directed by Joe Robert Cole. Just a few friends with a tiny budget and a lot of passion, Mekenna's work in co-creating "Amber Lake" allowed her to explore filmmaking and realize that there is more she would like to do in the business, like own a production company or direct.Mekenna recognizes her parents as the most compassionate hard working people, who have always supported and encouraged her no matter what crazy dream she was chasing any given week. Passionate about such causes as cancer research, global children's welfare, education, research and awareness for different developmental disabilities, Mekenna is, like her parents a compassionate soul.Mekenna lives her life inspired by a quote once said by Pablo Picasso, "My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso." Mekenna is on her way to making a name for herself in the entertainment industry. Her talent, work ethic and drive allows her to constantly be expanding her craft and growing as an artist.