Melina Kanakaredes

Melina Kanakaredes Constantinides, born April 23, 1967, in Akron, Ohio, is a Greek-American actress known for her work across stage, television, and film. The daughter of Connie Kanakaredes, a candy company owner, and Harry Kanakaredes, an insurance salesman, she is a second-generation Greek-American and speaks Greek fluently. Her maternal grandfather, Christ Temo, founded Temo's Candy Company, a chocolate store in Akron that her two maternal uncles operated until its closure in 2021.

Kanakaredes made her stage debut at age eight in a production of Tom Sawyer at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron. She attended Firestone High School before enrolling at The Ohio State University, then transferring to Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in theater arts in 1989. During her time in Pittsburgh, she performed in the professional theater scene, including the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar at Pittsburgh Musical Theater.

Her Broadway credit is the 1998 revival of Cabaret, in which she played Sally Bowles. Her stage work also includes My Child: Mothers of War in 2015.

Kanakaredes began her television career on the daytime drama Guiding Light, originating the role of Eleni Andros Cooper from 1991 to 1995. Her performance earned two Daytime Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series at the 21st Daytime Emmy Awards in 1994, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 22nd Daytime Emmy Awards in 1995. She went on to star as Dr. Sydney Hansen in the NBC drama Providence, which ran for five seasons from 1999 to 2002, and as Detective Stella Bonasera in the CBS series CSI: NY, a role she held for six seasons before departing in 2010. Additional television credits include a recurring role as reporter Benita Alden during the second season of NYPD Blue, as well as appearances on Due South, Oz, The Practice, and The Ben Stiller Show on MTV. She also appeared in a Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of Anne Tyler's novel Saint Maybe and played Dr. Lane Hunter in The Resident. She provided voice work in two first-season episodes of the animated Netflix series Blood of Zeus.

Her film appearances include The Long Kiss Goodnight, in which she played Trin, and 15 Minutes, in which she portrayed Nicolette Karas, the girlfriend of Robert De Niro's character Eddie Flemming. She was considered for the lead role of Toula Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding but declined due to her pregnancy. She played the Greek goddess Athena in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and appeared alongside Dwayne Johnson in the 2013 drama Snitch.

Kanakaredes married Peter Constantinides on September 6, 1992. The couple have two daughters, Zoe, born May 23, 2000, and Karina Eleni, born January 25, 2003. She and her husband previously owned Tria Greek Kuzina, a restaurant in Powell, Ohio, which has since closed.