Melissa Benoist in “The Waterfront.”
Netflix’s new hit series The Waterfront stars Melissa Benoist as Bree Buckley. What else has Benoist starred in?
Inspired by true events, The Waterfront began streaming on Netflix on Thursday and is currently No. 1 on Netflix’s list of U.S. Top 10 TV Series. The summary for The Waterfront reads, “For decades, the Buckley family has ruled Havenport, North Carolina, dominating everything from the local fishing industry to the town’s restaurant scene. But their fishing empire has started to crumble as patriarch Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) recovers from two heart attacks, and his wife Belle (Maria Bello) and son Cane (Jake Weary) venture into the deep end to keep the family businesses afloat.
“As their attempts spiral out of control and into treacherous waters, Harlan steps back in to take command. Facing her own demons, Buckley’s daughter Bree (Benoist) — an addict in recovery who’s lost custody of her son Diller (Brady Hepner) — finds herself entangled in a complicated relationship that could threaten the family’s future forever.”
Born Oct. 4, 1988, Benoist’s screen career kicked off in 2008 with a supporting role in the indie road trip comedy-drama Tennessee, which starred Ethan Peck and Mariah Carey.
In 2010, Benoist starred in a string of guest roles, in such shows as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Good Wife, followed by Homeland in 2011.
Benoist’s breakthrough came in 2012, role, in a series that displayed her talents and both an actress and a singer — and her career has been soaring ever since. Listed below are some of the high-profile projects she has starred in, which will explain why she looks so familiar to viewers of The Waterfront.
‘Glee’ (2012-2014)
Melissa Benoist brought her acting and voice prowess to Glee when she joined the FOX Television musical series as a cast regular in Season 4.
Benoist starred as Marley Rose in Glee through Season 5, appearing in 42 episodes. During Benoist’s run in the series, she performed several covers of classic songs, from Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” and ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” to Olivia Newton-John’s Grease tune “Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee,” Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Benoist continued to sing after Glee in such musical projects as Beautiful: The Carole King Story, where she starred as the legendary singer-songwriter for a seven-week run on Broadway in 2018.
‘Whiplash’ (2014)
Melissa Benoist stars as Nicole, whose romantic relationship with Andrew (Miles Teller) is fractured because of Andrew’s obsession with drumming in writer-director Damien Chazelle’s psychological drama Whiplash.
In the film, Andrew is constantly at odds with Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a jazz instructor at a prestigious New York City music conservatory who tests the limits of his students with his mentally and verbally abusive teaching methods.
‘Supergirl’ (2015-2021)
Melissa Benoist played Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, aka Kara Danvers, on the CBS/CW’s hit DC Comics series Supergirl.
During her time on Supergirl, Benoist played the character in several crossover appearances in The CW DC series Arrow, DC Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash and Batwoman.
‘Waco’ (2018)
In between her work on the Supergirl series, Melissa Benoist starred as Rachel Koresh — the first wife of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh (Taylor Kitsch) — in the miniseries Waco, which originally aired on the Paramount Network.
Directed by Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle, Waco is a six-part miniseries that chronicles the 51-day standoff between David Koresh’s religious sect and the FBI and AFT at the Branch Davidians in Waco, Tex., in 1993, which ended with a fatal fire at the compound.
Melissa Benoist in “The Girls on the Bus.”
‘The Girls On The Bus’ (2024)
Melissa Benoist played one of the four leads in the Max series The Girls on the Bus, which ran for 10 episodes in 2024.
A political drama, The Girls on the Bus follows four journalists — Sadie McCarthy (Benoist), Grace Gordon Greene (Carla Gugino), Lola Rahaii (Natasha Behnam), and Kimberlyn Kendrick (Christina Elmore) — on a campaign bus during a presidential race.
All eight episodes of The Waterfront, created by Kevin Williamson and starring Melissa Benoist, Holt McCallany, Maria Bello and Jake Weary, are streaming on Netflix.
