Charles Michael Melton (born January 4, 1991) is an American actor and model. He is known for his roles as

Reggie Mantle Reginald "Reggie" Mantle is a fictional teenager in stories published by Archie Comics; he is introduced by writer-artist Bob Montana and John L. Goldwater in ''Jackpot Comics'' #5 (cover-dated Spring 1942). He also appears in CW's '' Riverdale' ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

television series '' Riverdale'' and Daniel Bae in the film ''

The Sun Is Also a Star ''The Sun Is Also a Star'' is a 2019 American Drama (film and television), teen drama film directed by Ry Russo-Young and written by Tracy Oliver, based on the young adult novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon. The film stars Yara Shahidi, Charl ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Melton was born on January 4, 1991, in

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

, United States, to Sukyong and Phil Melton. His father is an American with English ancestry, his mother is a Korean emigrant who moved to the U.S. with his father in 1990. Melton is their eldest child. His family moved frequently because his father worked for the military. At one time, he and his family lived in

Pyeongtaek Pyeongtaek () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 940, during the Goryeo dynasty. It was elevated to city status in 1986 and is home to ...

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

, South Korea, for about 5 years. They eventually settled down in

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 cen ...

where Melton graduated from

Manhattan High School Manhattan High School is a public high school in Manhattan, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. It is part of the Manhattan–Ogden USD 383. For the 2013–2014 school year, Manhattan High had an enrollment of 1,920 students. ...

in 2009. Melton studied at nearby

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, where he played as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

on the football team under coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

. He left school at 20 to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles, California, in 2012. He also previously worked as a dog walker on the app Wag.

Career

He was first successful as a model, having booked gigs for

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmetic ...

, Kenneth Cole and MAC. His first acting roles included guest spots on ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' and ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

''. Melton received mainstream attention in 2017 when he was cast as

in the second season of the CW series '' Riverdale''. He replaced Ross Butler, who left the cast due to his commitment to ''

13 Reasons Why ''13 Reasons Why'' is an American teen drama television series developed for Netflix by Brian Yorkey and based on the 2007 novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by author Jay Asher. The series revolves around high school student Clay Jensen (Dylan Mi ...

''. After recurring during the second season, Melton officially became a series regular on ''Riverdale'' starting with the third season. In 2019, he starred in his first feature film as Daniel Bae in ''

'', the film adaptation of the book of the same name by

Nicola Yoon Nicola Yoon is a Jamaican-American author. She is best known for writing the 2015 young adult novel '' Everything, Everything'', a ''New York Times'' best seller and the basis of a 2017 film of the same name. In 2016, she released '' The Sun Is ...

. Melton is the first

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

and

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

actor to lead a teen

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

from a major Hollywood studio.

Personal life

In June 2018, Melton was involved in a controversy over fat shaming tweets he had written in 2011 and 2012. He has since publicly apologized. Melton started dating '' Riverdale'' co-star Camila Mendes in October 2018, but broke up in December 2019. They got back together in June 2021 and subsequently broke up sometime later.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* *
Charles Melton
on Models.com 1991 births 21st-century American male actors American male actors of Korean descent American people of English descent American people of Korean descent American male film actors American male models American male television actors American models of Korean descent American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent Kansas State University alumni Living people People from Juneau, Alaska People from Manhattan, Kansas {{US-actor-stub