Perry Frances Garcia Mattfeld is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her roles as Mel in '' Shameless'' and FrankenGirl in ''

Wizards of Waverly Place ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' is an American fantasy teen sitcom created by Todd J. Greenwald that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between October 2007 and January 2012. The series centers on Alex Russo (Selena Gomez), a teenage wiza ...

'', and her leading role as Murphy Mason in

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 ...

crime drama '' In the Dark''.

Early life

Mattfeld grew up in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. Her mother is of Mexican descent. Her grandparents and great-grandparents were entertainers.

Career

Mattfeld began her career as a ballet dancer from the age of five and studied for the following nine years under the guidance of

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...

. By the age of 12, she was a full-fledged employee of

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

when she played Kirsten Larson and Kit Kittredge as part of Mattel's

American Girl Dolls American Girl is an American line of dolls released on May 5, 1986, by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to fourteen-year-old boys and girls of a variety of ethnicities, faiths, and social classes from different time periods throughou ...

musical theater troupe. She stopped acting after graduating from Long Beach Poly high school to attend the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

School of Dramatic Arts where she earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

in 2016.

''In the Dark''

In her first starring role, in

crime comedy-drama, '' In the Dark'' (2019–2022), she plays a blind woman. For this part, she learned skills for coping with blindness such as using a

guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blin ...

and sending text messages with voice commands. She shadowed a blind person, on whose life the show is based, to observe how she did ordinary things. Fans have reportedly believed that she was blind herself. Although the show has received criticism for not using an actual blind actress, the producer says she was "best for the role" despite having auditioned blind actresses.

Personal life

Mattfeld and former

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

quarterback

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

got engaged in May 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Perry Mattfeld
on

IMDB IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattfeld, Perry Living people 21st-century American actresses American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni Actresses from Long Beach, California American actresses of Mexican descent USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni