After making her screen debut inThe Trials of Rosie O’Neillin the early ’90s,Melissa De Sousahas gone on to give many memorable performances in movies and television. Although she is best known for playing Shelby Taylor in the belovedBest Manfranchise, De Sousa has showcased her versatile talent in everything from obscure low-budget movies and popular superhero TV shows to everything in between.
While fans can currently see De Sousa in the 2023 Mexican anthology seriesAmores Queue Enganan, it’s time to give the talented actress flowers by highlighting her most impressive standout screen performances to date. Without further ado, here are Melissa De Sousa’s best screen performances thus far.
10Damon (1998)
Before landing her big breakout role as Shelby inThe Best Man, De Sousa starred opposite Damon Wayans in the short-lived sitcom,Damon. The show stars Wayans and David Alan Grier as two brothers leading very different lives while living under the same roof in Chicago. De Sousa plays Stacy Phillips, a spunky police officer who works undercover with Damon at the Chicago precinct.
Despite one of her earliest roles, De Sousa shines as Stacy on the show. Strong-willed, tough-minded, and driven to expand her career, Stacy attempts to remain steadfast in her policy of never dating cops, which gets her into all kinds of sticky situations. Being able to trade comedic barbs with actors as talented and experienced as Wayans and Grier is no easy feat.
Luckily, De Sousa has previous experience working with them onIn Living Color.As a result, De Sousa’s hilarious and heartfelt 13-episode stint helped launch her decorated career.
9Ladies of the Law (2018)
Ladies of the Lawis a UMC original series that lasted six episodes in 2018. The premise ofthe newer legal dramainvolves four glamorous go-getting women who open their own law firm in Inglewood, California, and do their best to balance their professional success with their personal drama. De Sousa all but steals the show as Tina, a brash and outspoken lawyer with a heart of gold.
In a tale of tender friendship and female empowerment, De Sousa’s most impressive moment as Tina comes when she vies for the affection of a handsome bachelor, resorting to a grueling exercise routine to make him notice her. De Sousa has mastered the art of playing boisterous characters with a palpable emotional core.
InLadies of the Law, De Sousa’s effortless chemistry with co-stars K.D. Aubert, Golden Brooks, and Kiki Haynes enable her to excel with slapstick humor and pithy banter.
8Single Ladies (2015)
VH1’s cult hit seriesSingle Ladiestracks the trials and tribulations of three female best friends living in Atlanta. The series lasted four seasons, with De Sousa joining the final five episodes as Austin Aguilera, a glamorous socialite who begins a new business in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Austin moves in with Rashanda after the two form an unlikely bond while searching for Rashanda’s missing sister, Raquel.
Although her performance lasted five episodes, De Sousa is totally believable as an elegant business-minded woman with her own lofty ambitions. De Sousa is given her biggest dramatic challenge as Austin when she begins growing closer to Terrence, which culminates in a shocking decision in the series finale that threatens to undermine the relationships she’s built with the single ladies. In many ways, the consequences of the final season rely on De Sousa’s crucial and committed performance.
7On Becoming a God in Central Florida (2019)
Showtime’s acclaimed drama series,On Becoming a God in Central Florida,stars Kirsten Dunst as Krystal Stubbs. Krystal is an enterprising hustler who works at a water park in Orlando and connives her way to the top of a Ponzi scheme. In five indelible episodes, De Sousa shows on-screen gravitas as Mirta Herrera, a nosy investigative reporter with a knack for uncovering the truth.
After years of playing broad comedy and variations on her sassy character Shelby from The Best Man, De Sousa gives a tremendously subtle performance that proves how far she has come as an actor. She plays Mirta with a suspicious eye and as an experienced investigator who does not suffer fools easily, which makes her quite formidable from Krystal’s standpoint.
When De Sousa is tasked to give Mirta comedic expressions, she often does so with a deadpan straight face, marking a different brand of humor than fans are used to seeing.
6Our Kind of People
Our Kind of Peopleis a short-lived Fox drama that concerns Angela Vaughn (Yaya DeCosta), a haircare specialist who looks to start a new life by relocating her family to Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, and befriending the wealthy Dupont family. In an important series that celebrates womanhood, female empowerment, and Black culture, De Sousa gives an outstanding turn as Alex Rivera, an esteemed financial reporter who has ties with the Vaughn family.
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In four powerful episodes, De Sousa becomes the main antagonist when she informs Leah Dupont that she used to be married to her husband, Raymond. De Sousa plays the role of an icy femme fatale who becomes the number one enemy of Angela and Leah. Her best moment comes when she ignores Leah’s warning and attempts to regain Raymond’s affection behind her back. It may be a one-note role, but De Sousa executes the villainous role with candor and command.
5Miss Congeniality (2000)
Miss Congenialitystars Sandra Bullockas Gracie Hart, an FBI agent forced to go undercover and infiltrate the Miss United States beauty contest to prevent a terrorist bombing. The fish-out-of-water premise leads to big action-packed laughs when the masculine Hart meets fellow beauty pageant contestants and has no clue how to relate to their sense of warmth, fashion, and style.
In a brief but unforgettable role, De Sousa steals the show as Karen Krantz, aka Miss New York. Karen is a vibrant and elegant contestant on stage who embraces Gracie’s presence in the competition and helps her just to the glitzy new lifestyle. Off-stage, Karen is sassy and refreshingly honest when hanging out with her friends.
Karen also happens to be a lesbian, marking an important sense of representation at a time when LGBT characters were still unfairly marginalized onscreen. Whether dancing on stage or trading witty banter, De Sousa plays the role without a false moment.
4Black Lightning
The CW’s hit superhero seriesBlack Lightningfollows the daring travails of Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), an upstanding school principal by day and secret superhero by night. Much of Jefferson’s conflict comes from raising his daughters, who may or may not have inherited his supernatural powers. De Sousa gives one of her best performances as Ana Lopez, the corrupt police chief in Freeland.
As a young woman, Ana’s husband was killed after he used his meta-human superpowers to kill her brothers. As a result, Ana has developed a hatred for Metas and makes it her mission to bring them down. Her quest puts her in direct conflict with Black Lightning and his family, with De Sousa giving one of her scariest and most ruthless turns to date. Ana is willing to break the law and inject meta-human boosters into her own body to imprison Black Lightning, delivering a remarkable sense of menace that adds immense tension and suspense throughout the series.
3Reed Between The Lines (2011)
Reed Between the Linesisa popular Black sitcomthat follows the personal and professional lives of Carla (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Alex (Malcolm-Jamal Waner), an esteemed psychiatrist and English professor doing their best to raise their children. De Sousa gives one of the liveliest performances of her career as Gabriella “Gabby” Jimenez, a dance instructor who starts out as Carla’s rival but soon befriends the married couple.
Whether challenging Carla to a dance-off and berating Carla’s lack of rhythm, or awkwardly entering the dating pool after years as a single and rebuking an obsessive water delivery man, De Sousa excels at physical comedy and knows how to land a punchline with perfect timing. In 20 episodes, De Sousa’s dramatic arcs also include Gabby teaching Carla’s son how to dance and advising Carla to hire an intern to help Helen, both of which are played with convincing earnestness.
2Valley of the Dolls (1994)
De Sousa landed her first main TV role in the 1994 adaptation ofValley of the Dolls. De Sousa starred in all 65 episodes as Neely O’Hara, a naive Hollywood hopeful who arrives in town and befriends Jennifer and Anne, two women with disparate personalities who lean on each other as they adjust to their new surroundings.
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Aside from marking the first substantial acting role of her career, what makes De Sousa’s performance so remarkable is the sheer volume of material and storylines she was able to credibly convey. Whether dealing with the crass sexual advances of her boss in the workplace, impressing a record executive with her singing skills, leaving and reconciling with her boyfriend Seth, visiting her incarcerated mother, etc., De Sousa shined bright from beginning to end.
1The Best Man Franchise
In her longest-lasting and most recognizable role, De Sousa has played Shelby Taylor inThe Best Man,The Best Man Holiday, andthe 2022 Peacock spinoff series,The Best Man: The Final Chapters. Shelby is introduced as Munch’s sassy, sarcastic, and controlling girlfriend in the original, a spurned reality TV diva in the cinematic sequel, and finally, a more complex adult with hidden depth and secret ambitions.
A role seemingly tailor-made for De Sousa’s comedic and dramatic skills, playing the same character for more than two decades enables the actor to inhabit the character’s skin, allow her to evolve, and fully flesh out Shelby in a three-dimensional fashion. According toRefinery 29, De Sousa told director Malcolm D. Lee, “It was really important for me that we show Shelby’s heart,” adding, “I wanted to be a real person and not a caricature.” Indeed, the evolutionary arc Shelby undergoes inThe Final Chaptersmarks the culmination of De Sousa’s all-time best screen performance thus far in her career.
