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Ana Alicia (born December 12, 1956) is a Mexican-born American actress known for her role as scheming heiress Melissa Agretti on the long-running primetime soap opera Falcon Crest.

Early life
She was born Ana Alicia Ortiz in Mexico City to a clothing manufacturing executive mother and a father who worked in business.[1] Her family moved to El Paso, Texas when she was a child. Upon graduating high school in 1973, Ortiz earned a scholarship to Wellesley College, but eventually left, instead pursuing her bachelor`s degree in drama at the University of Texas at El Paso to be closer to her mother and siblings.


[edit] Career
After Ortiz earned her degree in 1977, she moved to Los Angeles and started auditioning for roles in various productions. Eventually, she won the part of Alicia Nieves on the daytime soap opera Ryan`s Hope, moving to New York City temporarily for taping.

After fifteen months on the show, Ortiz moved back to Los Angeles part-time and kept auditioning while attending law school at Southwestern University at night back in Texas[citation needed]. Eventually, her acting opportunities suffered and she decided to pursue acting full-time.

Following several guest roles in episodic television, including two separate roles in Glen A. Larson`s Battlestar Galactica and a role on his Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series, Ortiz auditioned for the role of spoiled, selfish vineyard heiress Melissa Agretti on Falcon Crest as a replacement for actress Delores Cantu who had played Melissa for one episode in early 1982. Melissa went on to become the series` "love to hate" character and a firm fan favourite, proving to be a worthy rival for the show`s arch-villainess Angela Channing, played by Jane Wyman. Ortiz continued to play the role for over six years up until 1988 when producers decided to kill the character off. Only months after this, Ortiz returned to Falcon Crest as Samantha Ross, a Melissa lookalike, but this character was only featured in a few episodes.

In 1989, Ortiz appeared with Raúl Juliá in the movie Romero, her only non-television film role apart from Halloween II in 1981. She continued to play guest roles on episodic television, including two episodes in the action series Renegade which reunited her with her former Falcon Crest screen husband Lorenzo Lamas. However, this has so far been her last screen appearance and she effectively retired from acting in 1996.

Ortiz married Gary R. Benz on 24 April 1994. They have two children together.

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