Ana Alicia Ortiz Torres (born December 12, 1956) is a Mexican-American former actress who performed in theatre and on television. She is known for playing scheming vineyard heiress Melissa Agretti on the long-running primetime soap opera Falcon Crest for seven seasons. She got her television start spending a year on the daytime soap-opera Ryan's Hope and also performed in few single episode guest-starring roles on various televisions shows or in television movies most years from the late-1970s to the mid-1990s. Early life Ana Alicia Ortiz Torres was born in Mexico City to Carlos Celestino Ortiz and Alicia Torres, who ran businesses in Acapulco, Mexico. She was the third of four children. Her family moved to El Paso, Texas, when she was six years old after the death of her father. There, she lived with her grandmother, mother, an uncle, and her three siblings in a house that her father had purchased for her grandmother. Upon graduating from high school in 1972, Ortiz earned a scholarship to Wellesley College. Upon arrival at Wellesley College, Ortiz auditioned and won the lead role for Jules Feiffer's Crawling Arnold. On summer break after her freshman year, Ortiz auditioned for The Adobe Horseshoe Dinner Theatre outside El Paso, Texas. The theatre offered her a position as a recurring actress in all feature productions. The opportunity would allow her to work with name actors from Hollywood and New York and receive a large weekly salary. She accepted the offer and also acquired her actor's equity card through her term. She left Wellesley College, instead pursuing her bachelor's degree in drama at the University of Texas at El Paso to be closer to her mother and three brothers. Her first professional role under an AEA contract was as one of the Pigeon Sisters in a production of The Odd Couple starring Bob Denver at The Adobe Horseshoe Dinner Theater in El Paso. Ana Alicia spent the next three years performing in main stage productions at UTEP as well as having significant roles in the Adobe Horseshoe repertoire. Career After earning her degree in 1977, Ortiz moved to Los Angeles and started auditioning for roles in various productions. She won the part of Alicia Nieves on Ryan's Hope, a daytime soap opera, moving to New York City for taping. After fifteen months on the show, Ortiz moved back to Los Angeles part-time and kept auditioning while attending law