American actress, model, violinist

Torrey Joël DeVitto (born June 8, 1984) is an American actress, musician, activist, producer and former fashion model. She is best known for her recurring roles as Melissa Hastings in the Freeform mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017), Dr. Meredith Fell in The CW fantasy drama series The Vampire Diaries (2012–2013) and as Carrie in The CW drama series One Tree Hill (2008–2009). She had lead roles as Maggie Hall in the final season of Lifetime's drama series Army Wives (2013) and as Dr. Natalie Manning in the NBC medical drama series Chicago Med (2015–2021).

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Public image
• 4 Philanthropy and activism
• 5 Personal life
• 6 Filmography
  • 6.1 Film
  • 6.2 Television
  • 6.3 Music videos
• 7 Awards and nominations
• 8 References
• 9 External links

Early life

DeVitto was born in Huntington on Long Island, to Mary (née Torrey) and Liberty DeVitto, and raised in Winter Park, Florida. Her father was a long-time drummer for Billy Joel and her mother had been Stevie Nicks's best friend since the late 1970s and met DeVitto's father in 1983 when he was the drummer on Nicks' Wild Heart Tour. On the day of her birth, Joel was performing at the Wembley Arena and made a special note before beginning "The Longest Time" that DeVitto's wife was having a baby, causing a standing ovation for DeVitto, who was playing the drums at the concert. She was named Torrey after her mother's maiden name. She is of Italian descent, and second of four daughters with an older sister named Devon, and two younger sisters Maryelle and Mae. Her sister Maryelle was a contestant in the Discovery Kids reality compe*ion show Endurance.

As a child, DeVitto spent a lot of time touring with her parents. She described her childhood to CVLUX magazine by saying: "We spent every Thanksgiving at Billy Joel's house. I grew up with his daughter, Alexa; it was a lot of warm, happy memories." By the fourth grade, she was playing violin with the local high school orchestra, and at the age of twelve she performed a solo at Christie Brinkley and Peter Halsey Cook's wedding. She played in the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra (1995–1997) and in the Florida Youth Artist Orchestra (1998–1999). She attended Youngsville Elementary School, part of Kings Park Central School District. She studied dance with the Kings Park Dance Center in New York and took acting cl*es at Zoe & Company in Orlando, Florida. After graduating from Winter Park High School, she spent her summer in *an working as a fashion model.

Career

DeVitto's modeling career started at age 15, when she began appearing in commercials, which she described to be a stepping stone to get to TV and film jobs. She was signed to Ford and Avenue One modeling agencies. Staying true to her love of music in 2002, she played violin with the Tommy Davidson Band at the Sunset Room in Hollywood. She also played violin on Raphael Saadiq's 2004 album, Ray Ray, as well as Stevie Nicks' 2011 album In Your Dreams.

DeVitto landed her first acting role in 1999 when she participated in The WB drama series Safe Harbor. In 2000, she appeared in the Nickelodeon comedy series Noah Knows Best. In 2002, she landed a lead role in playwright Lee Blessing’s play Eleemosynary, which was performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Her performance received praise and positive reviews in the Orlando Sentinel. DeVitto co-starred in the ABC Family drama series Beautiful People as aspiring model Karen Kerr from 2005 to 2006. DeVitto made her film debut in the dramatic short film Starcrossed (2005), which tells about brothers, who develop a sexual attraction to one another. She also appeared in the horror film sequel I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006) as Zoe Warner. She guest-starred on Drake & Josh, Scrubs, Jack & Bobby and had a small part in the romantic drama short film Forbidden Love.

DeVitto signing autographs at 2012 Wizard World in Toronto, Ontario.

She had a lead role as an actress Sierra Young in the comedy film Heber Holiday (2007) and co-starred in the comedy-drama film Green Flash (2008) alongside David Charvet and Kristin Cavallari. DeVitto appeared in the horror comedy film Killer Movie (2008) with then-boyfriend Paul Wesley, Kaley Cuoco and Leighton Meester. From 2008 to 2009, DeVitto had a recurring role in the fifth and sixth seasons of The CW drama series One Tree Hill, where she played nanny Carrie. In 2013, DeVitto told Entertainment Tonight that her role as Carrie garnered strong reactions from the show's viewers and she often gets approached by fans about One Tree Hill.

DeVitto appeared in Will.I.Am's Vote Obama video "We Are The Ones" (2008) and Stevie Nicks' music video for the song "Moonlight" (2011). In 2010, DeVitto began a recurring role as Melissa Hastings in the ABC Family mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars based on Sara Shepard's book series of the same name. In 2017, Samantha Simon of InStyle wrote that "for Torrey DeVitto, playing super-sketchy Melissa Hastings on Pretty Little Liars wasn’t exactly a challenge. Because, despite the seemingly endless web of lies surrounding the eldest Hastings sister on the show, it all looks like child’s play compared to DeVitto’s other unforgettable role as psychotic Nanny Carrie on One Tree Hill." She played Nina in the horror film The Rite (2011) alongside Anthony Hopkins, Alice Braga and Colin O'Donoghue. It received favorable reviews from critics and grossed over $97 million at the worldwide box office.

In November 2011, DeVitto was confirmed to have a recurring role in The CW fantasy drama series The Vampire Diaries as Dr. Meredith Fell, who is fascinated by Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), when she notices how quickly he recovers from an injury. She portrayed Margo in the comedy-drama film Cheesecake C*erole (2012), released on July 3, 2012. In November 2012, it was reported that she had signed on to star as Maggie Hall in the seventh season of the Lifetime drama series Army Wives. Maggie Hall is a mother of two and former soldier who moves to Fort Marshall with her family. On September 24, 2013, Lifetime announced the show's cancellation, it honored the show with a two-hour retrospective special with the cast members which aired in 2014. She had a lead role as Jennie Stanton in the Hallmark Channel television film Best Christmas Party Ever in 2014.

DeVitto at 2016 Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

In August 2015, DeVitto signed on to star in the NBC medical drama series Chicago Med. She was cast as Dr. Natalie Manning, the ED pediatrician. She has also appeared as Dr. Natalie Manning in Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire. DeVitto's character exited the show after six years in the season 6 finale. “All good things must come to an end. It has been such an honor and pure joy to bring Dr. Natalie Manning to life for all of you on Chicago Med for the past 6 seasons. But it is now time for me and her to bow out and say goodbye," she wrote on Instagram.

She portrayed Angie in the psychological thriller The Hoaxing (2018), a short film that she also helped produce. In 2019, she started producing a do*entary film, Saving Daisy that follows Daisy Coleman’s journey of healing from lifelong trauma and PTSD. She starred in Hallmark Channel's television film Write Before Christmas (2019) alongside Chad Michael Murray. The film centers around Jessica, portrayed by DeVitto, who sends Christmas cards to five people who have impacted her life. The New York Times placed the film on its list of "Five Holiday Movies Worth Bingeing This Season". She played Cathy in the thriller film Divertimento (2020) alongside Kellan Lutz and Ola Rapace. The film won four awards, including "Best Ensemble" at the Seattle Film Festival in 2021.

On August 31, 2021, Deadline announced that DeVitto had joined the cast of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film called The Christmas Promise alongside Dylan Bruce and Patrick Duffy. Production began in early September in Vancouver, Canada. In the film, DeVitto stars as Nicole, a woman dealing with grief with help from her grandfather and a carpenter she hires to help renovate her home. The film premiered on October 30, 2021 and aired again during Hallmark's popular countdown to Christmas. She plays organic farmer Sarah in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries romantic time travel film, Rip in Time, scheduled to premiere on May 22, 2022.

Public image

DeVitto's style has earned noteworthy praise from periodicals such as Us Weekly. She was named one of Us Weekly’s Most Stylish New Yorkers of 2018. DeVitto has been featured in several fashion blogs and magazines such as Cliché Magazine, Miami Living, Bello, CVLUX, Most Magazine, Crookes Magazine and Obscurae. She also modeled for TV Guide, That Magazine and Chicago Splash. She has frequently worn vegan fashion and her favorite vegan clothing is designed by Stella McCartney, Matt and Nat, Cri de Couer, Bourgeois Boheme and Good Guys Don't Wear Leather.

DeVitto has developed an online and social media presence and endorses products such as beauty and wellness products on Instagram. She has partnered with several brands such as FabFitFun beauty subscription box. She has used Instagram as a platform to raise awareness of current topics and her charitable causes such as sexual trafficking, hospice, racism and Black Lives Matter movement.

Philanthropy and activism

DeVitto in 2008

DeVitto dedicates much of her time to philanthropy and notably supports various charities. She has been A Hospice Amb*ador for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization since 2011. In 2013, she received National Hospice Foundation's Buchwald Spirit Award for Public Awareness. While filming for television series Chicago Med in Chicago, she works with Rainbow Hospice. DeVitto has been particularly involved in hospice care, saying "The notion that 'No one dies alone' was so beautiful to me and one I knew I needed to be a part of. There is no difference to me helping those coming into this world and those going out. It is equally important and should be treated as such. End of life care is something I will always be involved with."

She has also dedicated her time to organizations including IMAlive, Kindred Foundation for Adoption, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Maddie's Fund and The Humane Society. She designed a shirt to raise money for suicide prevention organization IMAlive, which hosts a live online crisis chat. She hosted a screening of the Hospice Foundation's first do*entary, Okuyamba, at UCLA’s James Bridges Theatre in 2012. DeVitto was part of the Hospice Foundation’s do*entary film crew that spent three and a half weeks of filming in Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan. She is the narrator of the do*entary film *led Road to Hope (2015) that follows palliative care nurses in Uganda and the challenges they face in bringing comfort to those in the country's remote villages.

An animal rights advocate, DeVitto has two rescued dogs, Beau and Homie, and partnered with the Shelter Pet Project to promote adoption. In 2016, she teamed up with HSUS and their Be Cruelty-Free campaign. She declared herself "vegan in my fashion and vegetarian in my food".

In other charitable endeavors, she performed with Erik Nye at the New Horizons Havana Nights Gala in April 2015. DeVitto has worked alongside the National Alliance on Mental Illness to raise awareness for Mental Health Month in May. She also joined NAMI to share her own story and the importance of living stigma-free of mental illnesses. She is a member of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network's National Leadership Council (NLC), which is a group of dedicated individuals who are committed to RAINN's mission of supporting survivors and ending sexual violence. In August 2019, DeVitto announced that she became an official board member of SafeBae. In 2020, she teamed up with The Tote Project to launch a "Free to Blossom x Torrey DeVitto Pouch," made from recycled saris by sex trafficking victims in India. Glamour placed it on its list of "35 Eco-Friendly Gifts That Do Right by Mother Earth." A portion of each sale was donated to SafeBae, which works to prevent sexual *ault among teens. On November 18, 2021, DeVitto visited South Kingstown High School as part of a tour of several schools in Rhode Island on behalf of SafeBae. She talked to students about the dangers of sexual *ault and held a presentation about sexual *ault prevention.

Personal life

DeVitto began dating her Killer Movie co-star Paul Wesley in 2007, and they married in a private ceremony in April 2011. DeVitto and Wesley filed for divorce in July 2013 after two years of marriage, with their divorce finalized in December 2013. DeVitto was in a two-year relationship with comedian Rick Gl*man from 2014 to 2016. She dated Artem Chigvintsev from 2016 to 2017, and Jesse Lee Soffer from August 2018 to May 2019. DeVitto confirmed her relationship with Will Estes in October 2020. As of May 2021, DeVitto is in a relationship with Chicago Cubs manager David Ross.

She is good friends with actress Arielle Kebbel, who was also raised in Winter Park, Florida.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Torrey DeVitto at IMDb:
• Torrey DeVitto at AllMovie
• Torrey DeVitto on Twitter
• Torrey DeVitto on Facebook