Daniela Melchior, the rising star who captivated audiences in The Suicide Squad and recently appeared alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in Road House, is making waves both on and off the screen. The Portuguese actress shared a heartfelt Instagram post from her trip to Lisbon, showing glimpses of her journey in a white tank top and a sleek black swimsuit. “I’ll miss you Lisbon. See you soon,” she captioned. As she celebrates her time in Portugal, Melchior also opens up about her fitness regimen, skincare routine, and personal growth through therapy and meditation. Here’s a deeper look into her lifestyle habits that keep her grounded and glowing.
To prepare for The Suicide Squad, Melchior made sure to get in shape. “I actually signed with a gym here in Portugal, and I started working out because I lose a lot of weight while I’m shooting anything,” she said to Schon Magazine. “I don’t know why… with the stress, I lose weight. It was funny to tell this to James Gunn — he asked me, ‘so, you work out?’ And I was like, ‘No, I worked out for this role, because I know that I’ll lose weight.’ And he was like, ‘you’re the only actress I know who works out not to lose weight.’ I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m different!'”
Melchior revealed in her Schon Magazine interview that she goes to therapy. “I know it’s a cliche, but I started doing therapy. I started meditating to be more focused on me and my family and friends. And I’m really happy about it. It’s also really important for me as an actor to know myself — because if I don’t know myself, I will not be able to work to the fullest of my emotions and everything I am… I don’t know if I can say it in English. But, my skills are myself. It’s me. It’s my body. It’s my face and my emotions. So right now, I’m focused on me, and reading as much as I can and watching movies. Yeah. I’m a normal person.“
Melchior has amazing skin, and she makes sure to take care of it. She shared her secrets in an interview with Byrdie. “My skincare routine changed from moisturizer and eye cream to a multi-step routine. And I love it. It’s really good because it makes sense. I was trying to pay more attention to my skin type. I always clean [my face], and I always take my makeup off. In the morning, I do toner, Vitamin C, hyaluronic acid—but only when my skin needs it because sometimes it
break out. After hyaluronic acid, I put on moisturizer, eye cream. And sunscreen all the time—even if I stay home—because it’s so important.”
Melchior revealed to Byrdie that she practices meditation. “I found out that sometimes when I was a little bit more stressed, it would consume me. So, I downloaded a meditation app on my phone [Insight Timer]. When I was in the United States, I would meditate in the morning—like guided meditations, to be present and positive—and to sleep because my mind would be running and overthinking about everything, even if my life was amazing. When the pandemic started, I thought ‘this is the perfect time to take care of myself,’ because once it ends, it will be better for me—as an actor even—to get to know me a little bit more. It helped me a lot. I really notice a difference when I don’t meditate. If something bad happened, I would be overthinking, and I don’t need that.”
Melchior opened up about her career to Vogue. She says that she worked hard when she was a teenager, and that this helped her today. “Starting my career working as an actor doing soap operas in Portugal was very decisive of the type of actor that I am today. In Portugal, the industry is very small. We do not have much time and we do not have big budgets. It made me become an actor that is always ready for anything. I am ready for the director to make a suggestion or to change his mind and ask me for something in the moment. In fact, this was instrumental when I did my audition for my first international movie.”