Born March 9, 1979, this 5 ft, 4 in. 122 lb. Mexican-American "prima donna" certainly has made a big splash in the WWE. Raised in L.A. California and fluent in both English & Spanish, she has wrestled under the names of Kyra, Melanie Little Deer and her own real name - Melina Perez. Her WWE "personna" has a signature ring entrance and is followed everywhere by the "paparazzi."

Prior to Perez's career in pro wrestling, she was a fashion model. During her run at modeling, she won the title of Miss California. In 2001, Perez decided to become a professional wrestler after being convinced by Mike Henderson and enrolled in Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks to train. Perez's debut in pro wrestling happened in 2002 by touring the independent wrestling scene. She joined a number of California-based promotions, such as the Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) and the now-defunct CRUSH all-womens promotion in which she worked with Mickie James. While working as Kyra in various Southern California Indy promotions, Perez received a WWE developmental contract in December 2003.

Perez made her Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) debut in March 2004 when Matt Cappotelli brought Melina in as a way to taunt Johnny Nitro, who was Melina's ex-boyfriend. However, Melina betrayed Cappotelli and quickly aligned herself with Nitro. Soon after, Nitro teamed with fellow superstar Joey Matthews, now known as Joey Mercury. On November 10, 2004, the trio now known as MNM won the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles.

On the April 14, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Melina debuted along with her men, Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury, as MNM. The team interrupted the first ever "Carlito's Cabana" on which one half of the-then WWE Tag Team Champions Rey Mysterio was a guest. Melina insulted Mysterio and had Mercury and Nitro attack him. This would lead to MNM's ring debut being a match for the Tag Team Titles on the next edition of SmackDown!. Melina would lead her men to victory over Mysterio and his tag team partner Eddie Guerrero which would begin MNM's first title reign.

On May 21, 2006 at the Judgment Day PPV the team of MNM lost their Tag Team Title Belts,  the team  broke up, and Johnny Nitro and Melina were moved to Monday Night Raw.

With her arrival on RAW, came Mick Foley making mentions of her in promos (playing on the (real) friendship they'd forged and he'd talked about in his WWE.com columns) and they soon formed an on-screen friendship. At Summerslam, Melina caused Foley to lose an "I Quit" match when Flair was going to hit Melina with a barbed wired bat and Foley "quit" to prevent Flair's striking her. On the August 21, 2006 edition of RAW, her career was (kayfabe) endangered when Foley was offered the chance to either join Vince McMahon's 'Kiss My Ass club" or have Melina fired. After begging Foley not to go through with it, Foley "joined the club" to save Melina's job, only to have her suddenly turn on him, delivering a low blow and, "firing" him at the behest of McMahon.

During the year Melina became involved in developing a feud between Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro over Nitro's Intercontinental title. She also entered the elimination tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, after Trish Stratus' retirement, defeating Torrie Wilson in a lumberjill match during the opening round in an October RAW and then lost to Mickie James in the semi-finals.

On January 29, 2007, Melina became the number 1 contender for the WWE Women's Championship, as well as introduced her finisher from the independent circuit, the Kyrapractor, to WWE under the new name California Dream.[54] On February 5 Melina lost a title match against Mickie James. The following week on Raw, Melina pinned James in a mixed tag team match and then challenged James again for the title. On February 19, as part of her first major singles push, Melina successfully pinned James, making her the only former Tough Enough contestant to have won the WWE Women's Championship. In continuation of their storyline feud, retained the title in a rematch during the first ever Women's Falls Count Anywhere match in WWE history.

On April 24 at a house show in Paris, France, Melina lost the Women's Championship in a Triple Threat match to James when James pinned Victoria, but on the orders of Jonathan Coachman she was entitled to a rematch on the same night, where she pinned James to regain the title and become a two-time WWE Women's Champion.

In May Melina was defeated in a tag team match when she was pinned by Candice Michelle. Melina was scripted to lose to Candice in various tag team matches, as well as in non-title bouts over the next few weeks. At Vengeance, Melina dropped the Women's Championship to Candice.

Melina, along with then ally Beth Phoenix, defeated Maria and Ashley at WrestleMania 24 in 2008. After Phoenix lost the Women's Championship to Mickie James, she began a feud with Melina when she accidentally hit Phoenix with her boot in a lumberjack match against James. The following week on Raw, Phoenix walked out on Melina during a tag match against James and Maria when Melina accidentally bumped Phoenix off the apron. Melina then attacked Phoenix after doing commentary on her match, thus turning her face. At One Night Stand, Melina competed in a losing effort against Phoenix in the first ever women's "I Quit" match. In June Perez legitimately injured her ankle when she fell from the turnbuckle in a match where she and Mickie James took on Natalya and Victoria.