Born in the beach city of Manhattan Beach and raised in Redondo Beach, Californian, Vanessa has the movie business in her blood. Her great grandmother was a silent movie actress and writer but her interest in performing & acting is all her own. Vanessa attended the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) obtaining a mechanical engineering degree and was a member of Tau Beta Pi, an exclusive national engineering honors society. A world class rhythmic gymnast, Vanessa competed for the United States for five years. Vander Pluym is an expert in martial arts and has a black belt in Tae kwon do to show for it. Vanessa’s athleticism is also evident in her abilities as a circus performer, performing stilt walking, contortionist, and aerial acts, as well as in her current sport of roller derby. As an actress, Vander Pluym is an all-around performer. She is a veteran actor of comedy, drama and action roles. Vanessa has performed motion capture for numerous video game characters and has appeared in an array of television hit shows and feature films including: NCIS: Los Angeles, Southland, Castle, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Piranha 3D.