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Her passion for acting developed even before the age of 10; Cassie always loved performing and telling stories. For her, acting seemed like the logical choice. "I've always been outspoken—in a positive way—and always had a big personality," she says. Cassie would gather her family and put on little shows for them. "At 4 years old, I was put into dance class, and from there it went to acting, and modeling, and singing. I just loved every form of performing and telling a story." As most successful actors will tell you, it's not easy making it in Hollywood. It takes a fighting spirit, and Cassie was not going to give up until she made her dreams come true. "I kind of just went for it. I feel like the older we get, we start to lose those innate feelings. People overthink too much, and I'm trying to learn at my older age, to be more like my younger self and to stop thinking and go for everything based on instinct," says Cassie. Her family was a big help with her accomplishing her dreams. "My parents believed in me. My incredible mom would drive me to Miami, back and forth all the time for auditions." Then Cassie got a manager, and started to get callbacks for bigger projects in Los Angeles. "My mom put me on a plane with her, she took me out here, and my dad would visit. They were able to financially support me until I made my own money," says Cassie, who now lives in Los Angeles. As the youngest of three, Cassie still relies on her Italian family to keep her spirits lifted. "They know how homesick I get, so they try to come visit me as much as they can. This can be a little bit of a crazy town," she says. Having a strong foundation and the support of her family has allowed her to navigate the ups and downs that come with living in Los Angeles. Over the last twenty years, Cassie has been busy working on several acting projects, especially with Freeform. Her first major role was on Bring It On: In It to Win It. Then, she worked on the movie Teen Spirit, playing Amber Pollock, a character who has remained close to her heart, especially now that she is involved with Boo2Bullying. Cassie made the network her home when she landed the role of gymnast Lauren Tanner in Make It or Break It. A couple of years later, Cassie returned to Freeform as Heather in Baby Daddy. Cassie's journey has taken her places she never dreamed of. After Make It or Break It, Cassie landed the role of Nova Clarke on SyFy's Sharknado. Cassie traveled to eight countries in one year for the fi lm. When she fi rst auditioned to play Nova, she thought it was simply going to be a chance for her to dive into a new character, someone very different than the gymnast she had been playing for years. She never thought Sharknado would become a part of pop culture. "No one is going to see it, this will just be fun to do on hiatus," she recalls her thoughts back then. "I did not think this was going to become a hit. Hell no." In the beginning, Cassie felt ashamed to be part of the franchise —she thought she wouldn't be taken seriously after this role. But a year ago, she vowed never to talk about it in that way, since it was an opportunity many wish they had. "No one is ever going to put me in a box. I will never be stereotyped." However, there were some people who didn't think the same way. "In the industry, there have been reps of mine and people that have tried to tell me it's