Vera Michelena (June 16, 1885 – August 28, 1961) was an American actress, contralto prima donna[1] and dancer who appeared in light opera, musical comedy, vaudeville and silent film.

Vera was born in New York City, the daughter of Fernando Michelena (1858–1921), a noted Venezuelan lyric tenor, and Frances Lenord (1867–1912),[2][3] an operatic soprano and pianist.

[15] Michelena made her professional theatrical debut in the fall of 1902 playing a minor role in a national tour of the Kirke La Shelle comic opera, The Princess Chic.

[9] On January 19, 1903, at the Columbia Theatre, San Francisco, she assumed the title role, The Princess Chic of Normandy, and continued in this capacity for the remainder of the season and throughout the next.

[20] Michelena made her New York debut in August 1906 at the Majestic Theatre, playing Princess Cholulu in the R.H. Burnside and Gustave Kerker musical comedy The Tourist.

[23] a musical comedy by Reginald De Koven and Hugh Stanislaus Stange that found little success when it opened on Broadway in November 1907 under the title The Girls of Holland.

[22][24] On January 13, 1908, Michelena opened at the Casino Theatre in Funabashi, a musical comedy by Irvin S. Cobb and Safford Water that was inspired by a recent trip to Asia by the then American Secretary of War William H.

[25][26] Shortly after Funabashi closed in early February after 32 performances, Michelena replaced Magda Dahl as Princess Helena in the operetta The Waltz Dream.

[34] The next month at New York's Globe Theatre, she shared top billing with Sallie Fisher and Frank Daniels in The Girl on the Train, a musical comedy by Harry B. Smith from the original by Viktor Léon and Leo Fall.

[39][40] She played the title role in the Fred de Gresac and Silvio Hein 1917–18 hit musical comedy, Flo-Flo, over a six-month run at Broadway's Cort Theatre.

That November at Boston's Shubert Theatre, she began an eight-week run in the title role of Betty Be Good, a musical comedy from Harry B. Smith and Hugo Riesenfeld.