Character Spotlight #65-Nyssa Marcano

Meet Nyssa Marcano

Nyssa Marcano is the owner and bartender of The Viewport, a popular bar located just outside the spaceport in New Atlantis on Jemison. Friendly, ambitious, and decidedly entrepreneurial, Nyssa is more than the person pouring drinks for newly arrived travelers. She has plans to expand her business and establish The Viewport as something more distinctive, experimenting with her own speciality beverages and looking for opportunities to grow the establishment. The Spacefarer first becomes involved with Nyssa during the side mission “Distilling Confidence,” when a shipment containing ingredients she needs for a new drink is impounded by UC Security at the spaceport. After the Spacefarer retrieves the package, Nyssa successfully produces Supernova, rewarding the Spacefarer with a sample as well as credits and occasionally offering free drinks afterward.

Nyssa's ambitions continue beyond that first favor. She is associated with additional quests, including “Drinks on the House” and “Liquid Assets,” which further develop her efforts to improve and expand The Viewport. Her later business plans involve seeking financial backing, showing that Nyssa views the bar as an enterprise with genuine potential rather than only a comfortable job behind the counter.

Despite operating in the polished capital of the United Colonies, she comes across as practical and independent, willing to take risks and enlist outside help when bureaucracy gets in her way. Her personality is generally warm and personable, but there is also a determined businesswoman underneath that easygoing bartender exterior.

Nyssa ultimately serves as one of New Atlantis's more memorable civilian characters, providing a glimpse of the ordinary entrepreneurs trying to build something for themselves amid the politicians, corporations, explorers, and military personnel who otherwise dominate the city.

Meet Gabrielle Ruiz

Gabrielle Ruiz is an American actress, singer, dancer and voice performer from Edinburg, Texas. Ruiz developed an interest in performing at an early age through dance and vocal training and later studied at Oklahoma City University, earning a degree in dance performance. After college, she established herself primarily as a musical-theater performer, appearing in major Broadway productions including In the Heights, Evita, and If/Then. Her work in In the Heights included performing as Carla as well as understudying several principal roles, while her later Broadway credits placed her alongside performers such as Ricky Martin and Idina Menzel.

Ruiz became especially well known to television audiences through her role as Valencia Perez on the musical comedy-drama Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Initially introduced as a recurring character, Valencia became an increasingly important part of the series, and Ruiz was promoted to series regular beginning with the second season. The role allowed Ruiz to combine her background in acting, singing and dance and became one of the most recognizable performances of her career. She has also appeared in television programs including Modern Family, Better Things, Orange Is the New Black, Sesame Street, Law & Order: SVU, and Alone Together.

Ruiz has also developed a substantial career as a voice performer. She voices the Vulcan officer T'Lyn in the animated Star Trek series Star Trek: Lower Decks, becoming part of the show's recurring and later expanded ensemble. In Starfield, Ruiz provides the voice of Nyssa Marcano, the friendly and ambitious bartender who runs The Viewport in New Atlantis. Nyssa is not Ruiz's only Starfield character: she also voices Aguilar, meaning players may hear Ruiz in two very different roles during their travels through the Settled Systems. The game's credited voice-actor listings confirm Ruiz as the performer for both Aguilar and Nyssa.

Her extensive musical-theater experience helps explain some of Nyssa's personality in Starfield. Ruiz has spent much of her career playing expressive, energetic characters and brings that same warmth and confidence to Nyssa. The character's friendly delivery, humor and enthusiasm about building up The Viewport make her stand out among New Atlantis's civilian NPCs, despite having a relatively small role compared with the game's companions and major quest characters.

Ruiz's performance gives Nyssa the feeling of someone who genuinely enjoys dealing with people while simultaneously possessing the ambition of an entrepreneur determined to make her business successful.