Woman who evaded intruder on roof starred in Whitney Houston’s ‘Sparkle’

The half-naked woman who crawled onto her roof to escape a home intruder in Venice starred across from Whitney Houston in the 2012 film “Sparkle.”

Melora Rivera also became a star on social media after a photo of her crouched below a second-story ledge, the intruder looming above her as she frantically called 911, went viral.

Rivera told CBS Los Angeles she saw the intruder, identified by Los Angeles police as 29-year-old Christian Hicks, inside her apartment Wednesday morning after he broke through a door panel.

“Once I saw him in the house, I knew that we both couldn’t be there,” she said in an interview with the news station. “I knew that I didn’t want to have a confrontation with him of any sort, you know, not knowing what his intention was.”

That’s when Rivera -- who also had a role in the short film “The Three Canvases” and the TV series “How to Get Swagger” -- made the decision to go up onto the roof.

Wearing only a flannel shirt because she had been in bed, Rivera grabbed her phone and crawled onto the roof as Hicks followed her. From the rooftop, she called police and remained crouched as she waited for officers to arrive.

The rooftop incident was captured by a witness on the ground, and the ensuing photographs quickly went viral on social media.

Responding officers were able to talk Hicks down shortly before 9:30 a.m. and take him into custody on suspicion of burglary.

Rivera was helped off the roof by firefighters.

For breaking news in Los Angeles and throughout California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA. She can be reached at veronica.rocha@latimes.com.