Dara Renée

Everybody welcome Dara Reneé! From her breakout role on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series to Descendants: The Rise of Red, Dara opens up about growing up on set, navigating mental health, and the journey to owning her power. It’s a hilarious, emotional, inspiring ride through Broadway dreams, Disney magic, and the deep inner work it takes to truly love yourself.Episode Breakdown:00:00 – Intro and catch up!04:00- Dara’s here!05:00 – Being homeschooled, raised by a single mom, and growing up backstage. Dara shares her early years of performing (and Beyoncé karaoke)8:30 - Early Broadway auditions10:15 – Auditioning for HSMTMTS with no agent, no reel, and no clue she was about to book her breakout role19:30 - One year later: Freaky Friday reboot and still no HSMTMTS20:45 - Working on “Black-ish”25:00 – Origins of HSMTMTS and auditioning for every role except Courtney27:45 - Callbacks with Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and Sofia Wylie and booking the show!31:30 - Dara’s relationship with Olivia Rodrigo32:30 - Kylie Cantrall and wanting to be the best big sister in the business34:00 - OG High School musical lore36:30 - Overcoming anxiety both in real life and on-screen39:00 - Dara’s actual mom playing her mom on TV40:30 - How HSMTMTS evolved over the 4 seasons43:30 -  Working on Descendants: The Rise of Red45:00 - The infamous Josh Colley fire alarm story48:30 - Favorite moments from Descendants52:00 - Dara’s acting process53:00 - Upcoming Descendants/Zombies tour!58:00 - Game time: blind ranking disney channel theme songs!Follow Dara Reneé:Watch Descendants: The Rise of Red and stream her music everywhere.Follow @dararenee on social for all the sparkle.Follow the Hosts:@AnthonyGargiula@ JonathanTilkin@CounterMelodiesPod Listen and Watch:https://pods.to/countermelodiesCredits:Executive Producer / Showrunner / Editor: Louis GargiulaConsulting Producer: Renée Colvert