Showing off her versatility! Olivia Rose Keegan is currently starring as Duela on The CW’s Gotham Knights, but the actress explains exclusively to J-14 how this is a totally “different” role from the one she played on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
“I love them both in so many different ways. I think I was so excited about Duela because I didn’t know that anyone else could see me playing that kind of role, so I’d always really wanted to,” Olivia, 23, tells J-14. “Duela lacks vanity, which is such a cool, freeing thing to portray and live in. Lily was fascinating in her own ways, and there are some common threads like there are between all humans, but definitely two opposite ends of the world. I love them both dearly.”
In Gotham Knights, the former Days of Our Lives star plays the Joker’s daughter and jokes that she finds “dark, weird thoughts” helpful when creating the “fun” character.
“I think in every scene, surprising myself or just [doing] a lot of weird stuff, you find different ways that help you to prep or get into it really fast ‘cause, you know, you’re sitting in the cast chairs … and then you’re called to set, and then it’s, ‘OK, action,’” Olivia shares about getting into character. “So, you just find really quick ways to get yourself into it. I remember, like, banging my head against a wall sometimes to help.”
The California native noted that she also watched “compilations of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and [she] would lock [herself] in like a tiny pitch-black closet” to find Duela’s mindset.
Before taking on the fan-favorite character, Disney+ viewers watched her sabotage the East High Wildcats as Lily in HSMTMTS season 2. Looking between Lily and Duela, Olivia is aware that there’s a major “transition between the two characters.”
However, she has nothing but amazing memories from the HSMTMTS set, thanks to the cast who welcomed her with open arms.
“That fan base is so big and so amazing. I mean, you grace on that,” the actress recalls. “The whole cast is just contagiously, like, brilliant and everyone in there is just — oh, it’s amazing.”
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