Girl (super) power
Diamond White makes strides with 'Moon Girl'
Diamond White is proud to be charting a new path with Friday’s animated Disney series “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.”
“It’s a show I needed growing up and as the show says, one person can make a difference. So I’m happy to be part of it,” said White, 24.
The Detroit native has already been acting for nearly two decades. “My mom used to put me in competitions around Detroit. So I was used to being up on stage and singing in front of people and then the acting bug hit me when I went in my first role in (the stage version of) ‘The Color Purple’ at seven or eight.”
She’s been prominent in “Empire” and over 200 episodes of “The Bold and the Beautiful” but voicing 13-year-old Lunella Lafayette
aka superhero Moon Girl was intensely personal.
“There’s a lot of myself here. I grew up being African American and when I was seven all I wanted was a character like this come to life. So it’s cool with someone of my skin tone and hair can be there. It means a lot to me.”
We meet Lunella at a critical moment in her life. “She is dealing with a lot of the same insecurities that I went through growing up. Just, I was homeschooled. She goes to regular school. But she is not just the smartest kid, she’s one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe.
“So having to deal with that and being surrounded by a group of kids is like how I feel. She is kind of insecure about saying the right things and how to be just a normal kid — and that’s what I grew up dealing with because I was homeschooled.
“And she deals with a lot of problems that every Black girl grows up going through. Like getting your first perm or going to a sleepover for the first time and not knowing how to do that.”
The second episode talks about Black culture, hairstyle and identity, all factors in White’s life.
“Definitely I’ve experienced someone calling my hair frizzy or messy so that was why the perm episode touched my soul. I’ve been that.
“Here we see how your hair becomes your enemy — and that’s something I’ve never seen before. And I thank everyone for allowing me to say that.”
Noted Executive producer Steve Loter during this virtual press conference, “Authenticity was primary. We had an all-female writing room. Incidents were based on experiences.”
“Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” streams Feb, 10 on the Disney channel and on Disney+ Feb, 15