Dara Renée

<p>Everybody welcome Dara Reneé! From her breakout role on <em>High School Musical: The Musical: The Series</em> to <em>Descendants: The Rise of Red</em>, 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.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Episode Breakdown:</strong></p><p>00:00 – Intro and catch up!</p><p>04:00- Dara’s here!</p><p>05:00 – Being homeschooled, raised by a single mom, and growing up backstage. Dara shares her early years of performing (and Beyoncé karaoke)</p><p>8:30 - Early Broadway auditions</p><p>10:15 – Auditioning for <em>HSMTMTS</em> with no agent, no reel, and no clue she was about to book her breakout role</p><p>19:30 - One year later: Freaky Friday reboot and still no HSMTMTS</p><p>20:45 - Working on “Black-ish”</p><p>25:00 – Origins of HSMTMTS and auditioning for every role except Courtney</p><p>27:45 - Callbacks with Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and Sofia Wylie and booking the show!</p><p>31:30 - Dara’s relationship with Olivia Rodrigo</p><p>32:30 - Kylie Cantrall and wanting to be the best big sister in the business</p><p>34:00 - OG High School musical lore</p><p>36:30 - Overcoming anxiety both in real life and on-screen</p><p>39:00 - Dara’s actual mom playing her mom on TV</p><p>40:30 - How HSMTMTS evolved over the 4 seasons</p><p>43:30 -  Working on <em>Descendants: The Rise of Red</em></p><p>45:00 - The infamous Josh Colley fire alarm story</p><p>48:30 - Favorite moments from <em>Descendants</em></p><p>52:00 - Dara’s acting process</p><p>53:00 - Upcoming<em> Descendants/Zombies </em>tour!</p><p>58:00 - Game time: blind ranking disney channel theme songs!</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Follow Dara Reneé:</strong></p><p>Watch <em>Descendants: The Rise of Red</em> and stream her music everywhere.</p><p>Follow @dararenee on social for all the sparkle.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Follow the Hosts:</strong></p><p>@AnthonyGargiula</p><p>@ JonathanTilkin</p><p>@CounterMelodiesPod</p><p> Listen and Watch:</p><p><a href="https://pods.to/countermelodies">https://pods.to/countermelodies</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Credits:</strong></p><p>Executive Producer / Showrunner / Editor: Louis Gargiula</p><p>Consulting Producer: Renée Colvert</p>