Daya Vaidya discusses her empowering and cathartic outlook on portraying DC’s Peia/Onomatopoeia in “Superman & Lois” season 3.
Daya can currently be seen starring as supervillain Onomatopoeia in season 3 of the CW’s hit superhero drama series “Superman & Lois,” opposite Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch.
Traditionally appearing as a male character and the enemy of Green Arrow as well as Batman in the DC Comics, Onomatopoeia is a member of Intergang under the Mannheim family, working alongside crime boss Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman) to target non-superpowered superheroes – and eventually attracting the attention of Superman (Tyler Hoechlin). The show debuted in 2021 and instantly became a success, with critics calling the series “a sincere show that combines modern stylings with old-world optimism” (IGN), and “…the ticket to infuse some new energy into the Arrowverse” (TV Guide).
In addition to “Superman & Lois,” Daya appeared as Vanessa Britton in BET+’s limited series, “The Black Hamptons.” The series follows the brewing feud between the Brittons and Johnsons, where the difference between old and new money is very apparent. From 2016 – 2021, Daya starred as political shark Jen Kowski on Amazon’s hit thriller/drama series “Bosch.” Additional credits for Daya include: CBS’ “Unforgettable,” Freeform’s “Good Trouble,” TNT’s “Major Crimes,” ABC’s “Castle,” Freeform/ABC Family’s “Twisted,” CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” and Showtime’s “Dexter.” Daya has also worked behind the scenes producing the indie horror/thriller film “The Locksmith” starring her husband, actor/writer/producer Don Wallace. The duo met on the set of the award winning, indie film “Blue” which they starred in together and Don wrote/produced.
Check out our interview with Daya:
First off, congratulations. On a stellar performance so far this season of “Superman and Lois.” I have to ask, is Peia going to be okay?
Daya: I don’t know. Well, I mean, I’m still going to be on there, so that will give you a little bit of a hint, but I definitely can’t say more to what state she’s in. But we’ll see. We’ll be seeing more though. There’s more to come.
I figured that was going to be your answer, but also just needed to ask. I absolutely loved the big reveal a few episodes back.When did you find out that Peia was also the villain Onomatopoeia?
Daya: I found out after being cast. I didn’t even know about Onomatopoeia until I got cast and I had a meeting with the showrunners and then they told me. Although I got a little hint when the costume designer wrote to me and Onomatopoeia was on the title of the email. I was like, ‘Who’s that?’ Yeah, that’s when I found out.
So, when you were auditioning, what was the character description?
Daya: It was actually Ana, so I think that was a play on words, and it was just a cancer patient. I had no idea other than that. And it just gave me nothing, really. So I just had to go into it preparing for someone who is battling cancer and I didn’t know the super villain aspect of it at all. So that was interesting, but when I did find out, good thing I was able to do it.
Were you familiar with this character before filming?
Daya: No, I didn’t know about Onomatopoeia beforehand and I wasn’t as familiar with the DC comic world. But as soon as I found out that I was her, I dove into research and learning and the more I got into it, the more I realized how much I liked it. So it was really cool because I didn’t just do this part, I also got to experience a whole new world that I’d never experienced before.
Yeah, I wasn’t super familiar with the character either. I just know that in the comics Onomatopoeia is a man. So as creating Onomatopoeia as a woman, what traits from the original character did you keep and which ones were kind of changed to fit your character more?
Daya: I think the image of Onomatopoeia being a man and the dark veil and the cloak really informed how I created her because I feel like there’s no difference. I had fun with creating a woman that still had, you know, nothing different than what a man would be, quote unquote. You know what I mean? Like the idea of what a man should be. So, the strength, the fierceness all this could very much be a super woman as well. And I like playing with that. The only thing that maybe added was the cancer vulnerability aspect to it. So, how much of her is just a pure villain and how much of her is fighting for her family and to survive?
Yeah, she’s definitely not a typical villain that we see because there is that gray area– well, okay. I don’t know if there’s a gray area. So I’m gonna ask, is there a gray area to her or am I just looking for one?
Daya: I feel there is because anytime you play a villain, no villain thinks they’re a villain. Do you really mean? Like when people are doing bad things, I think they really rationalize it. And so for me, it was about how do I make sense of the actions I’m taking? So I don’t think she’s just a bad person or a bad villain, if that makes sense. She, to me, everything she’s doing is for a purpose, at least to her, that has a noble purpose. So, in terms of saving her family and saving her community, she gets carried away with it, but in her mind, and the way I looked at it is it’s still being done for a noble purpose. And I just like how those two things are gray. I don’t think anyone’s just any one thing and I like when we play with the idea of good and evil and how those things intersect.
I agree that that play makes it more interesting overall.
Daya: Exactly, exactly. It’s not one dimensional because no one– we also all make mistakes. It’s how bad our mistakes are when you’re doing something that you think is right, and you look back on it and go, that was not a good idea. You know? All of these things are very human. So, if you’re making human mistakes, but you have a superpower, the consequences are more fatal. So I’m playing with human sort of problems, human three dimensionality, human issues, but when I act on them, it kills people. Like the power is so vast that if I get angry, and I blast someone with a sonic blast, you die. It’s heightened but the human emotions are all things we all feel.
And it’s also my understanding that you are able to relate to Peia on a very personal level, as a cancer survivor yourself. How did that kind of influence how you played both Peia and Onomatopoeia?
Daya: Yeah, I think that my cancer history played into every aspect of both roles. I think there wasn’t a day or moment onset or even when I was working on it, that that wasn’t informing it to some extent. I think that when you’re battling a fatal illness or a very serious illness that could be fatal, I think that every move you make is informed by that. Even afterwards, even after you get better. So it changes the way you look at life. It changes the way you deal with people. It changes the way you even wake up in the morning or the way you talk to your husband or your kids. I wanted to have that be in both Onomatopoeia and Peia. So when she’s speaking to her son and she’s fixing his bow tie, that might be the last time she ever fixes his bow tie. Everything has that tinge of this could be the last time and I wanted to play with that because I can relate to the feeling of this could be the last time.
Yeah, and that just makes everything that she does just that much more meaningful.
Daya: Exactly, which is also why in the scene where she’s at dinner– this was an interesting scene because when she’s meeting the girlfriend, Natalie, I was so excited about meeting her but the second Steel comes in and threatens our lives, I had to flip that on a dime. When I played with it when we were shooting it, I was like, oh you know, how do I go from this loving mother, excited about this date to now I need to turn into Onomatopoeia and destroy this person? That was kind of the flip, as a mama bear, anybody who has kids can understand this, you can be sweet as pie but the minute someone threatens your child or your family, you can turn on a dime. And I wanted to kind of play with that mother instinct, almost like [Alien]. I thought about Alien when I was playing this role. She’s so fierce and it all comes from protecting her family.
Your character and Lois and other characters are shown getting their chemo treatments, did you have any say and how that was portrayed?
Daya: They did have a consultant who kind of checked in on all of that but I had more of a say on just what it feels like. Now my treatment was a little different than the exact treatment that Lois was getting, so it wasn’t totally exactly the same as they were portraying, but I was able to speak a lot about the after effects and just mentally and emotionally what it felt like. But in terms of the actual physical dynamics, they had a consultant. They were very good about allowing me to always speak on it and speak my mind. They were very open to that. I always felt like I could. I didn’t always do it but I definitely felt like I could.
That’s great. Yeah, the introduction of Lois’ diagnosis really kind of shifted the story and the tone of the story. And it’s almost like cancer is the real villain of the season and everyone else is just there. Am I reaching when I say something like that?
Daya: Oh, my God, I’ve said that in other interviews. It’s crazy that you just said that because that’s what I say. I think that absolutely cancer is the villain of the season. 100% it is. And what’s crazy about cancer is you can have all the powers that Superman has and all the powers that I have and yet we still can’t defeat cancer. Cancer is the one foe and that is hard to defeat and I think that it touches everyone. Everyone can relate to that because of the level of how it affects people’s lives. And so I think when we watch this, there’s probably not one person watching who isn’t affected. They either know someone or they’ve been affected. I just think it’s very relatable, just how difficult this disease can be.
I don’t know how much you can say about the rest of the season, but does cancer continue to play a big role in the rest of the season?
Daya: Yes, I can say that. Yes, it definitely does and it just gets more intense and deeper. We just go deeper in. We didn’t shy away from it, I will say that. I actually really appreciate that. I think it was very gutsy of the producers and the show runners to just go this deep. I think a lot of people would have shied away from it and they just went full steam into it. And they told it authentically because it’s hard, you know, it’s kind of messy and difficult to tell this. You don’t want to and they went full steam ahead with it. So yeah, there’s more to unpack there. There’s definitely going to be more to unpack.
Is there anything else that you can tease about the rest of the season?
Daya: I think the only thing else I can say is that Onomatopoeia’s powers are so strong that we’ve only seen kryptonite affect Superman to this level. We’ve never seen powers that don’t involve kryptonite affecting him and I think to see the level of power that Onomatopoeia has, we’re really going to see just how vast her power is. And there’s going to be some more things around that along with how cancer plays into that. It’s going to be a little dance. A scary dance, but a dance.
Well, I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season. What would you say is the most empowering thing about getting to play Peia?
Daya: Oh man, so many. I would say being able to take something that was traumatic in my life personally and also as the character and turn it around and have it be cathartic into something that makes me stronger in my real life and as a character. So, something I kind of want everybody to take away from it, which I took away from it, is whatever you think your weakness is, quote unquote, can actually be your strength if you know how to harness it, and accept it and become stronger because of it. Does that make sense?
That does and that’s a really, really powerful message to send out.
Daya: I think people shy away from their weakness. They want to get rid of their weakness. I do. I know I do. But when I was in Canada, it was crazy because I was by myself and I was sitting there with this whole thing of cancer and thinking oh man, you know, just really was a messed up thing in my life and it messed up my trajectory and it did all these things. Then I started to realize, wait a minute, I lived, I survived. This thing made me who I am. I’m actually stronger because of this. I’m actually a better person because of this. It made me remember that with all the things that hit us, the other side of that brick wall is gold. Every brick wall we face, the other side is gold. If you can just get over it and through it and deal with it the other side is where the gold sits. That’s how I look at it now.
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