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Meet Every Actress Who Has Played Supergirl
by Neil Cole
Writer Ed Gross from Closer Weekly has put together a in-depth article which features all the actresses who have portrayed the role of Supergirl over the years in film, animation, and video games along with comments from many of them.
The character made her first appearance in Action Comics #252 (May, 1959) and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino to be a female counterpart to Superman. Check out an excerpt of what some of the Supergirl actresses had to say about portraying the iconic character below:
Helen Slater (Supergirl, 1984)As the Christopher Reeve Superman film series was winding down, the world got their introduction to the Girl of Steel in the form of this film that starred Helen in the title role. She's great, but the film is so unbelievably campy thanks to Faye Dunaway's performance as the villain. Years later, Helen would appear on both the Smallville and Supergirl TV series.
In an interview with Comic Book Resources the actress recalled, "When I got the part of Supergirl, I was 18 years old. I had told my mom I didn’t want to go to college right away, and so I took a year off. In a million years, I never imagined I would audition for a film like this and get the lead. It was just not even on my horizon... I auditioned with a homemade cape and skirt. I don’t think anybody else made a homemade costume, so I think that might have impressed them…but I can’t say for sure.”
Speaking to Den of Geek, Helen also noted that she spent a bit of time with actor Christopher Reeve, who, of course, was playing Superman at the same time she was getting ready to film Supergirl. "We were both at Pinewood Studios at England. I don't know if he was just getting ready to work on Superman III, I can't quite remember the timelines, but he was there," she said. "I can't tell you specifically he said this, he said that. But the feeling was so warm and kind, and then we became friends when we got back to New York. I got to spend time with him, which was super-nice, no pun intended. But the feeling was very kind of brotherly, protective. I was only 18 and he was older. He may have been in his 30s by then."
Laura Vandervoort (Smallville Seasons 7 and 10)
By the time Smallville had gotten to its seventh season, it was really mining the Superman mythology despite the fact that Tom Welling's Clark Kent hadn't become the Man of Steel yet. By that year, it was time to bring in the real Supergirl/Kara, and she appeared in the form of recurring actress Laura Vandervoort.
"It was really my first opportunity to not only be on American television, but play an iconic superhero," Laura, who would later star as a werewolf in the series Bitten, explained to us. "That helped with my confidence, for sure, but it was terrifying. That was the cast that I was joining seven years in and was trying to fit in. New kid in school. She pre-existed before me in the mythology. And they [the producers] definitely had a way that they wanted me to play her, so I would go home as myself and not get lost in the role, because I just completely played a character outside of myself
"Kara was a great character," she continued. "I know there's a comic book theme behind who she is and who she's supposed to be, but I kind of made her my own. They had written her as this rebellious teenager and she didn't care about people, but we slowly developed her into a likable, almost-human being who had faults of her own."
Melissa Benoist (Supergirl TV Series, 2015-)
Without doubt the most popular version of Supergirl ever, with Melissa starring in this CW series that looks at both the personal and superhero aspects of her life. The show, which is prepping its fourth season, enjoys annual crossovers with The Flash, Arrow, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow, which allow Melissa to interact with actors like Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell and Caity Lotz.
"The first time I put on the suit was like automatically this instant kind of chemical change," Melissa recalled while speaking to us last year. "It’s part of me, and I feel like a different person every time I put it on, you know? I feel like Kara in my everyday life. I feel like this awkward, weird girl and that goes away when I put the suit on. Yeah, it’s weird! Its funny what a leotard, a cape and tights will do."
Read the complete article at CloserWeekly.com.
