#Smallville20: Catching Up With TV’s First Supergirl Laura Vandervoort

While the first live-action Supergirl came our way with Helen Slater in the 1984 film Supergirl, the character first came to live-action TV on Smallville in 2007 where she was played by Laura Vandervoort. (Yes, we know, there was a “Kara” played by Adrianne Palicki in the Season 3 finale, but do remember she was actually a missing girl named Lindsay Harrison who thought she was a Kryptonian named Kara). Continuing on with our #Smallville20 20th anniversary content marking the 20-year anniversary of the Smallville series premiere on October 16, we caught up with the actress who played Clark’s favorite cousin who later went on to star in numerous TV and films, including a guest run on the Supergirl TV series when it was on CBS.

And on that note… this is only the second of several interview features you will see on KryptonSite in the coming days to celebrate the anniversary, continuing on past the actual date which is this Saturday, October 16. But for now… let’s go fly with “Kara Kent!” You can read the interview below or you can watch video of this interview on YouTube or embedded in this very post. You decide!

KRYPTONSITE’s CRAIG BYRNE: When you first auditioned for Smallville, did you know that you were auditioning for Kara?

LAURA VANDERVOORT: I knew I was auditioning for the role of Supergirl. And at the time, I wasn’t into comics… I didn’t know if Supergirl was, like, his girlfriend, which I was very excited about, because it’s Tom Welling. So I did a bit of research. But yes, I knew it was Supergirl going in, and was pretty excited about it, and terrified.

How familiar were you with Smallville before getting the part?

I was pretty familiar with it. I had seen the show. I wouldn’t say like I was a hardcore fan…. I had seen some episodes and knew what it was about, but other than that, I didn’t know where they were at in terms of storyline when I was joining. I just sort of jumped in Season 7, which made sense because she’s supposed to be new to the planet. She shouldn’t know what’s been going on. She shouldn’t be familiar with the people. So it worked out that I wasn’t up to date with the episodes.

What do you remember about your first day at Smallville?

Nothing! I mean, I know that I was nervous. I know I felt uncomfortable in the outfit, and I knew I didn’t want to get fired… but I don’t remember what scenes we filmed. I remember the weekend before I started, I had my first flying stunt rehearsal and harness work. But the first day, I couldn’t tell you what scene I shot because I was just terrified.

Were you impressed when you first saw the visual effects of your character flying at the end of the season premiere?

Yes, especially on the the water tower that first time. It felt so epic, with the music when she stands up and… it was a Kelly Clarkson song, which was so cool at the time, and now, so I was very impressed. We already knew the show was great, and the quality of visual effects was at the time pretty remarkable.

Do you remember some of the first people you met?

I believe the first person I met was Tom, and he welcomed me to the show and was very lovely. I was a nervous wreck. And then I must have met either Kristen or Michael. It took me a while to meet Allison because we didn’t have any scenes together, really.

Michael was really lovely because it was my first time in Vancouver, and being away from home, I was still a teenager… so he took me out and showed me around and we went to a T-shirt making place. That was really nice and welcoming of him. And then I met the rest of the cast and Erica as time went on.

Was Kara supposed to spin off into her own series?

Hmm. Depends on who you ask.

I had heard that that was the intention. But no one ever spoke to me about it. And then I’d heard when this series ended that one of the episodes we did (“Supergirl”) was a test pilot, which no one had told me about, so I don’t know.

I was on set around the time that episode was shooting, and there were pictures of you in the costume at The Daily Planet, and [WBTV publicist] Susan Kesser was trying to shoo us away so we didn’t see them.

It was all very secretive. You know, when you’re on shows like that, you don’t want to give anything away. I mean, that was my first taste of paparazzi being on set at Base Camp – there were photos of me going into my trailer, and [the others] were all used to it. This show is such a hit that and people still are really interested in the process of making it.

Was your contract always only for one season?

Um, gosh… I don’t know, because Michael [Rosenbaum] keeps telling people I was a guest star, or recurring, or whatever. I’m like “I did four seasons!” I don’t know about the original one. Realistically they probably had a contract for one season, just to feel me out, and then it turned into four, because they hopefully were happy to have me around. I think the chemistry with Tom and I was there.

Is there anything you wish Kara had been able to do on the series. Like a scene with Clark, or Martha, or anybody?

It would have been great to have [scenes] with Martha. That would have been wonderful. You know, some of the episodes I love the most… there was one called “Fracture” when Kara has memory loss, and so I had an opportunity to play a different side of her. That was a lot of fun. So maybe more of that – less superheroics in episodes and more just character-based drama would have been great. Also, I would have loved to have been at Clark’s wedding. I wasn’t there.

Clark didn’t even remember bring his glasses to his wedding, and they established it on the show only a few weeks earlier! Pete and Lana weren’t there either, so you’re in good company.

Yeah, I guess we were off doing something else. Something more important.

Did you think that Smallville would be something that you’d be talking about so many years later?

No, I didn’t know! I obviously knew how big the show was at the time, but you never think things will stand the test of time, but Smallville has. People are still interested today, and it’s great. It gives us an opportunity to relive those moments. We tell stories on panels that I had completely forgotten. It’s lovely. We can still go meet the fans and have a chance to talk about those stories we had 10+ years ago – 20 for some – I’m grateful. I’m grateful to have played the first version of her on television.

Did you see Tom Welling’s appearance in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover and had you wished that Kara could have shown up?

I did not. I don’t watch a lot of the this genre, but I’d heard about it. I knew Erica [Durance] did it with Tom… I believe they did it together. But no one approached me for it, so I was in the dark on that. I would have done it. Even the appearance on Supergirl was a lot of fun for me, just to play a villain and be in the same genre.

Do you have any plans personally to revisit anything for the Smallville 20 year anniversary, especially as the Blu-ray is about to come out? Are there any episodes you might want to see again?

I hadn’t thought about it, [but] what I would love is for us all the cast to get together and do, like, a DVD commentary, and watch them together and talk about shooting that scene and the antics and the interesting things that happened during that episode. It would be great to do commentary for it and watch it all together.

Can you talk about the recent films that you’ve been doing and how you’ve gotten into producing and I believe directing as well?

I just finished a thriller called Black Bags. It’s a it’s a double-hander with two women as the lead which is fantastic and the characters are so well written. Josh Brandon directed it, who I worked with on a show called Haven. He was a writer on that and he asked me to come on board for this. We shot that in Oklahoma. [We’re] hoping it’ll be out probably early next year, but I don’t know for sure. And I just wrote, directed, and produced my first film. We actually locked it two days ago which means it’s done.

Is that My Soul To Take? Where can people read more about that?

Well, we have Instagram at @MySoulToTakeFilm and we kind of do all of our updates there. We actually raised the funds for My Soul To Take on Indiegogo and I sold off all of my Smallville stuff to fund the film, so in a way, Smallville gave so much to me, but in this case, that also gave me the opportunity to direct and write and produce for the first time. So now people have my Kryptonian cuff, and my crew jacket, and comics… all of that stuff is gone. It was worth it, because I’m very proud of the film we made. My partner Jessica Patel and I worked our asses off. We have Colm Feore in the film, Jenny Raven… some really, really talented Canadian actors. And I’ve been producing a lot since then. I’m still planning to be in front of the camera, but I’m enjoying being behind it and having more of a control of my content.

Can you talk about where people can find you on social media?

I’m on Instagram at @lauravandervoort – I got my name back, finally! On Twitter but not really at @Vandiekins22 and I just joined TikTok.

I saw that you’re doing some episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale.

I did! I played a character named Daisy. I had a chance to work with Elisabeth Moss, who is a huge role model for me, because she not only produces and stars in her projects and directsm but she’s just so kind and so talented. To work with her was just spectacular for me. She did not disappoint. The way she treats her crew, the way she treated me as someone she didn’t know who was just popping in… it was a lot of fun.

Is there any last thing you’d like to say to the fans who will be watching this or reading it?

There’s so much to say. Thank you for being not only fans of the series forever, but for continuing to support all of the actors in all of our endeavors, and being so kind to us at conventions, and online, and ultimately really propelling us into the other jobs that we’ve been doing. We couldn’t have had any of our careers without you guys or without Smallville, and I’m eternally grateful. I feel old – 20 years, but I joined in [Season] 7, so it’s okay! And also… thank you for growing with us. I know a lot of the people who started watching Smallville were practically the ages we were while shooting it, and they’ve they’ve grown up with us and continued on with us, ao that’s really rad. Thank you.

Follow @KryptonSite on Twitter for updates on when more #Smallville20 content will be posted! Our HUGE thanks to Laura Vandervoort for participating in this interview.