Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Stargirl’s Hunter Sansone

Hunter Sansone is one of Hollywood’s rising young talents. This spring, he makes his television debut in the highly anticipated new series Stargirl on the CW.

Based on the beloved character from DC Comics, Stargirl follows the adventures of Courtney Whitmore, a young girl who moves from the big city to a small town in Nebraska and discovers her true calling as a superhero.

On that journey, she meets Hunter’s brilliantly portrayed character, Cameron, a shy and introverted classmate at Blue Valley High who expresses himself through his art. We caught up with him to learn more about life, his career, and Stargirl.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Hunter: That’s a funny story. It started with my mom. She’s been a singer my whole life. When I was younger, she would tell me, “You should be an actor. You’d be good at it.” I was into sports. I was raised on a farm, so I was big into farm life. Acting was never something I put any thought into. It was the furthest thing from my mind. She would always bring up acting to me, and I found myself surrounded by entertainment because of her. I’d wake up to her doing her scales in the morning and would always go see her perform.

Eventually, I told her, “You need to let go of this idea. It isn’t something that I’m interested in. I want to play my sports. I want to do my thing. I want to be a kid.” She listened and let it go. Sure enough, as soon as she let it go, I found my own interest in it. She told me one day that she was going to stop by an acting class, since she’s always been interested in that. I decided I would go watch her out of my own curiosity. I went to this class in my hometown of St. Louis, and sure enough, I fell in love with it. The rest is history!

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Hunter: That’s hard to knock down to just one person. Professionally, I would say Leonardo DiCaprio. I’ve always admired his commitment when he dives into a role—physically and emotionally. Everything he does when he dives into a part is inspiring to see.

Personally, it’s my parents. They’ve inspired me to go after my dreams and do what I want. I come from a family who hasn’t done anything in the entertainment industry, other than my mom. Everyone is either in business or commercial real estate. So for me, branching out and doing this was a huge risk. They inspired me to go after it though. I definitely owe it to my parents.

Stargirl

PC: You’re going to make your debut as a series regular in the upcoming Stargirl. Tell us about this series, your character, and what drew you to that project.
Hunter: Stargirl follows Courtney Whitmore [Brec Bassinger]. She’s a teenage girl who moved from Los Angeles to a small town in Nebraska with her newly formed family. Quickly upon arriving, she discovers her true calling as Stargirl. She inspires this young group of unlikely heroes to join her and go against whatever they might have coming in their direction.

I can’t say too much about my character, but I play Cameron. He’s a student at Blue Valley High. Shortly upon Courtney’s arrival, she sees me and I catch her attention. From that point, our journey begins. Cameron is an artist. He has a shy, withdrawn personality. That was cool for me to dive into because it’s different from other parts I’ve played. He’s an introvert who dives into his art as a way to express himself.

As far as what drew me to the project, I was immediately attracted when my agent brought it to me. Everything from the cast who was already attached to Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti [creators] to DC Comics to Warner Brothers. I knew it was going to be great and something special for the world. At the heart of the story is this girl who follows her dreams. All of those reasons attracted me to it.

PC: Were there any nerves heading in, given the fact that the series is being adapted from a beloved comic book series and you’re now a part of the DC family?
Hunter: Absolutely there were nerves. I feel like with any project there are nerves, but especially with this one. Stargirl is very personal to Geoff. You go into a project and you hope you can do it justice. You fight for the part, and then you get it and you’re like, “Oh wow. Now it’s time to show up.” What was reassuring for me was everyone in the cast was in the same boat. We formed this super deep bond between all of us. We were all going through the same thing from Brec to me to Cameron [Gellman] to Jake [Austin Walker]. We all felt the nerves and pressure to honor this story and these characters. We leaned on each other.

PC: How familiar were you with the source material?
Hunter: I never grew up in the comic book world. Like I was saying earlier, I was always into sports or on my farm. But as soon as this project came across to me, I immediately dove into the comics. I looked up photos, picture references for the show, and all the different characters. I definitely absorbed anything I could: any comic, book, or show that had Stargirl in it. I did it before the show, during the show, and after.

PC: Which of Cameron’s relationship was your favorite to explore and why?
Hunter: I have to say Cameron’s relationship with Stargirl/Courtney. They have a cool, unexpected relationship with different layers that gets unveiled as the season goes on.

PC: This is a breakout television role for you. When you look back at Season 1, what was the biggest takeaway?
Hunter: Wow, that’s a great question. It’s hard to pin down to just one thing. The whole experience was an education. This is my first television role, and it was like being thrust into the hard knocks academy of film and television. You’re thrown into this world, and things are moving quickly. You’ve got to be prepared. TV operates at a very quick pace, much quicker than film. For me, it was that education that I got out of that. I’ve been on sets before, but this felt like a blockbuster-sized budget film. I think anyone in the cast will tell you that. It was pretty crazy.

PC: If you had to summarize season one in one sentence, what would it be?
Hunter: A crazy ride that you don’t want to miss!

To keep up with Hunter, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Catch new episodes of Stargirl every Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW.

Photo Credit: Rudy Pankow