Exclusive Interview: Daniela Nieves and Sisi Stringer Talk Vampire Academy

Daniela Nieves and Sisi Stringer are two of the stars of the must-see new series, Vampire Academy.

From executive producers, Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre comes a story of friendship, romance, and danger. In a world of privilege and glamour, two young women’s friendship transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter vampire society. One as a powerful Royal, the other a half-vampire Guardian trained to protect against the savage ‘Strigoi’ who threaten to tear their society apart. That is, if Royal infighting doesn’t do the job first.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Daniela and Sisi about Vampire Academy, celebrating female friendship, and more!

PC: Could you each introduce us to your character in the series and what attracted you to this project? Daniela, do you want to kick us off?
Daniela: Lissa is a royal vampire in this universe. That basically means that she has a lot of privilege and she’s higher up in the hierarchy of class. She gets her way…a lot. She’s part of this important family called Dragomirs. She has a best friend, Rose, who is a Dhampir guardian. They’re half vampire, and they’re lower down on the scale. It’s a story of this friendship, which is almost like a love story between Rose and Lissa.

Sisi: It is a love story.

Daniela: It’s about what bonds them together as all these secrets are revealed.

Sisi: Their friendship is the catalyst for all of the things that happen as systems topple and certain people come in and out of power and you see the society, in a way, crumble. The two girls are right at the center of that. Their friendship, that love story, is right at the center of that. While Lissa is kind, genuine, and gentle and always has an ear for anyone, Rose is the exact opposite. She can be the best friend and lover, but she’s also volatile, angry, aggressive, and all of those things. But she uses those traits to protect the ones she loves.

Daniela: It’s yin and yang. We balance each other, and ultimately what they both have is this desire to make things right. It’s their love for each other and desire for this tension and injustice to be over so they can be friends and live their life the way they want to. That’s really the catalyst.

PC: Sisi, the friendship between your two characters is fundamental to this story and that chemistry radiates off the screen. How were the two of you able to build that bond?
Sisi: The first time Daniela and I met was in Madrid. It was me, her, Kieron [Moore], and André [Dae Kim]. We had a couple of days where it was just the four of us. We were running around in Madrid. We were bonding and getting to know each other. Those first couple of days really established our connection. I think that’s translated to the screen.

Daniela: Because we’re Lissa and Rose, we spent so many hours working together. We didn’t really have that much time off, especially not Sisi. When she’s not on set, she’s training for fight sequences. I always felt like there was this unspoken connection between us.

Sisi: Yeah.

Daniela: It was funny because Lissa and Rose have that unspoken bond. There were times where I swear I would look at Sisi and I would be like, “I need to give her a hug right now.”

Sisi: Oh my God, yes!

Daniela: Or I’d be like, “I need to hold her hand for a sec.” It just worked. It was this unspoken thing that we developed with each other somehow.

PC: It definitely comes off the screen. The series is being adapted from a popular book series, and these characters are beloved by so many. What’s something that you wanted to make sure was translated from the page to the screen, and what’s something new that you brought to your character?
Daniela: That’s a good question! It is loved by so many.

Sisi: There’s a lot of responsibility.

Daniela: It’s a lot of responsibility, and I just really hope that people love it. I do really care that they’re happy with it.

Sisi: Obviously, it has a pre-established fanbase, and they’ve been so supportive the whole time. They send us messages. They send us Photoshopped pictures of us in the castle and things like that. This is before any of the material came out. I know for both of us that was an important aspect—to please the fans. The way that we’re doing this show, we’ve modernized everything, so we’ve changed some things, but we stayed true to the original story.

Daniela: That’s something that Julie Plec and Marguerite did so well. Everyone who was cast for the show, even if they were different or didn’t look like the way you pictured them when you read the book, has the essence of their characters. As soon as I met Sisi, I was like, “This is Rose. This is the energy that I imagined Rose would have.” The same with André as Christian. He has this kind essence to him that you can’t even explain. And Kieron with Dimitri, he has this disciplined essence to him. I do think that the fans will connect to that.

Make sure to follow Daniela (Twitter/Instagram) and Sisi (Twitter/Instagram). Watch Vampire Academy on Peacock today.