Danielle Vasinova is an american actress, and czech descent best known for her colorful action-adventure roles. She has worked on several films including the action/thriller Darkness of man, Red Dead, Among Us, Shinjuku. She recently appeared in the cover of Vogue Mexico, and she won the award “Women of the Year”, by Glamour Bulgaria, in 2022. In dialogue with Mirada Crítica, she told us the following.
Journalist: Tell us about your beginnings. How did you decide to become a model and an actress?
Danielle Vasinova: I had never really sought out this career, to be honest. I actually wanted to be a weather girl, initially. I would come home from school and listen to the weather channel for hours upon hours every day after school.
And then I’m an equestrian. I’ve been riding horses since I was about eight, and they wanted to groom me to be a professional jockey, to be like the Danica Patrick of horse racing.
But with that career, it’s not if you’re going to get hurt, it’s when. There’s a lot of pressure to make weight.
You’ve got to be a buck 10, you’re a buck 20 with the tack, and it’s just a lot of pressure. Long story short, I was in Mrs. Chance’s English class in 11th grade, and I was always very, very shy. I hate public speaking. I hate anyway, we were reading out of Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I was playing Helena, and somehow I started to come out of my shell a little bit. Then I had a friend of mine wanting to go out for the cheerleading squad, and I was like «No, no, I don’t want to do that. That’s not for me». She’s like «Come on, come on, let’s go, Danny. Let’s go».
I went and I got that help to me to come out of my shell a little bit. Then we were doing a cheerleading competition for the MDA, which is the Muscular Dystrophy Association at a local mall. And so we did that, and a scout from elite models came up to me from New York, and she asked me to come down and meet the the team, and they wanted to sign me. So that began my career in New York City. I grew up in Connecticut on a farm, and then I would be back and forth to New York City for work.
J: That’s a very curious history because, as you say, maybe at the beginning or when you were younger, you never mind that make these two professions. But if you have to choose choose one, not the be it actress or model, what will you choose and for what reason?
DV: I love them both because I think you get to create a character in no matter which field it is. But I definitely love the collaborative process of film and television because I like to work with the director, I like to work with the other actors, and I like to have that more immersive experience, I would say.
J: You appear in a lot of films. We can name some of them, like Among Us, Jinju Gu, Red Dead, Darkness of Man. If you have to choose one movie or one role you played, for what reason?
DV: I don’t know. I think the best is yet to come, right? That’s what I would think.
I would love to be in a Bond movie. There’s so many things that I would like to create. I really enjoyed playing the role of Belle that I got to play because she was like a sharpshooting Annie Oatley type of character, like a Wonder Woman of the West. That was very exciting because I really identified with that character, and I liked all the physical components as well. But truly, I definitely think the best is yet to come. That is really, I repeat, a good thinking.
J: What are your next projects on the cinema?
DV: I did a new project called «Darkness of man» with Jean-Claude Van Damme. It’s a neo-noir, and I play Sandra Whitaker in the film. Then I have another one. It’s called Honor. We don’t know who the lead is going to be. It’s going to be announced shortly. I can’t say too much about that one, but we’re going to be shooting up in Canada. I’m very excited about that.
J: Well, we remember that on 2022, you won the award, Woman of the Year by Glamor Bulgaria. Returning a little bit to your other occupation, what did this mean in your career?
DV: I mean, that was a milestone for me, and it was such a tremendous honor. I was just surrounded by so many talented women. I just think it’s so important for us all to support each other and lift each other up. Sometimes there can be people that want to nitpick or bring you down or what have you. I think it’s important to support each other and so to be there with that tremendously talented group of women was just very special.
J: In that ceremony, you remembered your grandma, that you named in different times. She was also an actress and was singer in Prague because you have czech origin, so you feel also really close to your family. First, how much your grandma influenced you in your career? If you feel a dedication on that moment that you win the award? You remember her because it was like a connection in the moment…
DV: 100 %. My grandmother passed when I was very young. I was only about 10 years old, but I feel like there’s a piece of her soul in me. The rest of my family is into aviation and is much more on the technical side of things. She was really the only artist. She was an actress and a singer and a dancer from Prague. I feel like she left when she was very young with nothing more than a suitcase and popped around to a bunch of DP camps, like the Displaced Persons’ Camps. They got a sponsor, actually, when they were in Germany and came to the United States. From there, she went from acting in singing and dancing, her passion, her love, to scrubbing toilets because she couldn’t speak the language, she had no money And so I feel like maybe there’s a piece of her still left in me. And so that’s why I wanted to dedicate that award to her. She was a very strong woman, and they left you a very good example for all the life.
J: That is so cute. Changing a little bit and returning to your career as a model, you was on the cover of Vogue Mexico last December and January. How about that experience? Do you plan new collaborations with them in the future?
DV: I love Vogue. Vogue, to me, is the ultimate. And It was just such a tremendous honor to be part of that project. Everything was a little bit crazy. It got left to last minute, and then all of a sudden, I found myself on a plane to Bacalar, Mexico. The team was fantastic. Once we were there, everything went smoothly. I would love to work with them again. Sure.
J: Well, talking about your different appears in famous videos. You also share a music video for Ballets in the Gun by the recent 3D says Tobi Keith. What anecdote or memories do you have from that shoot?
DV: Yeah, I know. He was such a tremendous talented artist,and his songs, his words will live on forever.
He was such a legend. We did that up in Lancaster in Palmdale, and it was a long video, actually. A lot of music videos are shot within one day, and this one took us three days. It was a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. We had a few mishaps. There was one scene when I was on the back of the bike, and I was supposed to be shooting off the back, but perhaps forgot the guns. I was just using my fingers to go Then in the last scene, if you notice, I had these blue feathers on, and somehow one of the feathered earrings got lost. In the last scene or last shot of the video, you’ll see I actually only have one earring on. But it was a great video, and it was one of the most fun videos I’ve ever made in my life. I will never forget that one. Very special. That’s a very special story.
J: I´d like to finish asking top five of different topics, all relations to cinema in this case. First, make your top 5 of favorite actress.
DV: Oh, gosh. There are so many. I love Marion Cotillard. I met her at the Vanity Fair party a couple of years back, and she’s so talented and so driven, and she’s very special. Marion Cotillard. I love Penelope Cruz. I love Scarlett Johansson. I love watching her in all the Woody Allen films. Angelina Jolie, of course, because she’s amazing. I could go on and on. Halle Berry. Yeah, those are my icons.
J: Do you meet personally some of them?
DV: Some of them, yeah. I haven’t met all of them, but I have gotten a chance to meet some of them, which is very cool.
J: Top five of favorite director films?
DV: It’s very tricky. I’ve loved Steven Spielberg since I was a little kid. I love big action adventure tent pole movies that just transport you into another world. Tarantino is one of my all-time faves. I love Tarantino. I have wanted to work with him forever. I love him, too. Forever. It still escapes me. He’s the one. He’s the one. I would love to work with Woody Allen. I love Darren Aronowski. I love Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. God, I don’t even know.
J: Top five favorite movie.
DV: Growing up, I mean, I’m a horse girl. So growing up as a kid, I love The Black Stalion Coppola film. It just says so much with so little. I love The good, the bad, and the ugly. I love The Godfather, Fight Club. I’m a hopeless romantic, so I’ll throw the notebook in there. Yeah, the list goes on and on. I don’t even know how many I have in my name. It’s a difficult list because normally, we saw a lot of films in our life, but three or four are always we prefer for the best. To finish- Yeah, Buffy and Rose, Itumamata and Bien. I don’t know. There’s so many. There are a lot.
J: To finish this talk, what would you say to the little Danielle?
DV: I would say dream big, surround yourself with good people, people who are better than you are, people who inspire you. When you’re going through the fire, keep going because you’re going to come out the other side even better than you were before. They are really very good concepts.
