Dayandra de Miranda Leão already playing a variety of roles
In 2002, when she was still a preschooler, Dayandra de Miranda Leão’s family moved from Brazil to the United States.
“My parents saved up what little they had and put in so much effort into bringing my family here, so that my brothers and I could have a better future,” she says.
After a brief period in Detroit, the family moved to Elkhart, and Dayandra attended Elkhart Memorial High School. She was active in extracurriculars and she maintained a 4.0 GPA. College was in her plans all along, and she had other offers, but IU South Bend had the most appeal: a thriving theatre program and the opportunity of a full-ride scholarship.
“I looked at the financials,” she says, “and I already knew I was going into a career that I knew could be financially difficult to profit from. IUSB was the place that fought the hardest to get me there.”
She reciprocated that enthusiasm by trying out for every theatrical production that was offered – and being cast in every single one. She was a member of the Honors Program, and she served as director of the campus chapter of the Stage for Change initiative, highlighting stories of often-marginalized people through theatre scenes. She also took a job in the costume shop.
Onstage, Dayandra thrived in comedy, drama, musical theatre, classics and children’s shows, building a versatility that has come in handy in her subsequent pursuits. She contends that working with director Laurisa LeSure on the 2018 production of Lynn Nottage’s “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” – a play about racism and sexism in the film industry – is still one of the highlights of her career.
Upon receiving her B.F.A. from the Raclin School of the Arts in 2019, Dayandra secured grants and internships, attended conferences and intensives, all the while saving up funds to make a go of it in Los Angeles.
“I’ve always wanted to be in L.A. because my heart has always been in film and TV,” she says. “When I was a kid watching Lord of the Rings with my brothers, I became determined to be a Latina elf in Hollywood someday.”
Her first booking was already a challenge: the lead role in writer/director Sophie Emma Wells’ “Overworked,” about a young woman run ragged by absurdly demanding circumstances.
“I related to the character, a first-generation Latina in college, having to do all these things, putting up with people trying to take advantage of her or overlooking all her contributions,” she says. “It was easy to bring her to life with the help of such a capable director.”
Another early project has racked up multiple awards. Director Nicole Marie Arce’s “Darkest Night,” a claustrophobic two-woman tale of magical realism, has been praised and screened internationally.
“Especially when you’re first starting out, you can feel like you’re speaking into a void,” she says. “All artists want their work to resonate with people. I want to make someone feel seen, or have someone empathize with what I’m going through onscreen. ‘Darkest Night’ is about what you do and what you sacrifice to survive when you’re all on your own. To have that resonate with people is phenomenal.”
Projects currently include “Abducted and Alone,” a sci-fi thriller in which her character is a stranded astronaut matching wits with a renegade A.I., and “Wally Jackson and the Probability of Love and Car Accidents,” about the precarious love life of a neurodivergent character. “Wally Jackson” will be Dayandra’s first feature-length film appearance.
To find out more about Dayandra de Miranda Leão’s career, visit dayandraleao.com.
