Diamond White is shining as bright as her namesake. Currently voicing the main character of Lunella Lafayette in Marvel‘s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney+, the rising star told PopCulture she is dealing with the aftermath of newfound fame from a hit animated show by sitting in the moment. While White noted that “Lunella and I definitely have a lot of similarities,” as a 24-year-old woman, she had to dig deep to her inner 13-year-old to bring the child genius to life. “Honestly, I just wanted to keep her really realistic to how I was as a 13-year-old, but for me, I had to kind of envision myself being a nine-year-old because you’re dealing with stuff like dinosaurs and supervillains. So the energy has to kind of be up a little bit more,” White said. “I go into the booth. and mainly what I prepare myself for is saying all the complicated science words that she has to say, ’cause it’s really hard to pronounce a lot of this stuff,” she remarked. “But, I just go in with, ‘Hey, let’s just be a kid and play.’ And it’s really cool when I get to bounce off of Libe [Barer], who plays Casey when there’s another person in the booth with me. We get to bounce off each other, making it all really fun. During her formative years as a performer, White’s idol was global superstar Beyonce. Now, White feels “incredible” that Lunella was celebrated as a role model for Black girls, particularly those in STEM, as “I don’t see a lot of STEM programs in general,” she remarked.
“And I know that Lawrence Fishburn said it best. You can’t be what you can’t see. So I feel like if someone can resonate with this character, that means everything. Because I didn’t have a character like this growing up, and it’s something that I needed.” White added, “Having the main girl be a larger-than-life superhero at 13, especially being one of the smartest superheroes in the Marvel universe that just, it’s literally the first of its kind. So I do think it’s gonna make an impact, and it’s gonna make a difference, and I’m just glad that it can be the show to do so.” Now that the show has been released, White said she is monitoring Twitter “24-7,” reading the reviews and responses. The overwhelmingly positive response to the show brought to her experiences White never imagined, including her first encounter with a young fan. “We went to, it was either a comic-con or a D23. There was a girl dressed up as Lunella. And she had a cute little dinosaur purse, a red dinosaur purse, and she like had made her whole outfit. And it was just really cool to see. “Someone dressed up as Moon Girl before the show even came out,” she continued. “So I’m just really excited for all the conventions that are coming up and to see all the kids dressed as Moon Girl. I think that that really showed me, like, wow, this show’s gonna have an impact on the world. And I still can’t even wrap my head around it. I’m grateful.”
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Even with the whirlwind of media attention, White is not making complicated plans for the future and prefers instead to enjoy this particularly fruitful period of her life. “I’m enjoying the moment. Everything is super unpredictable, so I’m trying to hold on to the happiness for as long as I can and hold on to the excitement for as long as I can. But I’m just excited for people to see this show. And there’s not really much planned other than like, just like sitting in it because I feel like a lot of the times I’ve done some really cool things, and then I’m always onto the next thing and onto the next thing and I don’t get the chance to sit and enjoy it.” “So this time I’m gonna rest, sit and enjoy it, and then stalk people on Twitter and see what comes next.” As far as Moon Girl is concerned, there is obviously not much White can reveal, but she does share that “That season gets a little bit deeper, and there’s some crazy reveals that everyone’s gonna lose their minds over.”
