Interview: Dilshad Vadsaria from Greek

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Dilshad Vadsaria to talk about the new season of Greek on ABC family. Here’s what she had to say:

How was your time at the University of Delaware different from Cyprus-Rhodes?

D. Vadsaria: Very different. I’m not sure if you know, but I used to be a bio major at the University of Delaware, so I was very pre-med-oriented and everything like that, so my life was really about the classroom and it was really about lab work, all the extra labs you kind of have to take with each class. And I was working, like, trying to earn some money and everything like that. Rebecca lived a very different life, so—

You weren’t like a socialite, I guess.

D. Vadsaria: Well, I had great friends and we definitely had time to do all the great party college stuff, but I think that, in regards to the character that I’m playing on the show, it’s a very, very different life. Rebecca doesn’t have as many friends because she can’t really trust people. She comes from a lot of money. She has her own jet, those kinds of things, and so it’s almost like I’m reliving college to a completely different person who’s walked a completely different walk of life, you know what I mean?

That’s kind of cool. Actually, that was my next question. What do you think Rebecca’s strongest trait is? Like, let’s say she didn’t have a senator father and wasn’t popular. What else does she have going for her?

D. Vadsaria: Well, I think that she’s very shrewd in regards to reading people, and she kind of sees things coming. She’s not a girl who doesn’t have a mind of her own, and I think there are a couple of things that I really, really like about her in that she’s very steadfast in what she believes, whether she’s right or wrong, you know? And she’s very open about it. She doesn’t really hide behind anything. This is where she stands, and that’s just the way it is. Whether she’s liked or not, that’s a whole different story, you know? And I really like that about her, and also, just the way that she can kind of play the politics socially with people and know that they have ulterior motives. I think that’s kind of, I don’t know. It’s a trait that I don’t really know a lot of people to have, especially so early on in their life. I think that’s kind of cool actually. It kind of helps you.

Right on. Do you think Cappie is too good for Rebecca, or is he too good for his own good?

D. Vadsaria: That’s a good question. I think that, well, see, it’s kind of hard to answer that question without giving some things away for season two, but what I’ll say is that I think that they each have strengths that they bring to the other person, and their strengths and weaknesses kind of balance each other out. And I think that you’ll kind of see that with the third episode—I think it’s the third or fourth episode—of this season coming up, and in a way, Rebecca kind of matures Cappie in some senses and in some sense because of what’s happening in her life, and in other ways, Cappie, he brings the fun in life. And he makes her see that maybe everything doesn’t have to be so serious because she’s grown up so serious, in such a serious way and everything, so I think they balance each other out.

Will you be having many scenes with Dale this season? I think that kid’s hilarious.

D. Vadsaria: Oh my gosh, he’s so funny. Clark is hilarious. Rebecca and Dale have not had any interaction yet, but I think that would be really, really funny to have. Personally, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep a straight face if I ever get to do a scene with him because I’ve been there when he’s shooting a scene, either with Jacob or whoever he has a scene with, and he’s just hilarious. And I just don’t know how that scene would go, and I would probably, you know, not be able to stop laughing. But that would be really, really cool to do some kind of storyline there.

Yes. I was thinking, I don’t know if this is a compliment or not, but he reminds me of a little Rush Limbaugh for some reason.

D. Vadsaria: Well, it kind of brings that vibe. I wonder if that, he sort of played that into his character too, especially from where his character stands and where Dale’s point of view is and everything. That’s an interesting comment because I wonder if that’s part of his character work.

Is this the season that Calvin might come out of the closet?

D. Vadsaria: Oh yes, in this set of episodes, yes because you kind of saw him being outed and all of that stuff, but yes. You sort of start to see Calvin explore who he is as a person and as being a gay man and everything, and the whole aspect of his own comfort level with his own sexuality as well as relationships and forming relationships, intimate relationships outside of the fraternity and all of those things, that’s definitely explored.

Okay, yes, I was just curious because I remember at the end there when he basically got caught. The whole frat—

D. Vadsaria: Yes. Yes, and actually like outs him more or less, yes. No, that’s definitely, that’s definitely dug into much more.

Oh, okay. Cool. And I also have the same question that your dad had. What is Cappie’s major?

D. Vadsaria: No one knows.

Is it just like recreational leisure or something?

D. Vadsaria: Kind of. I mean, he seems to be the guy who can go in and, I don’t know if I’m getting episodes mixed up here because I don’t know if this is there, but you know, it’s like he can study for something and just, in like a night, and pass finals and things like that. I mean, he’s this amazingly intelligent guy, and yet he doesn’t seem to put any effort into it. And as Dilshad, I kind of look at him, I’m like, “Uggh, I wish,” because I had to work my butt off in school just to get my grades. I was never one of those people who could effortlessly get an A type of deal. And also, I mean, I guess that’s something that only Patrick Sean Smith might know because only Patrick Sean Smith knows Cappie’s real name. And we try to get it out of him, but it’s like Fort Knox. It doesn’t work.

Rebecca has always been a controversial character because of her intense relationship with Casey. Do you think that viewers are going to like Rebecca more by the end of the second season or less, and why?

D. Vadsaria: I think that they’ll have a better understanding of Rebecca by the end of this season. Where we left off on the spring break episode, we saw all the turmoil of her family sort of hit the public stage and everything that’s been going on behind the scenes come out for everyone to sort of judge, and it hits her really hard, especially the fact that her only warning about it was from a reporter. So I think that, along with that and “parents weekend” episode where we met Rebecca’s father, started giving viewers more of an understanding of where she comes from, but now as the season progresses and you see them progress , the viewers will be able to see how Rebecca kind of handles everything that’s thrown at her.

There’s a big scandal that starts off with the season premiere in regards to her actions over spring break, and people will be able to see exactly what kind of pressure she’s under and the fact that she’s sort of lived this life where she really can’t trust anyone. And I think people will have a better and better understanding of her. Whether they like her? We just got the season finale, so I think she’ll always keep people on their toes in regards to, not really, they want to kind of like her, but they’re not sure if they can trust her. I think that’s where they’ll kind of end up.

If it was up to you, what would you most like to see happen to Rebecca in the future, either at Cyprus-Rhodes or after she graduates from college?

D. Vadsaria: Oh, I love that question. I think what I would love to see happen to Rebecca is that she finds her own identity, and I think that the way she could possibly do that and the only Rebecca way there is is to cause a lot of havoc and fall on her face, but I would love to see her sort of graduate from Cyprus-Rhodes and be more of a self-assured woman, young woman who is going to step out into the world on her own terms as opposed to the terms that were outlined for her just because of the family she was born into. And I think that that’s probably going to take, you know, if I was just talking from my perspective as opposed to any of the writer’s or Patrick Sean Smith’s perspective, it’s probably going to take a little bit more exploring of what she has grown up in and really challenging the people who, like maybe even her mother and things like that and confronting what she’s been through. But I would love it if she wasn’t dependent on anything or anyone, be it an image, be it a person, and just sort of go off and, I don’t know, maybe go to New York and do something over there. I don’t know. Something crazy like that, just sort of go, “Okay, I’m just going to fly off and start over in a new city and make my own name and be really successful at it,” and I’d like to see her kind of start that after Cyprus-Rhodes.

I see that you’ve got … Portuguese, you’re of Indian descent. Is it empowering … being this female, as far as bringing this ethnicity, how has it been as far as the international following for you, and is there one?

D. Vadsaria: Well, it’s really interesting now that Greek – you were cutting in and out, so I hope I caught your question well – but it’s really interesting now that Greek has started airing in other parts of the world. In England, in France and South America and everything, and I know people in all of those different parts of the world, so it’s really, really kind of cool to sort of see their reactions to the show itself and then to my character. What I love about playing Rebecca is that she is just a person. There’s no relation to stereotypes and there’s no relation to skin color, things like that, and I really, really appreciate that coming from Patrick Sean Smith and to cast me in this role where it’s focused on playing the human being. And as an actor, that’s what you really want to focus on is playing the human being as opposed to trying to fit into a category because I feel like…

A typecast.

D. Vadsaria: Yes, and I feel like, you know, we do that enough, especially in the states, we do that so much just with politics and everyday life, and it’s so much part of our culture that it’s really, really nice to be given the opportunity just to focus on playing a human being. And it’s nice that that’s sort of the way it is overseas and that that’s the reach that it kind of has, so I’m personally interested to see how it’s going to kind of progress, because we just started airing in the U.K. and we just started airing in France and everything, so I think, once we finish an entire season and go into the second season over there, I’ll be really interested to see what the response is.

The big release was that Lauren Conrad is making a cameo, and what are the thoughts of, I know everyone’s, I’m sure, very excited about her being on the show, but do you feel like it’s stunt casting or what’s your take on that?

D. Vadsaria: Well, I know that there are people who are really excited to have her on the show, and I think that it kind of makes sense from a marketing standpoint just because of what the audience is for The Hills and what the audience is for our show, so I totally understand that. I’m an actor’s actor, so I might be a little biased there.

Interview By: Emma Loggins

– Greek

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