Dana Davis
Dana Davis is an actor, born 1984.
Dana Davis arrived in the middle of the last great American network casting boom and got picked up by nearly all of it. Born in 1984, she had Raise Your Voice in 2004 and Coach Carter as Peyton the year after, and then came a run of heavily promoted network dramas that did not last: Point Pleasant, The Nine as Felicia Jones, Hidden Palms. She was Monica Dawson on Heroes and Chastity Church on 10 Things I Hate About You, and had the steadiest of these jobs as Carmen Phillips on Franklin & Bash from 2011 to 2013.
What she does well is the sharp, faintly impatient young woman who is obviously the most competent person in the room and has decided not to mention it. That reads on camera quickly, which is why the pilot circuit kept hiring her, and it is also why the writing around her so often felt thinner than she was.
The voice work is where the career settled. She is Kelly in Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Claire in Motorcity, a village sister in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, and Kit across Craig of the Creek and the film that spun out of it, as well as She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Voice acting rewards precisely what she has, a distinctive register and real speed, and it does not care about pilot season. She writes novels too, which is a second career no filmography will ever show.
Movies (6)
TV (10)
Where to start with Dana Davis
The best thing she has been part of is Craig of the Creek, and Kit is the best role she has had: a teenage skater whose entire personality is delivered through cadence. Craig Before the Creek extends it, and with a child in the room this is where to start and possibly where to stop.
For live action, Coach Carter is the film with real weight behind it, though her part is supporting. Franklin & Bash gave her the steadiest television job, in a pleasant, disposable legal comedy that knows exactly what it is. 10 Things I Hate About You is better than a sitcom remake of a teen film had any right to be, and Pushing Daisies is the prettiest thing on the list even if she is only briefly in it.
Prom Night is the horror credit and a dull remake. Her run as Monica Dawson on Heroes is the role most people remember her by, and it is not among the credits listed here.