Descendants Sons and Daughters: Sofia Carson as Evie

By: Lynn Barker

In Disney Channel’s “Descendants”, Sofia Carson, who has guest-starred in “Austin & Ally”, MTV’s “Faking It” and will appear next year in the Channel’s movie “Adventure in Babysitting”, plays Evie, the daughter of the wicked queen from “Snow White”. As we know, this queen was super vain and always asking her magic mirror “Who’s the fairest of them all”?  Daughter Evie starts out just like her. She’s stylin’ rocker chick clothes with an edge, is out to find her prince and is bestie to Mal (Maleficent’s daughter played by Dove Cameron from “Liv and Maddie”).

After arriving for school in the Auradon kingdom with her fellow villain offspring, Evie has a lot to learn about what she is capable of…without a prince or a mirror! Check out our chat with this multi-talented actress.

Kidzworld: Evie, like her mom, is really vain. With all the emphasis on looks in Hollywood, do you think it’s hard not to fall into the young actress trap of feeling inferior if you aren’t perfect?

• Sofia: Wonderful question. Most definitely. It is very easy to fall into that trap. I thank my family and my mom for giving me my self-esteem and for always telling me that I was beautiful, that I’m good enough, that I don’t have to be anything more than what I am. But, it is very easy, especially for us as girls, to want to be just a little prettier, just a little skinnier, just a little fitter. “My arms aren’t as toned”. You catch yourself saying all those things but, in the end, beauty is superficial and fleeting and the only thing that really matters is what’s inside of us, what’s in our heart and the person that we are. If we love who we are and we’re okay with ourselves I think that translates as more beautiful than anything else on the outside.

Kidzworld: Sounds like something your character Evie needs to learn.

• Sofia: That’s the greatest lesson that Evie learns. That’s why I feel so lucky to be able to tell this story because Evie is caught in this trap of being her mother’s daughter, being in her mother’s shadow her whole life, what defined her was her reflection in her mirror. She thought she needed a prince to give her a happy ending. When she comes to Auradon, she kind of gets to know herself for the first time and learns that her mom was wrong. There is so much more than what she sees in the mirror, that she’s strong, independent, actually smart, really good at school and chemistry which she never would have thought. And most of all, she doesn’t need a boy to give her a happy ending. She can give that to herself. So, it’s definitely a story of girl power and self-empowerment.

Kidzworld: We can get behind that. How did you like Evie’s wardrobe? It’s edgy. Does she wear anything you would wear?

• Sofia: Honestly, I sometimes wish Evie’s wardrobe was my own wardrobe. Every single day when we were on set I would tell the costume department that I wanted to take the leather jacket home because I love Evie’s mix of rock ‘n roll edginess with the feminine. She’s like the rock n’ roll princess of the group so they mixed a blue leather jacket with skirts and flowy dresses. Her hair is always down and flowy or in a beautiful princess braid. I love her look. It is literally the modernization of the fairy tale.

Kidzworld: Does Evie have a crush in the movie?

• Sofia: Evie has a huge crush on Prince Charming so there is a bit of a love triangle because Prince Charming doesn’t really pay much attention to Evie. That is kind of what helped her to realize the princes aren’t all that great. She can do without one of those.

Kidzworld: Would you say that all of the female Descendants are the school’s new “mean girls” or do they have a softer side?

• Sofia: You don’t see their soft side right away, especially Audrey, Prince Ben’s girlfriend is definitely a mean girl. She’s not very happy with us coming into her kingdom and taking her spotlight.

Kidzworld: You have a background in dance. Does Evie get to dance in the film?

• Sofia: Yes! I’ve been training since I was three years old. Dancing was my first taste of being on stage performing. That led me to singing and acting. In this movie I’m so lucky that there are a lot of musical elements and we do get to dance, especially in the opening number “Rotten to the Core” which has this huge, epic dance battle where we break out some dance moves. You’ll see a couple of Evie’s spins here and there.

Kidzworld: Was it fun working with famous “High School Musical” choreographer/director Kenny Ortega?

• Sofia: It was a dream. I was such of fan of Kenny’s “High School Musical” movies and the Michael Jackson tour stuff. When I walked into the green room for my audition, I didn’t know Kenny was directing and my jaw was on the floor. I don’t even know how words came out of my mouth. It was a dream come true. He’s such a creative genius and visionary.

Kidzworld: You also write songs and sing. Are you working on an album?

• Sofia: I am actually. I just recorded my first track. My sound is definitely pop but more rhythmic pop, a lot of drum beats. I do have the Latin flavor in me because my parents are Colombian so I’d say pop with a bit of an edge. I also write a lot of ballads and they tend to be a little soulful so I guess we can also call it soulful pop.

Kidzworld: You are going to UCLA as a communications major. Any desire to be an entertainment journalist when you are older or will you stick to being in front of the camera?

• Sofia: I am still going to college.  I always loved writing and Journalism but entertainment has always been my passion but I always wanted to get my degree. School is a big part of who I am. It keeps you grounded when you finish a movie but you have to run home to study for finals. That will keep you on the ground.

Kidzworld: Which of the guy cast members was the biggest jokester or prankster on set and what did he do? 

• Sofia: Definitely Mitchell (Hope who plays Prince Ben) although we didn’t have time to play many pranks, he would have wanted to. He and Kenny were the two jokesters. Kenny tried to pull a prank on Dove (Cameron who plays Maleficent’s daughter). She was shooting a big emotional scene one day where she is crying and has a breakdown and Kenny invited some of us to start break dancing in the middle of her scene. It was quite funny. We have it on tape. I hope they put it in bloopers somewhere. Boo Boo Stewart (plays Jafar’s son) and Cameron Boyce (son of Cruella DeVil), were acting like fairies in the woods. It was quite funny.

Kidzworld: Which Disney villain was your fave growing up (and you don’t have to say the evil queen just cuz you are her daughter in the film)?

• Sofia: But it was the Evil Queen. I always loved the Evil Queen from Snow White. I loved her wardrobe.

Kidzworld: What music artist or group are you really into right now?

• Sofia: Love, love Nick Jonas’ last album and Serena Carpenter. She’s a dear friend of mine and her last album is so beautiful.

Descendants premieres FRIDAY, JULY 31^st (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel!