Elia Cantu Opens up About Joining DAYS OF OUR Lives
The Salem PD got a new officer when Elia Cantu joined the cast of DAYS OF OUR LIVES as the new character of Jada Hunter. While the soap marks her daytime debut, the actress was already very familiar with all the drama she was getting into!
“I was a watcher from back in the day,” Cantu admitted to Soap Opera Digest. “I used to be a cheerleader and all the older cheerleaders were already watching DAYS. I would watch it during summer break. Then I got my sister hooked, and we would watch it together!”
Cantu has appeared in primetime series like CRIMINAL MINDS, BLACK-ISH, LUCIFER, THIS IS US, LETHAL WEAPON, and 9-1-1, so adjusting to the hectic pace of daytime was something new for the actress. “Working on a soap is a challenging job,” she confessed. “I also come from a background of theater. It reminds me a lot of theater. The prepping is important. You’ve got to be ready because when you go on set, you get one take, maybe two.”
The actress did her research, reaching out to actual police officers that she knew in order to make sure that she was portraying the detective as accurately as she possibly could. And she’s looking forward to the viewers getting to know Jada as she does. “I love the character,” Cantu enthused. “She’s a very confident woman. She’s intelligent. She’s gorgeous. She’s tough. But she also has, like all humans, layers.
“She has a vulnerable, soft side,” she added, “but it takes time to get to that. She’s been through some things. And she’s in a male-dominated world, but she hangs in there. She really holds her own.”
So keep watching DAYS to see how Jada settles into Salem!
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