In this FRONTPAGE story, Sasha Calle chats with close friend Anthony Ramos about their career and love of menswear.
It’s a Tuesday in April and I’m watching Sasha Calle throw punches at a photographer. She’s wearing a floor-length Saint Laurent leather trench coat in the middle of a boxing ring. There’s a camera pointed at her, but punches are being thrown nonetheless. You can tell she’s done this before.
This is Supergirl. Or this is her latest iteration anyway, as imagined by DC Comics for The Flash. In this story, Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, Superman’s distant relative and fellow Kryptonian. It’s a breakout role for Calle, best known for playing Lola Rosales in the 2018 TV series The Young and The Restless. Calle isn’t what we’ve been taught to expect from the superhero canon, where the typical Supergirl has billowing blonde hair, a short skirt, and a hyper-feminine attitude. Quite the contrary. The Boston-born, Colombian actor’s cropped black hair frames her face in sharp angles, and her skin-tight supersuit lacks a skirt. This Supergirl, says Calle, projects intensity, and an androgynous energy.
The punches are convincing, but none of the character’s brooding intensity shows up in the real-life 27-year-old Calle. Between shots, the actor’s booming laugh echoes across the gym. She cracks jokes with the team and takes time to meet everyone she’s working with. Calle’s energy is light, and fun.
She sat down with close friend and Transformers star Anthony Ramos to chat about preparing for the role of Supergirl, what it was like to put on her supersuit for the first time, her love of menswear, and the importance of representation on the big screen.
ANTHONY RAMOS: Sasha, hello.
SASHA CALLE: What's up, Anthony?
RAMOS: Love the way the sun is reflecting off your face. It's a reflection of who you are. The light on Earth.
CALLE: You're so sweet. I love you so much.
RAMOS: How are you? What are you doing? Where are you?
CALLE: I'm good. I'm back in LA. I'm so happy. I have my whole family in my apartment right now. The premiere is tomorrow at the Chinese Theatre, which is crazy. It's kind of like the Times Square of LA. We're all super stoked.
RAMOS: Oh, it definitely is the Times Square of LA. A hundred percent.
CALLE: And now the premier's there. It's crazy. It hasn't hit yet. My brother, right before getting on this interview, was like, “Are you excited?” I'm like, “For what? For my coffee?” He's like, “No, for tomorrow.” It comes in waves.
I don't know if that happens to you, you’re just working, and then all of a sudden it hits and you're like, “I don't think I'm supposed to be crying right now. I've got a ton of makeup on my face.”
RAMOS: Sometimes it gets emotional. I feel you. We had four premieres in the last two weeks.
CALLE: I'm so proud of you. Truly.
RAMOS: I'm excited. So your schedule's probably been crazy lately.
CALLE: I did a domestic tour. We did a press junket in Miami, then we went to San Antonio, then we went to Dallas. But I'm also filming a movie right now.
RAMOS: And now you're Supergirl. Kara Zor-El, what is that like? Walk me through that experience.
CALLE: When the new year hit, I called my mom. I had this weird intuition – so bizarre, but I feel these things sometimes – I called my mom and I said, “Hey, I don't know why, but I'm moving to London for six months.” It was just this feeling. I put all my belongings into a storage unit and left for London. It was a dream come true. I love London.
RAMOS: You said this before you got the movie?
CALLE: Yeah. I auditioned in January 2021. January 19th I think I sent my self-tape.
I got the role and pretty immediately the video that DC released into the world went viral.
My mom can attest to it. When I booked the job, I remember calling my mom and she's like, “You said it. I can't believe it. You said it.” She's so sweet. She came with me. That was my mom's first time in first class, which was a really beautiful thing to experience with her. And so we went. She quarantined with me. She came back and then that was it. I started stunt training pretty immediately, doing wire work.
RAMOS: You was killing that, by the way. I saw some of those videos.
CALLE: Thank you. I can't wait for you to see the movie. But yeah, I love stunts so much. I fell in love with them during college because we had stunt... what was that called?
RAMOS: Stage combat.
CALLE: Yes, so I kind of fell in love with it immediately, and I started boxing in 2018. I was like, “I'm going to do this. So I've got to get better with my physicality and movements.” And because of that actually, I got there. When you do a movie like this, they do a little course for you to see how you can move your body, to see how you can jump and run. Basically like, “Can you throw things? Can you move things?” My dream was to do all my stunts.
RAMOS: Were you always athletic?
CALLE: Yeah, always. I was training with my stunt coach, Talila, my right-hand woman, and I yelled at her and I was like, “Where's my stunt double?” And she's like, “You don't need one!”
RAMOS: “You don't have one! We saw you could do them all! We cut it!”
CALLE: It really was like that! And obviously, contractually, you need a stunt double. So I did have a stunt double, her name was Jade. She was so sweet and amazing and she would do all the setups for me.
RAMOS: This is a super iconic role. It's very special to have you in this role, especially for me, being Latino and seeing you in a role like this. You are already a superhero to me. But to see you playing a superhero, to me and so many other Latinos in the world, is so special. What are you most excited about people seeing?
CALLE: Well, first of all, I want to say thank you. It does mean a lot to me, coming from you. I really love you so much and admire you.
I guess my dream is that people see themselves in me. I hope they see themselves on the big screen with me — because it is ultimately all of us. We all belong there. It doesn't matter what you do, where you come from, what skin color you have; what your identity or sexuality is. I don't give a fuck. We all deserve to be up there. We're all so beautiful with our weird qualities and our quirks. We're all special.
I want people to feel represented. Especially Latinos. Tambien, we've been placed in a box for so long in this industry. Even a character like you, I can't even fucking believe that you are in Transformers. That is so fucking crazy. I can't wait to see that (I just got chills). We are nuanced and beautiful, and it's truly about time that we are playing leading character roles on big screens.
And for the little kids out there — if they can see themselves in us, then they can see they're capable, because they are. That is my hope.
RAMOS: What makes you Supergirl? What is that about you and this character? How is Supergirl like you?
Like in Transformers, I got this handshake between me and my little brother, and we say, “The same home team.” That's our little thing in the movie, and that's the thing that my dad used to tell me when I was a kid, and that's a thing me and my brother text each other.
What are the things you brought to this character that people who know you can say, “That's Sasha.” And for the people that don't know you, to let them in and give them that insight to little things you bring to that character personally.
CALLE: As an artist and as a kid, I felt out of place in my life. I felt different. I had dreams that felt impossible to everyone around me. I didn't really have places that I could excel artistically because I didn't grow up very financially stable. Especially having an immigrant mother, a single mother as well, the challenges for her were beyond. I love and commend her. She's my superhero for paving the way for me.
Andy [Muschietti], the director, had this very strong vision of who he wanted for this role. He said that when he saw my self-tape he was able to breathe because he knew that I was going to be the one playing the character. Which as an actor, to hear something like that is absolute insanity and a blessing.
What I mean is, it was always very authentic to who I am. I feel very close to her. I'm a deep feeler, and I think she is also a very deep feeler. As a superhero who is on a new planet, she has an immigrant story, right? She's a Kryptonian, she arrives on Earth and she's not received very well. I understand what that's like, to go from one place to another and not be received with love or kindness but still carry a ton of hope.
It’s also that Latinos carry a sense of swagger that can't be replaced. And I suppose her androgyny, man.
That's just what's in my body.
RAMOS: And your blood.
CALLE: Yeah, and her androgyny is really cool. I've always been the biggest tomboy, but when I did this role I didn't choose to cut my hair, that was all Andy. I was scared. A lot of people don't know that, but I was terrified to cut my hair. But I knew that this role was beyond me, so I was ready for anything. When they cut it I was mortified. I had a hard time for a minute. And now I'm so grateful because I love my short hair.
RAMOS: You had long hair your whole life? That was a big transformation?
CALLE: Yeah, my whole life. Who would've known that for a film, to cut my hair, I would've felt closer to myself. I feel much more authentic with my short hair. I feel connected to myself with my short hair. I am very grateful for that growth.
RAMOS: Do you remember that day when you put that suit on for the first time? What was that like?
CALLE: Yeah, absolutely. It was really tight. [laughs]
RAMOS: It was like, “Y'all got to let this out. Y'all, wildin’.”
CALLE: I was like, “Okay! I can't move!” The first time that it was fully on my body, it took three people to put that thing on me. I've got a muscle suit and then I've got another, so I have two suits on me and it's a one piece. The Supergirl suit you slide up from your feet. It was wild.
That suit is so beautiful. I love the suit so much. I walked into this blindly with an open heart, and when I arrived there was a vision and I was placed in it; the suit was already created. I felt so proud and honored to be walking into that suit. Women are powerful. We're powerful human beings. It was really beautiful to have this... I could say androgynous, but it also wasn't. It was just mobile, right? The suit is mobile. You can move. It's what anybody would wear to protect themselves. And I just thought it was so fucking cool. Also, on the emotional side, a lot of pride and honor and joy and disbelief. Every time I put that suit on it would be a shock.
RAMOS: I don't know if this happens to you, but when you put on that suit, there’s a sense of like, “We're in it now.” You feel this sense of power. You assume this being. There's this sense of, “This is a character that so many people love and look up to and admire, I feel like I'm ready. I got the suit on.” Did you have a moment like that?
CALLE: Of course, yeah. I feel like there was a sense of depth, in a way. It's like a click. Like a groundedness when you wear the suit and you walk on set. I started feeling her and understanding her; she felt grounded to me and very present.
I think you're right, there is a switch where you kind of melt into the character and become it. And it is very special because she is so deeply powerful but has this groundedness to her, this love and hope. But we see her at the beginning of the movie with a lot of anger, justified anger as well, because she's been imprisoned in a cell since she arrived to Earth. She's fucking upset.
RAMOS: Would you say that you have your own kind of super suit? Every day when you walk outside, something that makes you feel powerful, that you wear that you love.
CALLE: Absolutely. Yeah. I wear my baggy jeans, my Hanes tank top. My sunglasses, my Vans, and I'm out and ready to go.
RAMOS: You always got the black nail polish. I know you always got the back nail polish.
CALLE: Yes, the black nail polish!
RAMOS: With the big shades.
CALLE: Yes. Those shades, bro. You know, the gas station shades ready to go. My rings too, my silver jewelry, and then my headphones, man. And I'm out, I'm good. Oh my God and my chain, my fucking wallet chain. Yeah, that's my superhero suit.
RAMOS: What inspires that? What has inspired your style?
CALLE: I'm just such a tomboy. I love menswear so much. I feel comfortable in it. I feel it's authentic to who I am. When I was picking a stylist, I had to be like “Yo, it's going to be pulling from a lot of menswear.”
And I love mixing clothes, there's a lot of womenswear that I love too. Menswear is the base of my style and here and there I'll throw in something tight. But yeah, I love menswear.
I guess you could say it's kind of like skater clothes. I'm not my little brother, you know my little brother, he's a skateboarder. But I just love that — the baggy pants, the tank top, the Vans. I love Vans so much. That skater attire.
RAMOS: If you’re rolling out of bed and you’re going to get your cafecito, what are you wearing?
CALLE: It's straight up that. I'll put on some baggy pants and a belt because usually all my pants are so much bigger than me. [laughs]
RAMOS: You do be wearing big-ass-pants. I'll be like, oh, shoot you rocking.
CALLE: Yeah, because they're all mens’! I'll go to vintage stores and they're a little too big. There was this day I went to a Carhartt to buy some pants and I called my mom and I said, “What do you think?” And she's like, “Pants that fit you.” And I said, “Mom, don't be fucking rude.”
RAMOS: Come on, ma. That's your style! That's your style.
CALLE: And then I have my favorite hoodie too. I bought it in London at The Garbstore in Notting Hill. It's my favorite hoodie I wear all the time. I have a uniform, really. I just like to be comfortable when it comes to clothes. Authenticity is a big thing in terms of comfort. The moment I put my clothes on, I feel okay and ready to go.
