Kiara Romero always knew she was headed for the stage and screen.
The Descendants: Wicked Wonderland star, 25, tells PEOPLE she got her start in dance growing up in New York, saying it was never really a question for her.
“I feel like I always knew what I wanted to do. Like, if you go back and read any of the papers where it says, ‘What do you wanna do when you grow up?’ It always said, ‘Dancing, act.'”
After entering dance competitions at 12, Romero was accepted into the Joffrey Ballet School for her final two years of high school.
From there, she took on smaller dance roles in projects including JoJo Siwa’s The J Team and Netflix’s The Prom, the latter of which she credits with sparking her interest in acting.
“The Prom was the first time I was ever on a set,” she recalls of the film starring Kerry Washington, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.
“It was an insane first set to be on. I remember they all walked in rehearsal. I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’ Initially, I wanted to dance; I was like, ‘Oh, I wanna tour. I wanna do, like, commercial work.’ And that [film] kind of changed my mind.”
Descendants ultimately let her combine both passions.
Romero reveals she originally auditioned for the bubbly role of Pink, ultimately played by Liamani Segura, but sensed early on it wasn’t the right fit.
Days later, she got a shot at Hazel Hook instead, and everything clicked.
“There was something inside, like I instantly knew. I was like, ‘I could be her.'”
Though the character was written with a Scottish/British accent, as the sister of Thomas Doherty’s Harry Hook from the original films, Romero says she brought her own identity into the role during auditions, including Spanish phrases that ultimately didn’t make the final cut.
“I just did my own take,” she says.
“Gary Marsh likes to say it’s a very New York take on Hazel… Disney’s just so good at encouraging you to take risks, and I felt really comfortable bringing Hazel to life.”
She took an even bigger swing with her audition song.
After five rounds of Zoom callbacks, she was asked to prepare an “upbeat pop song” for her final in-person round.
“I was like, ‘Ooh, that is not me,’ so I picked Creep by Radiohead, and I just went for it. I didn’t really ask if that was OK, and I knew if this is the right role, this will be perfect for that. But something about the song just spoke to me and spoke to the villain side of Hazel and the vulnerable side.”
The gamble paid off, and she later learned that casting director Kim Coleman had already been advocating for her after spotting an earlier audition tape for the Disney Showcase.
“She was like, ‘I found you from there and I’ve been pushing for you this whole time, and that’s why you got the initial audition.’ So if I hadn’t done that, I don’t even know if I would’ve gotten the Descendants audition.”
Romero admits she felt pressure stepping into such a beloved franchise, and found inspiration in the original cast, particularly Thomas Doherty, who originated the role of Harry Hook.
“I took so much inspiration from Thomas Doherty… They just seemed like they were having a blast, and it gave me so much freedom.”
Looking back on the film’s release, she says the most meaningful moment was sharing it with her family at the premiere.
“My family flew in: my dad, my aunt, my little brother who is five. It was just really special sharing it finally with my family. It’s just like all of our collective hard work has paid off. That’s been a dream to see how proud my parents are.”
Descendants: Wicked Wonderland is currently streaming on Disney+.
