Superman actress María Gabriela de Faría recently discussed the unusual source she drew inspiration from to portray the DC Universe villain, Angela Spica/the Engineer. Hailing from Venezuela and having appeared in many South American productions, the star has a strong background with telenovelas, and as such, she brought that to Superman. Her character, who is normally a member of The Authority in DC Comics, works for Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) in the film, serving as an antagonist to Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet).

In an appearance on the DC Studios Showcase Podcast, de Faria explained how such a different genre could feed into her inspiration for Superman. Clarifying that telenovelas are a big part of her own acting journey, the actress stated:

I was raised by telenovelas. My parents were really young when they had me. My mom was 15 and my dad was 17. And they were working so much to make ends meet. So I was raised by telenovelas and doing telenovelas. That’s all I did since I was five until I left Venezuela when I was 15. So yeah, I’m very telenovela-like. It’s my jam.

I know that, like, James wanted– Is James here? He wanted this character to be, like, really serious, really, like, poker face, nothing ever happens to her. Oh, sнιт happens to her. Like, she feels a lot. And she’s really emotional. And I think that’s still the telenovela in me.

De Faria continued by sharing how her experiences with working on telenovelas translated to being in a superhero film by likening the former to comic books. Per de Faria, “when you do telenovelas, you never know what’s happening next.” Actors will often receive their episode scripts day of, and “with comic books, it’s kind of the same.” She concluded: “The characters live many lives, depending on what version […] so I’ve seen The Engineer do crazy stuff in different versions of The Authority. So it’s the same with telenovelas.“

What Maria Gabriela de Faria’s Comments About The Engineer Mean For Superman

While the comparison of Superman to telenovelas would sound crazy on the surface, de Faria’s comments have merit. Both fall into genres that are outlandish and campy, and it’s not uncommon for either to feature a larger-than-life villain. As for de Faria using her telenovela experience to inform her performance as the Engineer, being able to convey emotion and stakes is a huge part of acting in a drama, which would possibly come in handy for a superhero film.

Per de Faria, the work ethic instilled in her from her intense telenovela schedule also lent itself to working on Superman. She explained: “For telenovelas, we do like 40 scenes a day, like 35, 40 scenes a day. It’s insane. So it gives me the workhorse kind of thing, where I’m like, “I can totally do this a thousand times. I can learn my lines like this.” Like, it gives you a great work ethic, you know, on top of it all.“

Our Take On Maria Gabriela de Faria

De Faria brought a lot of herself to her performance as the Engineer, and that’s far from a bad thing. One-note characters aren’t particularly fun to watch, so portraying Angela as someone with a lot boiling under the surface adds depth to what could have been a flat performance. De Faria herself noted that the Engineer does have lingering emotions under the surface: ” I feel like she has this facade… She goes and she hides from Lex and she watches telenovelas.” De Faria’s Engineer will debut when Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.

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