Getting the role of Clown in “Ironheart” was the culmination of years of hard work for Sonia Denis, who has been carving her path in the industry as a writer, actress, and comedian. Denis talked to NYOTA about preparing for the role of Clown, leaving her job as a software engineer to pursue acting and the art of funny storytelling.
You became a performer at the age of five. How did you know entertainment was something you wanted to pursue for the rest of your life?
I actually didn’t realize my dream of becoming a performer until I was in my twenties. When I was nine, a friend of my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I told her I wanted to be an actor. My mother was mortified. I’m the child of immigrants, so the career options were limited to doctor, lawyer, engineer… doctor. They had no model for what a career in the arts looked like. No one we knew personally made their living as an artist. I graduated from college with a degree in computer science and was slowly dying, working 9-to-5 as a software engineer. There was always a voice in my head that told me this was my path, but I was too scared. But one day, the voice was so loud I knew I had to quit my job and make a leap of faith. I’m grateful to my past self for her bravery. She never imagined what we’d do.
When it comes to writing versus acting. Which one was your first love?
It’s hard for me to separate the two because, as a child, I was always daydreaming. I’d create stories in my head where I was the main character. When I started performing, I always knew I wanted to write too. In the long term, my goal is to create a production company where I can do all the things: write, direct, and act in stories we craft.
How did you feel when you got the news that you’d be playing Clown in Ironheart? Where were you when you found out? Paint the story for us.
Sam Bailey directed the first three episodes of Ironheart. We’d already worked together in Chicago in 2017 on a web series called Brown Girls. It got nominated for an Emmy. Over the years, we’ve collaborated on independent projects together. When I heard she got tapped to be one of the directors for Ironheart, I wasn’t surprised because she’s one of the most talented people I know. Later, I got an opportunity to audition for a role in the show. I was excited, but I honestly didn’t expect to get it. I think that also freed me to have fun with the self-tape for Clown. I made bold choices, and it felt effortless. The callback with the directors and producers was intimidating, so months later, when Sam called me, I expected bad news like, “Thanks for trying, but… we’re going with someone else.” But she said the opposite, and I was in shock. I could not believe it. I had to ask her to swear she wasn’t joking, but she wasn’t, and months later, there I was on a Marvel set.
When playing a character, like Clown, who is very layered. What layers were most important for you to explore?
The minute I read the sides for the audition, I could see her in my mind’s eye. She wasn’t exactly like me, but we had enough similarities that it wasn’t hard to tap into who she was. She’s funny, a ham, but she also feels things deeply. She’s emotional and volatile. The crew of criminals she’s a part of is her chosen family, which means her blood family let her down. And when you compare how she looked when she was a normie working as a chemist to her current aesthetic— the hair, the makeup, the septum piercing, and the clothes, this is someone who had to come into herself. It was important to me that the audience laughed with Clown and got her humor, but also that they saw her humanity, her sadness and desire to belong, her anger at being stuck in a world where she sometimes felt like an alien.
How did you prepare for the role of Clown?
After reading the scripts, I worked on tapping into her voice. I think all the work I’ve done as a comic, a writer, and obviously an actor on other projects prepared me for the moment. I always made sure to show up on set, off book, lines memorized, but also open to the director’s input, what the set was giving, and the decisions the actors made. There were scenes where the director would say, “For this take, you can improvise, do what comes to you…” My years as a stand-up on stage especially prepared me to riff something off the top of my head in the moment.
As a comedian, what’s the hardest part of your job? Do you find the art of funny storytelling a welcome challenge?
I think storytelling is at the core of everything I do. Being funny was how I got through my childhood. As an immigrant kid, my peers thought I was weird, so the way I got them to accept or at least tolerate my existence was by making them laugh. It was a superpower. A way to disarm people. I’d always be recounting things that happened in real life or on TV. Weaving through the events in a compelling way. When I started doing stand-up, my first set was based on stories I was already telling my friends to make them laugh. I think the hardest part of being a comedian is accepting when a joke doesn’t land. When you’re at home crafting a joke, you can’t always tell how it’ll be received. Every joke doesn’t hit hard; sometimes, a small laugh sets you up for a bigger one. And you have to be patient, not allow yourself to give up on the joke before you get to the end. And if it still doesn’t work, you have to push through to the next joke.
You are an actress, comedian, and Emmy-nominated writer, and have worked on projects like HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show and Birdgirl. With numerous successes under your belt, what’s a goal that can be classified as your ‘I made it’ moment?
It’s hard to say honestly. One thing I’ve learned is that each step looks very different when you live it than when you imagine it. I never thought my path would lead me to a Marvel production. Most of the things I’ve done have been unexpected. When I first started performing at open mics in Chicago, I didn’t know that years later I’d be living in New York writing and acting for a living. The first few years of my career, I was always planning things out: this year I’ll do this, and the next I’ll do that. When those things didn’t happen, it would break my heart. I’d start doubting myself and my talent. Now I still have goals and aspirations, but I try to be open to whatever the universe brings. I try to control what I can, which is my work ethic and the time and effort I put into my craft. I think when I have a career where I can work consistently on projects that are fulfilling and meaningful, I’ll be able to say I made it.
Suppose you were to connect with your younger self and give her advice. What would you say to her?
I’d tell her no one’s opinion of you is more important than your own. I spent so much time trying and failing to be like my peers. Shrinking myself to fit into square pegs because I thought if they could accept me, then I could accept myself. It wasn’t until I got into therapy that I realized how much energy I was wasting trying to be “normal,” whatever that means. Once I started being myself, at all times, I felt lighter and I attracted people who saw me for me. I started moving through the world with a sense of peace I’d never known. I wish I could travel back in time and share that peace with little me.
