DAYS Exclusive: Elia Cantu Says ‘Tension Is High’ Between Jada, Arnold And EJ
Fighting Words: Elia Cantu (Jada) is loving her adversarial DAYS dynamic with Dan Feuerriegel’s EJ.
Since last December, poor Jada has been bamboozled by Arnold, who’s taken over Rafe’s life, and EJ, who’s orchestrated the whole scheme, on Days of our Lives. Portraying the character smack in the middle of the major con has been a wild and entertaining ride for Elia Cantu.
“There have definitely been some fun moments,” says Cantu, referencing her work opposite Galen Gering as Arnold. “It’s nice to see a different side of Galen as far as an actor being able to pull off playing somebody that looks just like him, but is different. I’ve really enjoyed working with him and Dan [Feuerriegel, EJ]. The episodes [with both of them] are pretty fun to do.”
Spicing Things Up
From the get-go, Cantu has found herself in a tricky position as Rafe’s significant other. “It’s like Jada was catching on, but she couldn’t catch on too much, you know what I’m saying?” muses Cantu. “She noticed that something was a little off, but was thinking that maybe he wanted to have a little fun, that maybe he was trying to spice things up with little nicknames like ‘Boo’ and ‘Jada Cakes’ and all that.”
Cantu has found herself behaving differently as Jada when reacting to Gering’s portrayal of Arnold as opposed to Rafe. “It’s been more in-the-moment and reactionary,” she notes. “I really react off of whatever he gives me. We get to mix a little bit of improv into [our performance]; even if it’s not with the words, per se, but with our facial expressions and reactions. We’ve been able to have fun with that. It’s been entertaining, for sure.”
As for what she regards as moments that have stood out throughout the whole caper, Cantu’s thoughts go right to one episode. “The New Year’s Eve scenes were fun, because there were a lot of moving parts,” she notes. “We were all at EJ’s mansion, and Arnold Feniger, he loves to eat, as you can see. That must be part of his character traits. He’s kind of a pig. He’s always eating — and eating very sloppily, I might add. During the New Year’s Eve scenes, he was eating something, I don’t know what it was, maybe a cracker or a bread stick, and it was all over his face and his suit. Then he kissed me, because it was the new year, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want these crumbs on me and on my lips.’ I remember that scene was pretty funny. I was kind of like, ‘Ew.’ It was a very messy way to bring in the new year.”
In between the messy food moments, Cantu has also found herself in the middle of EJ and Arnold’s/”Rafe’s” comedy shtick, playing a woman who’s unaware of what’s really going on between them. “She is the straight guy between those two,” says Cantu. “That’s a little challenging and [something] I have to watch. I can’t laugh or break character, and I also can’t let on that I know too much. I mean, personally, I would love to be kooky. I love comedy. But with comedy you have to have your straight guy. That’s how the formula works.”
Cantu also gets to play the tough police commissioner going up against the conniving EJ. “This the most Dan and I have been working together consistently,” points out Cantu. “It’s been great to get his chemistry as an actor and see how he works.”
As the Jada/EJ relationship has developed, the pair have emerged as intense adversaries. “I do like it. It makes a good story,” says Cantu. “The stakes are high, tension is high, and it makes for interesting TV.”
And Cantu certainly holds her own opposite the big bad DiMera. “Jada’s tiny, but mighty,” delivers the actress with a laugh. “It cracks me up sometimes, because I do go up against these very tall, big guys who are very like him. There was even Paul Telfer [Xander] in the past. I think when I first started [on the show], I was arresting him. It has always cracked me up when they’ve [had] me paired with these men, but it’s good because Jada can hold her own no matter what. There’s an energy you better have, and she does.”
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