What started as an opportunity to do a few short lines on the popular High School Musical: The Musical: The Series turned into a full-time gig for Dara Reneé. 

“Here’s the tea. I was at another audition that I completely just bombed. And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, at least I got one episode of High School Musical, they gave me a few lines,’ ’’ Dara spoke exclusively with RoyalTee, recalling the day she received the call that she was going to be a regular on the series. 

It was a seat at the table she did not know was waiting for her.

“I said, ‘You know who you’re talking to, right?’’’ she recalls telling the casting director on the phone in a parking lot. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, we know.’ And I was like, Oh my gosh, and I’ve just been so grateful ever since.” 

She added, “Every single day on that set is a blessing, and I just can’t believe that I’m there.”

The 21-year-old portrays Kourtney Greene, the stylish costume designer and best friend of Nini in the mockumentary series. Season three of HSMTMTS takes place at Camp Shallow Lake, where there’s a hot-cold battle as Frozen rehearsals get underway. And those who are fans of Kourtney know she prefers the mall over trees. 

“I got to be like bougie and be like, ‘ooh, trees, the forest. No, thank you,’ Dara shared about her character’s dislike of their outdoor environment. “But it was really fun.”

But there’s also the authenticity of her character that’s easily relatable. 

“Kourtney is very much true to herself and she’s not afraid to be different and she’s not afraid to fail. She’s not afraid to succeed, and she just doesn’t let anything hold her back,” Dara told RoyalTee. There is also the anxiety aspect, which Dara can relate to on a personal level, and the motivation to get out of her shell. 

“Whether that be limits or whether that be expectations. She just continues to cross boundaries and just does it so freely and so confidently. I love it,” she says. 

Much of Kourtney’s personality is the spunk that Dara naturally brings to the camera and that could be arguably tied back to her biggest motivator, which is her mother.

Last season, Dara’s real-life mother, actress Kimberly Brooks, made an appearance on HSMTMTS as Kourtney’s mother. 

“My mom, who has been with me through thick and thin, is playing my TV mom! She has taught me everything I know and I wouldn’t be here without her! MOM WE DID IT! WE MADE IT MA!!” Dara wrote in a sweet Instagram post at the time.

Although she is not making any cameos this season, the 54-year-old actress, who is best known for her voice roles for The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and A Dog’s Life, continues to be her daughter’s main motivator.

“She’s my hero,” Dara tells RoyalTee. “I would not be here without her,” adding that her mom is always just a “holler away.’’

Dara says, “She’s literally just so much to me. She means so much to me, and we’ve been through so much and to finally be able to say like, ‘Look, Mom, we made it, we made it all those years of sacrifice.’…I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be in my life. And I love her so, so, so, so, so, so much. And that’s my mommy.”

Watch HSMTMTS on Disney+.