Danika Kors

**Danika Elle "Dani" Kors** (born 1992) is one of the six main characters of *Lights Camera Action*. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida by her parents Cristina Greaves and Eric Kors. She has been best friends with Melanie Buckingham  since kindergarten and the pair attended the University of California together. After graduating, they made their way to L.A to pursue their acting dreams and it was there that Dani met her future husband, Mateo Kahn, her ex-fiancé Max Trodden and four new best friends.

## Character Background

### **Childhood**

Dani was born in 1992 in Miami, Florida. Ever since she was young, Dani was a feisty, rebellious little girl with a bold personality. She would always speak her mind which hurt others' feelings at times. In preschool, she would sometimes make fun of the weird kids and when they'd start crying, Dani felt uncomfortable. This was the beginning of her emotional restraint. From then on, Dani associated showing feelings and emotions as signs of weakness and avoided them at all costs.

In kindergarten, she met Mel who stayed on as her best friend throughout their high school, college and adult years. Together they shared a love of acting and were both fascinated by the film industry. The two of them would play around with their parents' old video cameras and tape themselves performing.

Around the time when Dani started middle school, her father started to become more and more distant and this only heightened the extent of her rebellion. Dani had always grown up around cigarettes since both of her parents smoked, but they never interested her until her Dad's absences became more frequent. She was eleven when she started smoking and stealing her father's cigarettes. The next year when Dani was twelve, her father told her mother that he was leaving her for another woman that he had been cheating on her with for over a year. Dani usually blames her unfaithful tendencies on this fact of her father's past.

### **Teenage Years**

During her freshman year of high school, Dani's smoking cigarettes quickly escalated into smoking weed and getting drunk regularly at parties. She used partying to help her forget what was happening at home with her parents. And as much and drugs and alcohol served as suitable coping mechanisms, Dani relied heavily on Mel during her high school years. Mel made sure she always got home safe and never with the wrong guy. Early on during her freshman year, Dani met a senior named Trevor Arsenault. He was known for being a bad boy, always getting into trouble - not that that stopped the girls from being all over him. But he only had eyes for Dani which she didn't mind rubbing in the other girls' faces from time to time. They met at a senior party where Dani and Mel were the only freshmen, and Dani lost her virginity to him that night. After that, Trevor asked Dani if she wanted to be his girlfriend and she turned him down, to the entire school's surprise. They continued to be friends though, Trevor later becoming her main drug dealer.

Sophomore year was when Dani's drug use got a little out of hand. Trevor introduced her to cocaine and eventually heroin, leading to her addiction to the latter. She wasn't just using on the weekends, but every day just to get by. Dani and her mother were struggling to make ends meet, even when her father still lived with them. They were living paycheck to paycheck and Dani could never hold a job. This lead Dani to stealing from jewelry stores and trading the goods for drugs. Eventually she got arrested which compromised her school life and relationship with her mother.

During junior year, knowing she couldn't steal anymore, Dani resorted to trading sex for drugs. Finally, Mel caught wind of this and went to Dani's mother about it. Together they arranged for Dani to attend rehab in the summer between junior and senior year. She stayed clean for several months during senior year, and picked up her grades.

### **College**

Dani applied to several universities, including the prestigious University of California. She knew it was a long shot, but somehow managed to get accepted despite the events of her past. For several years she believed it was because of how good her grades were and her admirable volunteer hours, but they weren't actually enough to make up for her seasoned past. She learns later on that the reason she got in to UCLA was because her father gave a generous donation to the school with her stepmother's wealth.

Unfortunately, it was in college where Dani went off the rails again. She went to party after party getting seemingly more reckless each time. Eventually, during her sophomore year, she ended up in rehab again, and Mel even took a week of school to help her get settled in. This second time, Dani kicked Trevor to the curb for good and quit heroin for eight years until Season 6 when her breakup with Mateo was too much to handle.

When Dani got back to school after rehab, she focused mostly on her studies for a few months until she went totally crazy. She went back to partying, but stayed for the most part pretty responsible. She didn't do any drugs worse than marijuana, and the amount of times she passed out per week were significantly less. During her last two years of college, she put more energy into meeting new people (who weren't drug dealers) and sleeping with whomever she pleased. At one point, she successfully slept with the entire varsity soccer team.

## Personality

Dani has a big personality and presence. When she walks in the room, everyone knows it. She is extremely witty and has a quick, sassy attitude. She will always come up with something to say, and she'll do it right away. She definitely has an attitude, and it developed at a young age. She uses sarcasm probably more often than she should, using it to talk down to people she believes are lower than her (which is a lot of people). It takes a stronger personality to gain her respect, and anything less she treats with contempt. Dani is very secure and confident with who she is which can be mistaken as being vain at times.No guy had ever broken up with her until Mateo in Season 6. Because she says everything she thinks, Dani openly insults and makes fun of others in a cavalier manner. She doesn't care for other people's feelings, believing they don't have any, just like her (not true).

It takes a lot for Dani to realize that she is in the wrong, and even then she is too proud to admit it and/or apologize. Besides the fact that she'd have to lower herself to apologize, she hates how emotional people get when they forgive her. Dani will avoid those moments at all costs. But her seemingly cold and insensitive heart are only shields she puts up to avoid being seen as weak. Dani needs to feel and be strong at all times, emotionally and physically. You will never see her cry, not just because she doesn't want to, but because nothing touches her in that way. Except Mateo, that is. Inside her harder exterior, Dani has a secret and undeniable love for her best friends and most of all, Mateo. But people wanting to be closer to her have to work extremely hard to break into that part of her.

Dani doesn't just avoid weakness to seem strong to others, but she really just is and always has been. She became the rock for her mother when her father left and remained strong for her during that tough time. She also had the courage to go through several abortions, two stints in rehab, an overdose, physical abuse and a broken family. Dani's strength is also highlighted when she stands up for women in a primarily male-dominated world. She doesn't take shit and demands respect - which she gets. She identified as a feminist early on and never lets tradition control her. In fact, she doesn't let anything control her at all. She is the epitome of a modern woman, paving a completely different path than originally set for women. She crushes even more gender stereotypes by flaunting her physical strength as much as her mental. She is never afraid to throw some punches back in a fight, let alone be involved in one.

She is a very fearless and ambitious person. Growing up on the poorer side of things, she always dreamed of making it big with enough wealth to give herself and her mother better lives. Some may think she's self-centered, but she really and truly cares for the important people in her life. That's not to say that she isn't a tad selfish though. She's ruthless when it comes to anything along the lines of a promotion or an audition opportunity and will swipe it straight out of anyone's hands if she can. She doesn't take the time to think about how her actions might affect other people, like for example when she left her true love, Mateo for a career move. Or when she did enough drugs to overdose, ignoring how her loss might affect those that love her. Another example would be when she decided to get an abortion without even consulting Mateo, the father first. She does these things shamelessly, and doesn't seem to care about the consequences. Even some things that she does for others to be kind, usually have some kind of upside for her as well. Like when she bought Mateo a dog with the idea that it might take his mind off having a baby.

Finally, Dani struggles not only with a drug problem, but with something a little more minor. She has a hard time differentiating sex and love which can hurt others at times. Dani is a big fan of one-night-stands which means there's no time for any emotional connections, commitment or cuddling. Also known as her biggest fears. In every one of Dani's relationships, there is an element of it that makes it worth suffering through a potential break up for. With Trevor, she got the status, drugs and bragging rights; with Ken she got more status, and possible one-up in her career; with Max she got status again, wealth and another potential career advantage. Mateo was the only real relationship she was ever in, and so it only makes sense that he was her true love.

## Career

Dani's true passion was never really acting, although she enjoys it very much. But her real goal was to improve her life from all the poverty and suffering she had to go through as a child. She dreamed of having enough money to never worry again, as well as enough to buy her mother a big, beautiful house that she deserved. As a teenager, she would brainstorm careers that would potentially lead her to that kind of money. She was inspired by the idea of fancy cars, huge houses, and drugs for free. So finally she settled on trying to become an actress. The fame, fortune as well as glamour of Hollywood really appealed to her.

In 2014, she, as well as Mel got hired as an intern on the set of a TV Show. During the "*Pilot"*episode, it shows the Sexy Six starting their first day as interns at Paramount Studios. Three years later in 2017, she gets promoted to a resident at the same studio and from there she keeps working and working to bring herself closer to the acting dream. That same year, she gets cast in her first movie where she bonds with the director, Max, eventually getting engaged to him. In 2020, Dani leaves L.A to film a movie abroad for several months, jeopardizing her relationship with Mateo. She eventually returns, and later that year stars in a new TV Show. She ends up leaving that show because of how it drove a wedge between the friends.

In 2021, Dani uses her fame to start a fashion line and partners up with Mel to bring it to life. They travel to Milan for fashion week to debut their line which turns out to be very successful.

Later that same year, Dani and the five other friends get cast in a new medical drama premiering on a popular network. This turns out to be her big break they'd all been waiting for her whole life. The show is nominated for several Emmy's each year as the success feels endless and the yearly contracts keep rolling around promising more and more money. By this point, the entire group has been fully accepting into the elite Hollywood world. They are all household names and their level of fame is so astounding, even Simon gets jealous. They have finally made it.

## Relationships

### **Friendships**

#### Melanie Buckingham

Dani and Mel have one of the strongest friendships on the show, having been best friends since 1997. They met in kindergarten and have been inseparable ever since. They always have each other's back in every situation and know every ounce of detail about one another. They both discovered their love for acting together and chased that dream hand in hand. In high school they never went anywhere without each other and both maintained high statuses there. The two of them knew they had power in the school, and people would part down the middle when they walked down the hallways to let them through. Although they might have been bitches to people they disapproved of, but always supported each other no matter what, even if they didn't approve of the decision the other made. For example, when Dani started doing drugs and smoking, Mel disapproved heavily but didn't try to control her (knowing it never even work). But, when Dani finally chose to go to rehab and needed support, Mel was right there with her every step of the way, ready to offer it. They both got accepted into the University of California together and made the move from Miami to L.A together. They were roommates for all four years. They were also both successful in getting internships at the same studio and in the "*Pilot'*episode of the series, they become roommates yet again, moving into the same apartment (with Becca as well). The two of them share a few personality traits which is expected after being together for decades. They both share similar humour and often laugh at the same things. They rarely make fun of each other, but make fun of other people together. It has been said about them that when they're together, they're almost feared - a force to be reckoned with. Separately they are both already have very powerful presences, but when they get together, it's undeniable. Whenever they share a victory, they usually celebrate with what they call a "high boob" where they jump up slightly and hit their chests together. This shocks a lot of people because from the outside they appear to be traditional, docile and gentle girls. But in reality, Dani and Mel aren't anything if they aren't strong, independent, modern women. They aren't afraid to speak up and take up space. When they learned what feminism was in the eighth grade, they decided to make it one of their missions to change the way in which the world perceived women. They were unapologetically fierce, with bold personalities who owned their bodies and their sexuality. Several of their ways would be thought of as traditionally masculine, such as the way in which they fight. It needs to be said first of all that Dani and Mel rarely fight. On the rare occasion that they do, they either go outside and settle it in a physical fight, or they'll talk about how stupid it is to fight in the first place. Their longest recorded fight was during Season 8 when Mel believed Dani stole the spotlight at her wedding. Part of this comes from Mel's secret need to be as good or better than Dani. Their whole friendship, she has felt in competition with her whether it be for boys, friends, popularity, beauty, etc. But being a smart girl, Mel knew how stupid it was to be jealous of her best friend so she bottled it up. But at her wedding, a day she had been looking forward to her entire life, she had had enough with the secret rivalry and let all her feelings from all those years come out. Others are often jealous of Dani and Mel's friendship, in particular, Becca who had the task of living with them for years. She always felt like the third wheel and envied how close the were. Dani and Mel are aware that people envied them, and milked it a lot of time by speaking solely in inside jokes or linking arms or even performing an elaborate handshake.

*Main article: Dani and Mel*