I first time I saw Felicia Day at a comic con was last fall at Wizard World Austin. When I found out she would be back in Texas–to Fan Expo Dallas, right in my backyard!–I knew I had to jump at the chance to see her again.

Fan Expo Dallas took place the first weekend of this month, April 6-8, at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. Queen of Geek Felicia Day had her panel scheduled for Sunday and it was the best way to celebrate #SundayFunday.

The moderator kicked off the panel to ask Day about the web series she starred in, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Day gave us some background first: online streaming had just gotten its start around the time of the 2007-2008 writers’ strike when they shot the web series 10 years ago. When Day got the part of Penny, Harris’s love interest, she stated adamantly, “You say yes to Joss Whedon!” But of course! “[Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog] is one of those things that always lives–it never gets old,” she said. “It’s cool to be a part of something like that.”

Day went on to ask the audience, “Does anyone have a baby? It is a lot of work I’m not finishing Fall Out 4 anytime soon!” Fay recently took on the role of mom to her baby girl Calliope.

On top of being a geek mom, she also has three projects in the works and she is also taking on more acting roles. She recently starred in Syfy’s The Magicians as Poppy and she has been voice acting as various actors in Adventure Time too. Is there anything this woman can’t do?!

She made an assumption that all Gryffindors are athletic and a kind fan in the audience corrected her.

“My people are Ravenclaws!” she exclaimed. RAVENCLAW REPRESENT!!

A fan asked Day how did her homeschooling affect her becoming a nerd? Day answered that she read a lot of books when she was home-schooled, especially noir, mystery, and dragon books. She used this opportunity to point out that problem that many young girls and women face: “A lot of girls who are interested in something not mainstream are shunned… I grew up to not be ashamed of who I am. In the real world, I was weird but I was ok with it.”

Another fan asked, “How often do you get ‘Bye Felicia!’?” TOO MUCH, WE BET. Day said she gets that twice a week and usually once a day on Twitter and she will block those people.

When asked about advice for people who want to get their foot in the door in the film industry, Day responded with a simple and logical answer: “You can do it from your home with a good iPhone and microphone.” Day made a point that many people who aspire to get into the film industry just move to Los Angeles, her included, but anyone can get a start with the right tools and a unique story to tell. She also advised that people who want to get into film should be on as many sets as possible to learn how it works. Volunteer in local theaters. And be a writer and outline scripts. This woman is full of great advice.

Another fan asked Day, “If you could be any of your characters in real life, who would you be?” Day responded that she’d love to be Charlie, her character in the CW’s Supernatural.

A question I thought was particularly interesting, in the sense that I don’t hear it often at comic con panels, was someone asking about college advice. Day responded that “in college, you should experiment with everything.” Cue the audience laugh. EVERYTHING, huh? *wink wink nudge nudge* Day immediately added to that, “Any subject you’re interested in… in academics…”

To conclude this recap, I just want to say that Felicia Day is an inspiration and an incredible role model.  Our Geek Gals team loved seeing her and would love to see her again at a future convention.

 

Featured image credit: Felicia Day