Since they were three years old, twin sisters Bianca and Chiara D’Ambrosio have been successfully navigating the entertainment industry. Making a high profile start when they originated the role of Summer Newman on the legendary soap opera The Young and the Restless, the D’Ambrosio sisters have been featured in nearly every aspect of the industry – commercials, music videos, television and movies. But while most people who got into the industry as small children quickly find their way out from in front of the camera, Bianca and Chiara, are continuing to push forward with bigger exposure and exciting opportunities.
2021 has proved to be an exciting year for the twins. After returning to daytime television by joining the cast of The Bay in 2020, Bianca and Chiara took the role of recurring characters, Regan and Frankie Sanders. After only a handful of appearances, they were offered their own spin-off series, YA. Filming the ten episode series prior to the COVID lockdown, the series has yet to debut, but their performances got even wider attention when both sisters got nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series, and when the winner was announced, it was Chiara who was bringing home the award.
One of the busiest sister combinations currently working in Hollywood, Chiara and Bianca currently have a half dozen films in pre-production between them, in which they appear either together or apart. They are also slated to appear in the next season of The Bay. But beyond the screen, they have dominated the world of social media with 400K followers on Instagram, 86K on Facebook, 28k on Twitter and 18k on YouTube. They’ve had an impressive 12.8 Million views on their YouTube channel.
In getting the opportunity to visit with Bianca and Chiara about their current projects, what I find the most interesting about the D’Ambrosio sisters is that they are continuously pushing themselves towards new opportunities and challenges in their career. They pick interesting projects that move them both forward as players in the world of entertainment, instead of falling into some of the pitfalls that teen actors often find themselves trapped in. With ambitions to move behind the camera as well as stay in front of it, the girls are seeking out diverse challenges and proving there is nothing that they can’t succeed at.
Bianca and Chiara are just a delight to talk with. High energy, intelligent, personable and experienced, they are moving from being child stars to young professionals in the entertainment industry.
Sam: Throughout the history of Hollywood, there is a tradition that a lot of studios and productions would use twins when casting very young children. I know you two started out that way. Can you explain why they do that?
Bianca: What happens is they’ll film with one twin for two hours, and then the other twin for two hours. That way, they get four hours done with the character they want on screen. Up to a certain point, I want to say around age seven, it starts to break away from the process of hiring twins to play one character.
Sam: So how did you get involved in show business?
Chiara: Our parents were stopped on the street all the time because twins are so popular all the time, especially when they are babies, to be in the film industry. My parents held out until about age three, when the first show we booked was The Young and the Restless playing Summer Newman. My parents were like “Should we do this? It could be fun for them. Who knows what they’ll want to do when they grow up?” But we absolutely loved it. So that’s how it worked.
Sam: Now you are just starting to form memories around age three. Do you remember being on Young and the Restless, or is it just bits and pieces of memories?
Bianca: It’s very spotty.
Chiara: Yeah. I only have a few memories. I remember very vividly a Halloween episode which we were in. I remember eating all the Halloween candy, and I can remember my Mom trying to explain to me the concept of the storyline that was going on. I think on the show there was something about people bugging the house. So, we played the daughter of Phyllis, and Phyllis was being bugged and my Mom was trying to explain it and I’ll never forget trying to remember that.
Sam: Obviously your entire life you’ve been seen as a unit, but I do see on the IMDB, as well as in information I’ve been sent, is that you are doing projects apart of one another now. Is there a push for you to start doing individual work?
Chiara: Well, throughout our entire career, there has been times where Bianca will get a project, or I’ll get a project where we will have to split off. But we love working together, and recently there has been projects where they’ll only need one of us when we send our audition tapes in, and they have to pick between both of us. My sister and I are often asked how it feels when one sister books something the other really wanted, and honestly, I feel so proud for Bianca because our parents always taught us that when one of us books a project and the other doesn’t, we both win.
Bianca: Yeah. It’s a win for both of us.
Chiara: Obviously I’d love to do projects with my sister forever, but we are also totally fine doing projects individually.
Sam: So, when you do auditions together, for the same part, and they pick one over the other, what do they look for? Do you think you two have different acting styles? Is one of you perhaps better as a dramatic actress, or in a comedy role? How do you choose? Do you have any idea?
Chiara: Honestly, I don’t have any idea, and I don’t know if we’ll ever have an answer to that question. It’s just the pick of the role. Bianca has always been more of a person to attract to a dramatic role, but I am better at a more comedic piece. Comedy is more my forte. But it just depends on the situation, and then that’s how they choose.
Sam: In your YouTube videos there is a real comedian/straight man dynamic to the pair of you when you are together. Does that come naturally?
Bianca: Yeah. Chiara has always been more out there and snarkier. I mean, I think we are both funny in our own way, but I need to wrangle Chiara in. It’s what you’d expect from an older sister wrangling in a younger sister.
Sam: When you say older sister, how much older are you?
Bianca and Chiara (in unison): Two minutes.
Bianca: But I call her my younger sister.
Chiara: She literally calls me that.
Sam: Obviously you two had a big year this year for each being nominated for the same Daytime Emmy Award for your roles in The Bay, and then Chiara won the award. You guys have been working constantly your whole lives. What’s it like, at age sixteen, to be at the point where you are getting Emmy nominations?
Bianca: We grew up in the daytime television community, and now that we were both acknowledged by this community once again…
Chiara: It’s like it’s come full circle.
Bianca: It’s a full circle moment, and I’m so honored and so grateful and it was just an amazing experience. I got to meet some of the other nominees, and they were super sweet and super kind. On the day that the awards are being given out, everyone is just so nice. I have always dreamt of this moment, so now that it came at age fifteen, I was like, what? This is crazy sitting here.
Sam: So, when you were both nominated for the same award, was there any sort of uneasy feeling, knowing that now you both were in competition with one another?
Chiara: I can only speak for myself, but I was so proud for Bianca. I honestly couldn’t imagine being nominated for anything without her being by my side. So, this was everything I had ever wished for and more. I honestly was so happy with just the nomination. That was enough for me.
Bianca: Yeah. Honestly, when I found out I was nominated that was already a win for me. No matter what happened at the Emmys, I felt like I had already won by just having a nomination. That is itself a huge accomplishment, and it deserves to be celebrated as much as an Emmy win.
Sam: So how did it feel when Chiara won?
Bianca: Chiara and I have had conversations about this. Before the Emmys, we started having conversations like, “Whatever happens, happens.” But the week leading up to it, you start getting butterflies in your stomach when you think about it. So, the week before, we were kind of stressed. I’m not going to lie. It’s a lot to handle. It’s a lot to deal with. We would say that no matter who wins, we’ll just be so excited to be there. But when we found out Chiara won, I was shocked.
Chiara: I honestly didn’t think I’d win. Right before we got called up for our nominations, I said to Bianca, “I don’t think I’m going to win.” So, we decided to just clap and before happy for whoever won. But when they said I won, I thought they were telling me a joke. There is a video on the Emmys website. If you see my face, it’s like, complete shock. My jaw drops to the floor. I turned to Bianca and her jaw dropped too. She started freaking out and hugging me and I said, “Wait a second. No no no no no.” And then going up to the stage was crazy.
Sam: It sounds like you guys were having out-of-body experiences.
Chiara: Oh yeah. I went numb. I couldn’t feel anything. Thank God I wrote a speech an hour before I left because otherwise I would have been rambling so bad.
Sam: The Bay is going into Season Seven, I assume, since it’s been Emmy nominated.
Bianca: Yeah. We are just on a break from filming, but it’s going to be a very exciting season.
Sam: And YA is the spin off series featuring your characters. It was a ten-episode series. What’s going on with that show?
Chiara: We don’t know what’s in store for it because we filmed it right before the pandemic, but hopefully we’ll see it early next year.
Sam: How did YA spin off from The Bay? What’s the premise of the show?
Bianca: YA follows our characters, Frankie and Reagan Sanders, as they move from Denver, Colorado to Bay City after their father dies, and now they are adjusting to living with their grandmother. It features a lot of drama, a lot of heartfelt moments. There is romance and it’s going to be a show a lot of people will love. It’s a mixture between 90210 and Riverdale.
Sam: Are you going to be making more appearances on The Bay?
Bianca: Yes. We are reoccurring on The Bay, and then appear on YA.
Sam: But it must feel pretty good to be on a show and have the producers come and ask if you want your own show and keep you on the regular show.
Bianca: Our characters were talked about in earlier episodes of The Bay prior to making our appearances, and the directors were curious about delving into our characters, and they wanted to follow us and develop more of a teen audience for YA. I’m very excited to see it because I think a lot of people will be watching it. YA can have its own audience, and The Bay viewers will be watching it to see what happens.
Sam: I am a huge fan of horror films, and I know that you two have one coming out called Slapface. `
Bianca: Yeah. Jeremiah Kipp wrote and directed the film, and he’s a genius. It just premiered in the UK, but we couldn’t go unfortunately, but some of our other castmates went and they had a blast. I’ve seen the film so many times and I love it. I think it’s going to be on AMC Shudder in January.
Sam: Great. I can’t wait to see it.
Bianca: I hope you love it.
Chiara: The film follows this young boy named Lucas after his Mom passed away. Now he is under the guardianship of his older brother, and he starts seeing this monster coming out of the woods. We play the bullies, and we sort of torture Lucas throughout the movie about seeing this monster. It’s different than a lot of other horror movies because there are so many more dimensions to it. I think a lot of people will see how special it is.
Sam: You two are so delightful in your videos, and to talk to. What was it like playing bullies? I find that most of the actors I’ve met that have played villains are fantastic to talk with. Was it fun for you?
Chiara: In the beginning, for the first day or two, I found it fun. We went and filmed it in the middle of nowhere in New York, and when we filmed, we were staying in the same hotel as the rest of our castmates that are in our scene. For the first day or two, it was great, because it’s easier being a bully. But by the end of the filming everyone was like our best friends. Suddenly I felt so bad to be so mean.
Bianca: Oh my god. We felt so bad. It was fun, but we felt so bad once we liked everyone.
Sam: So, you obviously didn’t get into method acting on this set.
Bianca: Oh no. We are still close to everyone. We love them.
Sam: So, Bianca, you’ve said you’ve wanted to be a director and Chiara, you want to move in screenwriting.
Bianca: Yeah. I’d love to direct. I love acting and I’m always writing but if I had to choose my favorite aspect of the entertainment industry, it’d as a director. I’ve been inspired by female directors, like Greta Gerwig, who make such powerful films and that’s what I want to do.
Sam: Have the two of you talked about collaborating behind the scenes as a writer/director team?
Chiara: Absolutely. I talk to Bianca about it all the time. I love writing, and I’d especially love to have input on the filming. Whenever we work together, it’s sort of like magic that comes alive. We naturally know what we want to portray in the script and on the screen. I’d love to continue writing screenplays and have my sister direct them, or I’d love to be a series writer. I’d love to commit to a show and just build this series. That’s something that I’d be interested in doing.
Bianca: I can direct your TV show Chiara. How about that?
Chiara: Thank you so much.
Sam: You’ve already worked with so many huge names in the business. Who would you like to work with?
Chiara: Jodie Comer from Killing Eve.
Bianca: Jodie Comer!
Chiara: She’s my favorite actress. And Adam Driver!
Bianca: He is such a good actor! But my number one would be Jodie Comer. Acting with her would be a bucket list moment for me.
Sam: I see you have a lot of projects coming up in post-production. What do you have coming out next?
Bianca: We have a romantic comedy coming out called The Magic, but we can’t say too much about it yet but there will be more out on that very very soon. What about you Chiara?
Chiara: I filmed a movie called Bandit which comes out in the spring or summer of 2022. We’ll hear more news about it in the next few weeks. Then Bianca did a film called Call Jane.
Bianca: Yeah. Last summer I worked on Call Jane with Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks and Kate Mara about a woman in the 1960s, before Roe vs. Wade, who is trying to get an abortion, so she finds an underground group of women who are willing to help her. It’s a powerful story and I’m honored to be a part of it.
Sam: One thing I find so interesting about the two of you is the number of interesting projects that you are choosing, and that you seem to be constantly moving forward and challenging yourself and doing so much of everything. Your ambition and energy is just so amazing. I’ve just loved talking with you both.
Chiara: Oh, thank you.
Bianca: Thank you for saying that. You are so nice.
Bianca and Chiara have quickly become favorites of mine. I just loved talking with them, and their energy, ambition and success is both inspiring and exhilarating. and I am looking forward to watching their career continue to flourish and grow, no matter what directions they go in. Make sure to follow the D’Ambrosio sisters on their various social network platforms to keep up with their adventures and projects and, for more information, visit their website at https://dambrosiotwins.com/.
