Aya Cash
Aya Cash, star of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys and the FX/FXX series You’re the Worst, is making her Broadway debut in the Olivier award winning play Giant. It’s set in 1983, just after acclaimed children’s author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda)—played by Olivier-winning John Lithgow—has published his antisemitic views in a bigoted book review. Aya plays Jessie Stone, sent from Dahl’s American publisher to get him to make a public apology. Let’s just say, verbal fireworks ensue. We caught up with Aya for a fun NYC photo shoot and writer Gina Way chatted with her about vintage shopping, what she loves about NYC, going toe to toe with Lithgow on stage, and her five Bare Essentials.
Gina Way: You’re making your Broadway debut (congrats!), but you got your start on the stage, right?
Aya Cash: Yes, I started in theater. I thought I was going to be doing regional theater and Shakespeare when I came out of school and then somehow, I ended up being in new plays and then film and tv. I don’t think I’ve done a Shakespeare play in 20 years. That’s why I got on TV; I want to do Shakespeare in the Park, and I thought you had to be on TV to do that!
GW: In this play, you go mano a mano with John Lithgow, and it is thrilling. Was that intimidating at first?
AC: Yes and no. I think acting is an equalizer, in that it’s one of the few professions where you’re all doing the same job. It’s not hierarchical when you’re all acting on stage. John is a legend and one of the greatest actors of my lifetime for sure, and yet we’re both doing the same job. Some actors when they get power, wield that power in a way that is about intimidating and controlling others and feeding their own ego. There is none of that with John. He is only welcoming and brings you in, so I felt comfortable pretty quickly. A great actor makes you look good. Also, my character is intimidated by him at first, so I’m able to use that.
GW: Have you noticed audiences reacting to the charged subject matter of this play?
AC: The Broadway audiences have been a little more vocal with audible gasps and with people speaking their opinion of what my character is saying, both pro and against, which can be a little scary in the moment but also speaks to the amount of passion that people feel about these ideas. I have heard that a lot of people end up talking about it afterwards, which is what you want. I want people to sit with these ideas, with a slowness and thoughtfulness that doesn’t exist in our social media world of headlines and immediate opinions. Can people sit with the discomfort of characters expressing views very different from theirs and hear these conversations out?
GW: Do you have a few special items in your dressing room?
AC: I have some Mike Mills posters on my wall. One says: “All we have ever wanted is everything.” I have a poster of The Living Theatre, an experimental theatre group, because my dad used to be a part of a street theatre group called The Pageant Players that would go on at intermission and scream, “Give them all your money, you bourgeois pigs!” I have a painting of a dog that I got at a thrift store that looks like my dog, and a beautiful painting my husband did when he was 16. I also have a Patti Smith photo, because she makes me think of just being yourself completely and not letting anybody tell you that should have done, or should have been, or have to be.
GW: I need to ask about the crazy irony of playing a Jewish woman holding her own against Roald Dahl’s antisemitic views in Giant and playing Stormfront, a Nazi superhero villain, on The Boys. I mean, that had to be a mind-blowing pivot?
AC: What’s even crazier is we’re doing a prequel (to Stormfront’s story) called Vought Rising so I ended the West End production of Giant on Aug 3, started Vought Rising in Canada on Aug 4, then finished on March 5 and began rehearsals on Broadway on March 6. So, I was playing a Nazi in between doing this play. Yeah, it’s a wild turn—but also that’s exciting, and normally you don’t get to play such opposite characters as an actor.
GW: Visually, you look so different too. Do people recognize you as Stormfront?
AC: I only get recognized for my voice. Nobody recognizes me. I will walk down the street with castmates of mine from The Boys, and I’ll actually offer to take pictures FOR the fans of my castmates, and they never notice me.
GW: How do you like to refuel and rest? I hear that you are a ceramicist?
AC: My friend Colby Minifie, who plays Ashley on The Boys, inspired me to take classes a few years ago and I just got hooked. You’re either in or out when it comes to clay – either it becomes your whole life, or you never do it again. It’s so soothing, calming, and quiet—and it just drops my system down. You just get into a flow state. There’s no pressure on it, I don’t have to be good at it, there’s no money on the line – except my own, and ceramics is a very expensive hobby.
GW: How would you describe your personal style?
AC: My style is probably ‘eclectic mess.’ I’m so envious of people who can stick to one idea. I like to dress up, just as I like to dress up as characters. I like to sort of jump into the world depending on my mood. There’s a lot of 14-year-old boy in my style and there’s a lot of glam 1940s and ‘50s vintage. I’m kind of all over the place and I enjoy that. One of my favorite finds are these 1990s high heel Converse – they don’t make them anymore. I have alerts on them. They’re fantastic and very comfortable. I have a pair that I wear all the time, and a pair that’s clean and not messed up that I save for a nice night out.
GW: Where do you like to shop for vintage?
AC: I’m a big thrifter. My sticker shock at normal prices is still with me – I grew up with no money – so shopping vintage was the way to feel stylish without any money because it was dirt cheap when I was growing up. I have some great vintage stores that I shop online and in person. I think people should be shopping second-hand for many reasons – environmental, small business, sustainability – and I’m happy to support them all.
Here’s my list:
Nouveau Riche Vintage and Mama Loves You in Toronto
Mercy Vintage in Oakland, and Vacation in San Francisco
Clubhouse Vintage, Lovefield Vintage, Fool For Love, and Chambers Vintage in upstate NY
GW: What’s your beauty routine like? Any favorite products?
AC: I go in and out of a skincare routine. I definitely moisturize all the time and I like Osea – I use their Atmosphere Protection Cream and their night cream. Sometimes I’ll go to the derm and get tretinoin and it makes my skin peel, and I don’t keep up with it. I’m attempting to get better with all of that. I wash my face with an oil-based cleanser morning and night. There’s a Tata Harper moisturizing spray that I use throughout the day. And I use ISDN sunscreen. I try to keep it simple, and I don’t really wear a ton of makeup on my off days.I love a tubing mascara (by either Blinc or Thrive Causemetics).Most of my makeup is ILIA – they make beautiful stuff that’s really easy to use. I’m not good at doing my own makeup so something that can be used by a toddler is my thing – I love their cream blushes and lipsticks. I use a Dior concealer, but I don’t wear foundation. I mostly find my beauty products through getting my makeup done by pros, but I didn’t grow up in a household with a lot of that stuff. Growing up my look was lots of black eyeliner and dark red lipstick, and was like, “I fucking look fly.” I love to go glam, and I still can’t help being attracted to that kind of beauty.
GW: You have really good hair. Any secrets?
AC: I’m Jewish-Italian so a lot of it is genetic. In fact, the first time I shaved my head was because I always got so much attention for my hair. I was an Ani DiFranco girl, and I was like, “Fuck the male gaze,” so I shaved it. The next time I shaved it because I let my roommate give me a perm, so that second time was vanity. I have naturally good, thick hair, which saved me when the side of my head was shaved for Stormfront – I was able to just flip it over. On Vought Rising, I am wigged. I can’t really say anything more….
Tommy Buckett cuts my hair and Giancarlo (at Marie Robinson Salon in NYC) did my latest color.
GW: What are a couple of your favorite NYC spots, or things you love most about living in the city?
AC: For food it’s Agi's Counter in Brooklyn and St. Jardim in the West Village. Also: Los Tacos No.1, Saraghina, Bangkok Supper Club, Thai Diner, and Rucola. Favorite shopping is Beacon's Closet, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Housing Works, Crossroads, Buffalo Exchange... I love a second hand find.
In terms of what I love most about living in NY- I just love walking and people watching. Any time I am away I miss New Yorkers, even the screamers. Some people feel at peace in nature, I feel at peace walking the streets of NY.
GW: What have you read, watched, seen, or listened to lately that you loved?
AC: I recently read Audition by Katie Kitamura and can't stop thinking about it. I normally can't listen to fiction audiobooks, but The Street by Ann Petry read by Danielle Deadwyler is mind-blowingly good, both as a book and as a performance. I've been listening to country music recently which is very new to me...Shaboozy and Ella Langley specifically. And watching... well, Summer House on Bravo, what else?
GW: Describe your favorite fragrance (it doesn’t have to be a perfume).
AC: I wear a vanilla oil from a now defunct store in the Castro in San Francisco. I have worn it since I was a kid, and I still love it. It makes me feel myself.
GW: What are your Bare Essentials? (5 things you can’t live without right now, or ever.)
AC:
My husband
My dog
Oregano oil (I cannot get sick in my job, so doing everything I can…even though it’s disgusting.)
My books
My high-heeled Converse sneakers
photos/makeup: tina turnbow using haley’s beauty
interview: gina way
hair: brian magallones using oribe
Aya wears her own vintage
