Why Dana Caldwell From The Goldbergs Looks So Familiar

Outside of the titular family in "The Goldbergs," there are relatively few characters who maintain a presence on the sitcom from its beginning all the way to its ending with Season 10. However, one of the few who can make that unique claim is Dana Caldwell, the young love interest of Adam (Sean Giambrone). Dana first appears on the show in its first season, and though she would be sporadically absent from a couple of subsequent installments, she's still around by the time the show wraps up.

Viewers of "The Goldberg" may get the feeling that they've seen Dana's actor, Natalie Alyn Lind, in other productions. Their suspicions are likely correct, as the actor has appeared in quite a few notable shows, both before and during her time on "The Goldbergs." Before she landed the part of Dana, Lind guest starred in episodes of "One Tree Hill," "Flashpoint," "iCarly," "Criminal Minds," and "Wizards of Waverly Place." However, her most iconic roles come from after the joined up with the '80s-style sitcom.

One of Natalie Alyn Lind's most prominent roles came when she joined the world of DC Comics through the Batman prequel series "Gotham." Specifically, Lind recurred as part of the cast for "Gotham's" second season as Silver St. Cloud, a young elite who sparks a relationship with Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), causing quite a bit of friction between him and his main love interest Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova). Of course, all isn't perfect with Silver, as it turns out that she sports some sinister ties to villain-of-the-season Theo Galavan (James Frain).

Lind's "Gotham" role made history for bringing Silver, a longstanding supporting character from the Batman comics, to live-action for the very first time. However, the part was also uniquely groundbreaking for the actor herself, as it was very different from what she had experienced as part of the cast for "The Goldbergs." "Transitioning from that to Gotham was such a jump; because you go from super funny comedy to something super dark," she told InLove Magazine. "I played this evil character on Gotham. That was such an incredible experience for me because I was living in New York, which has always been a dream of mine. I was such a fan of the show before I got to work on it. It was so genuinely cool to play two completely different characters at the same time."

Several years after "Gotham" and a couple other guest appearances on major network shows like "Chicago Fire" and "iZombie," Natalie Alyn Lind once again joined the cast of a major comic book adaptation — though this one wasn't from DC Comics. Indeed, the actor jumped over to other biggest comic juggernaut in the business by starring in Marvel's X-Men-adjacent TV series "The Gifted." Throughout the show's run of two seasons before its cancellation, she played Lauren Strucker, a teenage mutant with force field powers who goes on the run along with her family for fear of persecution. Lauren starts out as a more lighthearted character, but circumstances later in the show give her a harder edge as she fights to protect her mutant peers.

In keeping with her background as a comic book fan, Lind followed the "X-Men" franchise quite extensively before she was cast. As she said in an interview with InLove Magazine, she watched both the Fox movie series and read the comics. "For me, it's cool to be able to play a character that's in the comics," she explained. "Being able to go back and look at the comics and then put your own twist on the character in the TV show is really cool."

2019 would see Natalie Alyn Lind getting involved with some classic fairy tale adaptations, though decidedly not the kid-friendly Disney ones. Rather, the actor joined the cast for Season 2 of the thriller anthology series "Tell Me A Story," which reinvented classic fairy tales and wove them into a twisted modern-day plot. For the second season, which took elements from "Beauty and the Beast" among others, Lind portrayed Beast analogue Ashley Rose Pruitt, a shut-in country singer who has been disfigured after a tragic accident. She develops a surprising romance with police officer Beau Morris (Eka Darville).

In a promotional video for the series, Lind said that her favorite element of her storyline on "Tell Me A Story" is that it goes against the traditional, somewhat gendered expectations of what a "Beauty and the Beast" narrative looks like. "My favorite part of this storyline is that I'm the Beast," she said. "When Kevin [Williamson] let me know, like, 'No, you're the Beast,' it was definitely a cool, dark, twisty turn."

Recent years saw Natalie Alyn Lind join up with yet another thriller series in the form of the ABC crime-drama "Big Sky." The actor featured as part of "Big Sky's" main cast solely for its debut season in 2020. During those early chapters of the series, she appears as Danielle Sullivan, who, along with her sister Grace (Jade Pettyjohn), gets kidnapped by antagonist Ronald Pergman (Brian Geraghty). While the pair's plight is nothing short of traumatic, they hold their own against their captor and successfully make it out of harm's way by the end of the season.

Lind found a connection to her "Big Sky" character in the way that they both treasure their relationships with their siblings. "The biggest similarity between Danielle and me would be our undying love and devotion for our sisters," the actor said in an interview with EUPHORIA. Magazine. "Throughout the show, Danielle and Grace lean on and support each other. They have to find strength in one another. I have the same connection with my sisters."