Lady Dimitrescu model reveals why she\u2019s never played Resident Evil Luis Padilla, DexertoResident Evil Village made Lady Dimitrescu an icon, as the 9\u20196\u2033 vampire queen proved to be one of the franchise\u2019s toughest bosses yet. In an exclusive interview with Dexerto, her face model Helena Mankowska reveals how she got the role and explains why she\u2019s never played Resi games before. If there\u2019s one video game character that\u2019s etched herself into the hall of fame, it\u2019s Resident Evil Village\u2019s resident bloodsucker, Lady Dimitrescu. Nicknamed the \u2018tall vampire lady\u2018 the character has become a cult phenomenon, with even the world\u2019s tallest supermodel donning that iconic white dress in this stunning cosplay of her. But who is the woman behind that demonic exterior? Meet Helena Mankowska, a Polish-born actor and model now residing in the sunny city of Barcelona (and no, she doesn\u2019t disintegrate when she goes outside). In our sit down interview, the vampire queen\u2019s face model opened up about Resident Evil, gaming, and charity work. Becoming Resident Evil Village\u2019s star, Lady Dimitrescu Helena\u2019s modeling journey began with humble origins. Traveling from her native Poland to the wintery planes of Norway to focus on charity work, she eventually found herself pursuing a career in modeling in Spain. It\u2019s here that her Resident Evil adventure began. \u201cFor that role, I didn\u2019t have to do much\u2026 the agency found me,\u201d she confessed. \u201cI had to go through several castings, and then I was chosen as one of the first five, and I was like \u2018AHH!\u2019 And then you get that email back saying \u2018you have been chosen.\u2019\u201d She compares the moment to \u201cwhen you watch actors interviews and, y\u2019know, someone\u2019s in a restaurant and the agent is at the next table and says \u2018you look good for this role.’\u201d While such stories are usually greeted with an eye roll and skepticism or, in Helena\u2019s words, an exasperated \u201cOh my God,\u201d she shakes her head in disbelief, stating \u201cbut that\u2019s exactly what happened to me.\u201d Just as a clueless Ethan Winters traversed the cobblestone road into the bowels of Castle Dimitrescu, Helena had no idea that she had taken her first steps on the path to becoming the face of an everlasting icon. Why Helena hasn\u2019t played Resident Evil Of course, we\u2019re all wondering: has the iconic face model been terrified by the virtual Lady D\u2019s vanishing acts and terrifying claws yet? Interestingly, Helena has never played the games before. Holding up a 0-shaped hair tie, she asked \u201cdoes this remind you of a number? 0. I had 0 experience. Of course I had heard of it before, but that was it. As a teenager I played some old school games like Super Mario Bros, but also I am super afraid of horror. So I was always like \u2018No\u2019\u201d An Instagram Live video of her playing the game (and she stresses that \u201cplaying\u201d in her case is too polite of a term) alongside her brother, Jacek, does exist, though. \u201cThe most exciting thing for me was to see all of the characters in the game, because with Lady D, I always portrayed her as a mother more than a vampire. A mother, a sad woman, so I was excited to see all of the characters, including her daughters.\u201d Her journey through the dusty streets of the Village ends up with her standing in front of Lady Dimitrescu herself in floods of joyful tears. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect it to be so emotional for me. Standing in front of it, just with all of the hype, felt big inside of me.\u201d It\u2019s here once again that she\u2019s at a loss for words. To epitomize the pure, unadulterated awe of seeing your own face staring back at you is clearly no easy task. View this post on Instagram Lady Dimitrescu\u2019s face model on \u201cbeautiful\u201d Resident Evil community When asked how it feels to have become an overnight icon, she was at a loss for words. \u201cI still don\u2019t know. I\u2019m still processing it,\u201d she stated. \u201cWhen people call her [Lady Dimitrescu] an icon it feels like they\u2019re talking about someone else. \u201cOf course I am extremely happy, and so blessed, to be part of such a beautiful community. It\u2019s such a blessing to be welcomed as part of a new family. The community is so talented, but not just in drawing, with writing, painting, musicians, directors \u2013 I get so many new messages from people every single day. And this, this is what matters the most. \u201cThey\u2019re all there to support each other. If someone posts a drawing and is like \u2018I hope you like it, sorry it isn\u2019t perfect,\u2019 then you see comments like \u2018that\u2019s awesome, keep going.\u2019 All that means so much to me. That\u2019s the community that I love to watch, and also the fact that I can motivate someone brings me happiness.\u201d She\u2019s even invited fans to design a Lady D tattoo for her, and if there\u2019s one thing we know about this community it\u2019s that creativity isn\u2019t in short supply, with cosplay and mods galore. Vampire queen with a heart of gold While Resident Evil\u2019s tall vampire lady may seem pretty heartless, Helena is very much the opposite. Using her platform, she\u2019s set up a GoFundMe for a young boy named Kiril, who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, or SMA. \u201cMy friend knew of Kiril, and we noticed how slowly his GoFundMe was filling up, whereas others were filling up in a year, or half a year. His has already taken a year, and babies who suffer from SMA\u2026 it\u2019s really terrible. Without medication, babies die before they reach two years old.\u201d The medication in question is Zolgensma, which Helena explains is \u201cthe most expensive drug in the world, costing $2.4 million US. When I heard about his case I felt inside me that I wanted to help someone, and it was this little boy,\u201d she says. Just as Lady D is a mother, Helena is too. Her generosity and empathic nature make her more than just a face: she\u2019s an icon now, even if she doesn\u2019t know it yet. For more information, visit Kiril\u2019s GoFundMe page here. \u201cI\u2019m hungry for more!\u201d For many gamers Resident Evil: Village may be a distant memory, but for Helena it\u2019s the launchpad for future work in the gaming industry. \u201cI loved doing this. It\u2019s been another experience because it\u2019s my first game and I just loved it. It\u2019s opened another path, and I just want MORE! I\u2019m hungry for more!\u201d she enthuses, and her energy is so infectious. Are you going to step in the path of this ravenous bloodsucking queen? We certainly aren\u2019t! Either way, it\u2019ll be exciting to see where she ends up next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lady Dimitrescu model reveals why she\u2019s never played Resident Evil Luis Padilla, DexertoResident Evil Village made Lady Dimitrescu an icon, as the 9\u20196\u2033 vampire queen proved to be one of the franchise\u2019s toughest bosses yet. In an exclusive interview with Dexerto, her face model Helena Mankowska reveals how she got the role and explains why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}