| “ | I'm so sick of people thinking I have it together. Because all that means is that—unlike you—people aren't inclined to hold me when I need it most. And if you ever use that against me, so help me God, I will actually kill you. | ” |
Daniela "Dani" Nùñez[1] is a main character in The L Word: Generation Q. She is portrayed by Arienne Mandi and debuts in "Let's Do It Again".
The only child of the powerful and wealthy Rodolfo Nùñez, Dani is an ambitious Public Relations executive who wants to use that power for good, but finds herself disillusioned with her father's dubious business practices. She struggles to balance her career ambitions with her personal life, and constantly feels like she's not giving enough of herself to either one. Dani has a complicated relationship with her father, and wants to forge her own path while still maintaining a meaningful relationship with him.
Background[]
Dani was born in the early 90s to an Iranian mother and Chilean father. As a child, she had an affluent upbringing and was very close to her mother who taught her Farsi. She struggled after the death of her mother and often spent her nights at the homes of friends just to eat breakfast with them in the morning and not be alone. She had a complicated relationship with her father, Rodolfo Nùñez, and often struggled to forge her own path while still maintaining a meaningful relationship with him.
Following in her father's footsteps, Dani took up Communications at Stanford University and took her graduate studies at the University of Southern California.[4] At one point during this time, she dated Micah Lee before he transitioned, and they remained very close friends after they broke up.[5] She eventually came to work for her father at his investment company and became Director of Communications, in charge of dealing with PR problems for their company.
At one point, she began dating Sophie Suarez and eventually moved in with her, along with Micah. Dani bought a ring and hid it in her car, pushing off her proposal to Sophie until she could get her father's approval.[4]
Generation Q[]
Season 1[]
One morning, Sophie made a joke about a new neighbor proposing to Micah before Dani could. Once they were alone, Micah pointed out that she was senselessly waiting because her father would never think Sophie was good enough for her.
At work later that day, Dani took over for a meeting when her father couldn't make it. She met with Bette Porter, a mayoral candidate looking for potential donors to their campaign. During the meeting, Bette questioned their company's investment in pharmaceuticals, and Dani tried, and failed, to defend the company's choices to her. Bette stood by her decision to not get in business with investors involved with pharmaceutical companies and called out Dani for putting up with it.
Case in point, after the meeting, her father informed her about a new potential scandal she needed to handle: a son of Jack, one of their employees, had just died of overdose. As part of her job, Dani spoke to Jack and coached him about how to speak to the press about it, convincing both him and herself that they weren't liable.
After this, her father told her that he and the board had just decided to promote her to Senior VP. When Dani brought Sophie up into the conversation and he called her Dani's "friend", dismissing their relationship as something fun for her in her youth, Dani became suddenly determined and took out her engagement ring, proposing to Sophie as soon as the latter arrived home.
Meanwhile, the events of the day affected Dani more than she'd like to admit, more so after she watched an interview with Bette on the show Sophie worked at, Alice. Dani quickly developed an admiration towards Bette and came to her one day, offering her help to handle PR for her campaign.[4]
Telling both her father and her fiancée of her new job ended in disapproval on both sides, with Sophie disappointed that she hadn't consulted her first before making the decision. Her father refused to attend their engagement party, but by the end of the night, she and Sophie had made up.
Meanwhile, Dani left her father's company and started at Bette's campaign, resulting in a brief adjustment at not having a big office like she was used to. Nonetheless, she settled right in and started helping Bette's campaign manager Pierce work on Bette's image. She was confident in taking point and making decisions before telling them, causing a bit of tension with Pierce.[6]
Season 2[]
At the beginning of Season 2, Dani is planning her wedding to Sophie with her father's assistance, and seems genuinely happy about starting a life with Sophie. At their wedding, their mutual friend Finley interrupts the wedding, and tells Sophie she loves her and that she believes Sophie loves her as well. After this revelation, Dani discovers that Sophie and Finley had an emotional and physical affair while Sophie and Dani were engaged. Dani is humiliated and heartbroken and immediately leaves and tells Sophie she never wants to see her again. On her way out she expresses her anger towards Micah for not telling her and punches Finley for her part in betraying her.
Dani then spends the next few weeks staying in her childhood home with her father. Dani insists that she is fine but it obvious that Dani is devastated and in a lot pain. She tells Sophie she can never trust her again and eventually goes to Bette for comfort and Bette holds Dani and becomes very protective of her to others. With Bette's assistance, Dani meets Gigi, a realtor who is also Nat and Alice's ex and Bette's current girlfriend and she finds Dani a new penthouse to purchase. During the process, Gigi and Dani become friends, and Gigi proves to be a good source of support for Dani.
Physical appearance[]
Dani is an attractive woman of Persian and Chilean descent. She has a petite athletic build with defined back, long straight Black hair, and large hazel brown eyes. She has a tall frame and has a much youthful baby-face, compared to her other friends. She is often described as extremely attractive and pretty by many.
Personality[]
In the first season, Dani was very driven, intelligent, resourceful, capable, successful, emotionally closed off, and prone to denying her feelings. After having her heart broken by Sophie she is devastated and more of her personality begins to surface around Bette and Gigi. We see that Dani is actually quite sensitive and feels emotions very deeply but struggles to express them. We discover that in addition to being intelligent, and driven, Dani is also open to being vulnerable, emotional, sensitive, strong, honest and loyal.
Relationships[]
- Dani and Gigi
- Dani and Sophie
- Dani and Micah
Episode appearances[]
| Generation Q, season 1 | |
|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status |
| "Let's Do It Again" | Appears |
| "Less Is More" | Appears |
| "Lost Love" | Appears |
| "LA Times" | Appears |
| "Labels" | Appears |
| "Loose Ends" | Appears |
| "Lose It All" | Appears |
| "Lapse in Judgement" | Appears |
| Generation Q, season 2 | |
|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status |
| "Late to the Party" | Appears |
| "Lean on Me" | Appears |
| "Luck Be a Lady" | Appears |
| "Lake House" | Appears |
| "Lobsters, Too" | Appears |
| "Love Shack" | Appears |
| "Light" | Appears |
| "Launch Party" | Appears |
| "Last Dance" | Appears |
| "Last Call" | Appears |
Quotes[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dani's full first name was spelled "Daniella" in the official closed captions in "Labels" (GQ 1x05), but has since been spelled "Daniela" in subsequent episodes including "Lapse in Judgement" (GQ 1x08), "Lobsters, Too" (GQ 2x05), and "Launch Party" (GQ 2x08).
- ↑ In "Light" (GQ 2x07), Dani is said to be the same age as Finley who is in her 20s.
- ↑ Generation Q, 1x08: "Lapse in Judgement".
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Generation Q, 1x01: "Let's Do It Again"
- ↑ Generation Q, 1x04: "LA Times"
- ↑ Generation Q, 1x02: "Less Is More"