“Superstore” will be open again soon, and Sandra is really, really happy to welcome you back. You just might not be able to tell from that doleful look behind her mask.
“Superstore” is an NBC sitcom set in a fictional big-box store, and Sandra is one of the misfits who works there. She’s played by Kauai native Kaliko Kauahi, who is carving out a nice career as a character actor in Hollywood, making guest appearances in a several sitcoms before landing the role of Sandra for the 2015 premiere of “Superstore.”
Kauahi immediately identified with the role called a “sad-sack Jane” in the script, seeing in that character the opportunity to bring out a lot of the humble qualities that people of Hawaii have.
“When I read it, I felt like ‘oh, I knew who this person is,’ ” Kauahi said in a phone call from Los Angeles, where she has lived since her college years. “I feel like people in Hawaii are very humble, and I feel like Sandra is a very humble character. We don’t typically talk a lot compared to other people or talk over other people, so when I was being told to shut up, I understood all of that.”
“Superstore,” which will begin its sixth season on Thursday, features an ensemble cast of oddball characters, all angling to make work and life fit together for them but handicapped by the absurdities of corporate culture as well their own inadequacies. The managers — the fumbling Glenn (Mark McKinney), the likeable Amy (America Ferrera, who will be leaving the show this season) and the enforcer Dina (Lauren Ash) — try to stick to the rule book, while the employees mostly seem intent on skating by.
It’s a realistic enough portrayal that some of the biggest fans of the show are big-box store employees, Kauahi said. “People on the street will tell me, ‘That happened to us last week at our store,’ like the ridiculous customers and the scenes in between. That actually happens to people. I was so astonished at that.”
Sandra’s place in the “Superstore” community was established from the very beginning, when she dares to speak up at a meeting on harassment. “Dina immediately shuts me down, even though my point is valid and frightening. She shuts me down and I accept it and sit down,” Kauahi said.
But it turns out that Sandra has a devious side, particularly in dealing with co-worker Carol, an archrival for the affections of a man, Jerry (Chris Grace). Carol and Sandra engaged in a passive-aggressive battle of introverts that Sandra eventually won with her marriage to Jerry last season.
“It’s so fun. Irene White, who plays Carol, is fantastic and we’re really good friends, so every time we get a chance to go at it, we have the best time,” Kauahi said. “I feel that people in Hawaii, although they may not respond to Sandra initially, it’s that other side of her that they recognize, because they know people like that. The ‘tita’ comes out. People on the mainland may not know that term, but people in Hawaii do. And like my cousins, they go, ‘Oooh, theah she is!’ when I start throwing trash cans around (on the show).
“I take some liberties with Sandra, but I feel like every role has to come from someplace, but you know, you have to find that part of you that relates to that character.”
Dream job
Kauahi grew up in the Lawai Valley on Kauai’s south side and attended Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu as a boarding student. She hasn’t been able to return this year because of the pandemic, but usually visits frequently to see friends and family.
She got a late start in acting, having taken only a couple of acting classes “for fun” in her senior year and going on to study communications and recording arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. At the time, she had vague ambitions of a career in the entertainment industry, hoping to find “some little niche for myself somewhere.”
“Probably in the back of my mind, I had always dreamed of becoming an actor, but never really thinking it could be a reality for me,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone or had heard of anyone who had pursued it successfully. It was a dream and I just kind of put that away for a little bit.”
Her decision to try acting came after a few years of working at several jobs, none of which made her happy, she said.
“After several years of that, I thought, ‘I know what I want to do and it’s better to at least try to do it and fail.’ I knew it was going to be really difficult, but I was a little bit older and ready to try. I was in my late 20s when I even started taking acting classes.”
She got guest appearances on “Parks and Recreation” and “The Big Bang Theory” before getting picked to play Sandra in “Superstore.” She also has a recurring role as Principal Kwan in “Raven’s Home” on the Disney Channel.
Earlier this year COVID-19 shut down production for “Superstore” with just one episode left in its fifth season. The virus will be integrated into the plot of the new season, Kauahi said, since “people in these big-box stores and grocery stores were considered ‘essential’ and are still every day going to work.”
“We just pick up and you see us sort of realizing the severity of the pandemic and dealing with it, and corporate dealing with it.”
Behind the scenes, show producers and NBC have implemented safety procedures to contain the virus and keep everyone safe, she said, adding that the close-knit cast and crew are adjusting to them well.
“This is a group that’s been together been five years, cast and crew, so we’re all friends and we know each other,” she said. “We have that advantage where we all know we have each other’s best interest at heart.”
And how is it trying to “act” through a mask? “That’s a good question,” Kauahi said with a laugh. “We’re going to be creative about how and when we can take it off realistically.”
Kauahi feels fortunate to have the role of Sandra, having been elevated from a recurring role in the beginning to a series regular in 2019. “It was a lot of luck that I happened to come in in the beginning, and they needed to grow this family beyond the original series regulars, and I got to be part of that family.”
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WATCH IT
“Superstore”
Sixth season premiere
7 p.m. Thursday on NBC
