Laura Vandervoort Joins Smallville as Supergirl

People.com breaks the news that Canadian actress Laura Vandervoort has joined the cast of The CW’s aging “Smallville” as Supergirl. The news came on Wednesday, and the attractive Vandervoort will be quickly joining the established “Smallville” cast of Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum and Aaron Ashmore in Vancouver as early as next week for her first scenes. In the show, Supergirl will be introduced to viewers as Kara, Clark’s cousin, who was born on Krypton and has all of Clark’s powers plus the ability to fly. She will also apparently have some romance with cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Ashmore).

“She’s a combination of beauty, intelligence, a certain warmth, and great attitude,” Smallville co-creator Al Gough tells PEOPLE. “We’ve wanted a character to shake things up. She may be Clark Kent’s cousin, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be the obedient one!”

Since mid-May, when DC Comics approved of introducing Supergirl to the Smallville series, creators Gough and Miles Millar have seen hundreds of actresses for the part but found perfection in Vandervoort, 22, of Toronto, who may be known to fans of the cable series Instant Star as Sadie Harrison. “She was speechless but she was very excited,” Gough says of Vandervoort’s reaction to the news.