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Billie Lourd always knew she wanted to be an actress, despite the fact that her mother, Carrie Fisher, and her father, superagent Bryan Lourd, did everything in their power to dissuade her from joining the family business, including establishing a rule about getting a degree in something other than performing arts first. But when she graduated in 2014 from NYU, she still had her sights set on Hollywood — performing runs deep in her family history, of course, as her grandma is Debbie Reynolds and her grandpa was Eddie Fisher. Ironically, it was a family dinner that put her on Ryan Murphy’s (Glee, American Horror Story) radar last spring and landed her what is sure to be her breakout role as Chanel #3 on Scream Queens.

Yahoo TV caught up with the 23-year-old while she was in Los Angeles for the show’s premiere party Monday, and the self-described scaredy-cat discussed using Adele songs to nail Chanel’s walk, talking horoscopes and boys with scream kings like Nick Jonas, and working and eating her way through New Orleans.

It seems that many people who get cast in a Ryan Murphy production have an interesting casting story.

Mine was not the standard audition story. Mine was one of those Ryan Murphy has a casting vision situations. I went to my godfather’s birthday dinner in Silver Lake, which was already weird because I usually am not down to drive more than 30 minutes. I’m very lazy. But I decided to go that night, and I ended up sitting and talking with Ryan for two hours. I’d met him a few times at parties, but we’d never had a real conversation. He asked me what I was doing with my life, and I told him I was giving acting a try. Then I ended up telling him all these weird, inappropriate slightly sexual stories about my friend, who I totally threw under the bus for the sake of conversation, and Ryan just goes, “I think you would be perfect for Chanel #3.” I was like, “Who the hell is that?” He pitched me on Scream Queens and I said, “I love it. It sounds like such a genius idea. It’s hilarious. It’s dark. It’s everything I want to be.” I later went in for a couple of hours, read the script for the pilot, and was tearing up laughing even though I am not a laugh out loud person. Two weeks later, I was in New Orleans filming.

Related: Ken Tucker Reviews ‘Scream Queens’

It is kind of perfect that sexually inappropriate small talk is what landed you a gig working for him.

I think he was like, “Jesus this girl is far too open.” But that is exactly who this character is. She is really weird and mysterious, and she sometimes says things that make you go, “Where is that coming from?” I guess he saw that in me that night. Not sure if that is good or bad.

Are you a fan of the horror genre in general?

I am not a big horror freak. I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat in general. I can’t handle scary movies unless I am at home with the lights on and the doors locked or it is in the morning. But I am a huge fan of dark comedies, and I would say this show is more comedy than horror. Heathers is one of my favorite movies, and I’m so excited because I get to work with the guy who directed it, Michael Lehmann, because he is directing Episode 10. That’s my jam.

There’s also the sociological study aspect to the show. Was that important to you?

Yes, of course. Jamie [Lee Curtis] explains that bit so much better than I do. She’s so eloquent, but they are using the laughs and the horror genre to talk about the state of women. And there are so many powerful women in this show. And they’re smart and diverse and funny. No men are helping them. Actually most of the men are scared of us in the show, which usually does not happen in horror movies and shows. We are protecting ourselves.