Right before she got her very first acting gig—a role in insta hit The Haunting of Hill House—Victoria Pedretti had just burned through the last of her post-college cash. After graduation, she’d decided to give the whole actress thing a try. But months later, there was no Jennifer-Aniston-in-Friends big break, and she was ready to accept the fact that she needed a regular ol’ day job.

Keep this extremely relatable anecdote in mind while you watch her play insanely rich L.A. girl Love Quinn in You’s second season. (Yep, the character’s name really is Love, and Love’s brother’s name is Forty. It’s a tennis reference, if the “insanely rich” thing was unclear.) The show’s weirdly appealing stalker protagonist, Joe Goldberg (that’s Penn), moves to the West Coast and makes Love his next target, er, love interest.

To prepare for the part, Victoria posted up in Silver Lake, a trendy Hollywood-adjacent neighborhood. She studied infamous socialites (she won’t name names, but they might rhyme with Harris Pilton) and did very L.A. things, like dabbling in astrology and using the word “yacht.”

“I tried to think about what it would be like to grow up with a lot of money, with all the resources that a lot of these people have,” Victoria tells me over dinner in New York City. The 24-year-old Philadelphia native, currently wearing cutoff jeans, a fanny pack, and a Siegfried & Roy tee she thrifted in high school, won’t have to imagine the bougie life much longer. Girl is booked and busy: She casually appeared as a cult member in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and she’ll soon be returning for a Hill House follow-up, The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Netflix

But brag-worthy trajectory aside, Victoria’s not your standard thirsty up-and-comer. Her rarely used Instagram account is free of sponcon and red-carpet pics. Her handle is @TheN0tori0usVIP, which, jealous. And despite having been in a film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, she still gets embarrassingly starstruck. In yet another relatable anecdote, the last time she was at the restaurant we’re sitting in, she literally walked into a wall when she noticed Jon Hamm was there too.

With regular people (like, um, me), though, Victoria’s all real talk. The chatter about whether serial killers can be hot—spurred by Penn’s You role and also Zac Efron’s portrayal of Ted Bundy—is straight-up nonsense, she says. “I mean, I think the idea that women want to fuck an actual serial killer is a joke.” Noted.

As we talk, I get a glimpse of what she’d be like if she hadn’t gotten that first real acting role, if she were working a day job, if she were in my group chat. Like, she once got over a breakup by eating the (decent at most) mac and cheese her friend brought her from the convenience store chain Wawa. She explains that her Pisces-Aries cusp means she is not really a partier but sometimes gets a random impulse to spend the night drinking and dancing.

Maybe I got a little too comfortable, tossing off a jokey dating question the way I would with my friends. That’s when the mood shifts. She looks me right in the eyes: “Honestly, if you and I were just hanging out, I’d tell you any fucking thing.” She takes an exaggerated, faux-shady sip of coffee, and I remember: Right, this is an interview. And she’s now a GD pro.

Crew credits: Styled by Aya Kanai. Hair: Marty Harper at The Wall Group using Oribe. Makeup: Nina Park at Forward Artist using Kiehl’s. Manicure: Yuko Wada using Chanel Le Vernis.

Fashion credits: Blue dress: Rixo dress, Alexandre Birman boots, Acchitto earrings. Suit: Victoria Victoria Beckham jacket, shirt, pants, Thom Browne shoes. White dress: Aje dress. Floral dress: Brock Collection dress and shoes. Pale-pink dress: Zimmermann dress, Anissa Kermiche earrings