This post contains spoilers about Master of None Season 2.

Alessandra Mastronardi landed on Master of None’s critically acclaimed second season by a pure stroke of luck. The petite Italian actress (born in Naples, raised in Rome, currently residing in London) was only able to audition for series star and co-creator Aziz Ansari after he missed a flight to New York from London, and rushed to meet him at her agent’s suggestion. But unlike most busy actresses, Mastronardi had never heard of the show—or the man she was about to meet.

“Aziz was asking me, ‘Do you know me?’ ” Mastronardi recalls. “And I said ‘mmm—not at all.’ ”

Two weeks later, she nabbed the role of Francesca, a wide-eyed dream girl entangled in a relationship with another man—much to the disappointment of Dev (Ansari). In a chat with V.F., Mastronardi gives her true opinion about Ansari’s Italian-speaking skills—and how she felt about that ambiguous season finale.

Vanity Fair: How is Aziz’s Italian? Did you ever have to correct him or give him notes?

Alessandra Mastronardi: Well . . . he sounds like a Russian baby speaking Italian [laughs]. It’s so weird because he’s an American, so it’s like, why do you speak Russian? It was funny for me. I started to correct him in the beginning, and then I thought it was too funny, so I stopped it. But he’s actually not bad. His Italian is not that bad.

What was it like shooting in Modena?

It was really interesting to see how he [Ansari] lived in Modena before the show. I didn’t believe him, that he actually lived in Modena for a long period on his own, making pasta. I thought that was really impressive, someone like him to just stop everything, all his work, and just go to Modena just to learn how to make pasta . . . he did it for real. I saw the place; I met the people who were here making pasta every day. During the stop of the shooting over there, we were just going around and eating more food.

Courtesy of Netflix.

Has he ever cooked for the cast?

I know that he did, but not to me. I never tasted anything that he made, so I don’t know if he actually can make pasta or not. He said he can make it—but I’m Italian. I think he never did it because he’s too afraid of me, of my judgment [laughs]. I’m pretty sharp.