Aimee Gibbs. She’s a Scabby Queen who loves ham. She doesn’t really know where anything is because she just sort of arrives places. Most importantly, by the end of Sex Education, she’s a young woman who knows what she wants. And Aimee Lou Wood, the young actor who portrays the hilarious, gregarious teen on the breakout Netflix series, is just so pleased to have brought the character to life.

Raised in the Northwest of England, Wood was a self-described “strange child” while growing up. While she’s been in a number of stage productions, Sex Education was her first on-screen role. Her character, Aimee, starts the series off with a bang, quite literally, which helps set the tone for the extremely realistic yet uproarious dramedy. In fact, Aimee is the one to credit for the genesis of the entire Moordale sex clinic — if it weren't for her wondering “where’s the spunk, Adam,” BFF Maeve would never have concocted the genius plan to turn Otis’s “sex wizard” knowledge into a business.

Wood recently spoke with Teen Vogue about the Netflix series that has everyone talking (and laughing, and perhaps some cringing). She opened up about improvising a few of her most meme'd lines, becoming a symbol for female self-pleasure, getting tagged on Instagram by her favorite drag queens, and more.

Teen Vogue: So many people have been sharing how much they love Sex Education. What’s been your reaction to the reception?

Aimee Lou Wood: It's been incredible. The social media stuff, I’ve gone from a thousand followers to 90,000, all that stuff is a bit crazy and overwhelming. I believed in the show so much and I thought it deserved all of that love, but sometimes it doesn't work out like that and things slip under the radar or whatever, but obviously it hasn't. I'm so glad it hasn't because I just love the show so much. So it's been amazing.

TV: How did you get into acting?

ALW: Well, I think I was a very strange child who wrote loads of plays and made my sister perform them. But I was quite shy, so I'd always do the writing side, and then when I went to secondary school, I didn't have any friends, 'cause I was weird. The only way that I could make friends was by making people laugh and being funny, so it kind of grew from that. I started getting into drama club, and then my studies kind of went out the window. I was actually really studious and well-behaved but then became the class clown. But it's kind of all happened for a reason because then I ended up going to RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]. So, yeah, basically just trying to get friends is how I got into acting.

TV: How did the audition for Aimee go and what were your first reactions to the script?

ALW: Well, I first got called in for Lily. So I'd gone in for Lily three times, and I loved her, and I thought the script was so funny. Then after that third time going in they were like, "OK, great, but can you come in for Aimee tomorrow?" When I went in for Aimee, it kind of fit straight away. It was amazing. 'Cause I loved Lily, but something was always a little bit off. As soon as I was doing Aimee it was just like, hallelujah. I loved the description that Laurie [Nunn] put at the start, which was "a bit shallow, but with a heart of gold." That sums her up. She has got such a heart of gold.