Pedretti: "One thing that might be surprising is I'm not drawn to frightening content. I love comedy. I also enjoy shows that mix many genres, which I think is emblematic of life. I've been watching Reservation Dogs, Ted Lasso, and The Crown. I was going through a hard time, and watching The Crown was so incredible because it was immersive into a world that I had no familiarity with. It's so well-crafted—you can lose yourself in it."

Pedretti: “I’m a human being; therefore, I’m a hypocrite. So I’m not gonna sit here and, like, preach communist values when I know that I live in a capitalist society that I’m unfairly benefiting from.”

Pedretti: “As we’re moving away from the Method, [we’re] understanding that it’s inappropriate to abuse people for the sake of art. I think we need to move toward a more spiritual and mindful and conscientious and conscious approach.”

Pedretti: “It’s like, unless you show me that you know more than me, I’m not just gonna listen to you.”

Pedretti: “There are so many things that are out of my control, and it makes me really uncomfortable that that’s the reality I live in. But I’m gonna take it a day at a time to try to create the world that I prefer to see.”

Pedretti: “Sometimes I cry to let myself know I was upset or sad. You know, we can really cut ourselves off from how we feel.”

Pedretti: "My work is really emotional. So, I feel like I'm f*cking with my nervous system. I think it's really important that I meditate and find moments to figure out how to shed my work off of me. I do yoga, for sure. I'm not necessarily working to gain a tremendous amount of muscle. I do yoga because I want to have access to my body for a long time. I've also been working on doing different forms of facial massage because I use my face a lot in my work. Doing these habits has a large effect on my mental health. I think working on our minds without working on our bodies is only doing half the work."

Pedretti: “When my face relaxes, I look pretty miserable. I guess that’s a good starting point for a lot of people. Let’s say that it’s because of my resting existential-crisis face.”

Pedretti: "I feel like I'm able to access a meditative state when I cook. It's awesome. I love cooking vegetables. Having the ability to get somebody who hasn't tried a vegetable before or doesn't like vegetables to like them is definitely an accomplishment."

Pedretti: “I just want to tell stories that are meaningful for people.”

[On staying away from using social media]

Pedretti: "It works for many people, and they know how to express themselves within that format. I'm more of a one-on-one person. That's definitely where I feel like I can communicate and have rich interactions with people. I rarely find that any relationships I have are strengthened through social media. And at the same time, I don't feel like I struggle with being not socially engaged. Even if I'm not on Instagram, I'm still fully aware of what's going on in the world."

[On her past periods of depression causing her to be "extremely selfish"]

Pedretti: “I don’t mean that with all the negative contexts of being selfish, I mean it in that you are so involved with yourself that it is hard to see beyond that, and it’s hard to see other people.”

Pedretti: “Personally, I get some enjoyment from addressing my own trauma. I think it can be truly enjoyable having the opportunity to explore humanity and these people and to think about why they do the things they do and how they’ve become the people they are.”

Pedretti: "Cooking also feels good because it feels like a service as well. I started cooking when I was in middle school, and I would cook for my family. It's a satisfying thing to cook, offer it to others, and watch them enjoy it."

Pedretti: “I wasn’t ugly but I didn’t get attention from people in a romantic way. Other people were being asked on dates and I wasn’t. I realized that I wasn’t attractive enough and you need to present yourself in a certain way in order to get attention. I had long hair, a full face of makeup, a floral short skirt, I wore heels to school and we had two buildings that you had to walk between. I went the extra mile and it never worked in the way I wanted it to.”

Pedretti: “I certainly don’t care about continuing to be in the spotlight. I don’t feel greedy about this sh*t. And maybe that’ll change, you know, f*ck it, I’m gonna grow as person. But right now, that’s not what motivates me.”

[On where her passion for acting began]

Pedretti: "I grew up in the arts. I had the opportunity to be deeply affected by a lot of film, television, and theater.  I was just a huge fan of these things, but I never imagined I could ever be in them. I kind of pursued the musicals and stuff in middle school and high school. I was definitely a theater kid. But one time in high school, I did not get into the musical and ended up having to do the play. And though it felt like a failure at the time, I was able to find my greatest passion [through the play]."

[On making season 3 of YOU]

Pedretti: I'm excited for people to see it and see their responses. It's the result of many people working in a very focused and controlled way. We worked throughout the pandemic, and it wasn't easy, but I think we managed to make something that might be better than the previous season, even under the circumstances.

Pedretti: "I auditioned for Beck during my first time in LA while I was showcasing with my university. I got pretty far in the audition process. It was the furthest I had ever gotten in an audition process. But I didn't really think about it after that. Then, the show came out on Lifetime. I heard some buzz from people who enjoyed the show. By that time, The Haunting of Hillhouse had come out. I was reached out to by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble about You because of the work they saw me do on Hillhouse. I haven't even talked to them about whether or not they remember me auditioning for Beck, to be honest. But we started having conversations about the show. I was able to meet with Penn Badgley, and the rest is history."

[On how it may feel after watching]

Pedretti: "I feel like that depends on the person. Personally, I feel like it should be exhilarating and frustrating. I think it should [bring about] a really good mix of emotions."

[On her first impressions of her character Beck]

Pedretti: "I thought she was a cool girl and so confident. I think the first scene I read was the scene where [Love and Joe] meet in a grocery store. I just imagined the women I knew who were like Love—girls who were so effortless and came off so secure, whether or not they were. There was a presentation of this immense amount of security that puts others at ease immediately, but it is also something that some people might find intimidating."

The Cut: "An overarching quality she does share with the women she embodies, however, is an unwillingness to play by long-written rules or adhere to what she calls 'arbitrary authority.'"