Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira Says She Brought an ‘Exploration of My Own Sexuality’ to Her Character Kat (Exclusive)

Barbie Ferreira brought a lot of herself Euphoria Kat Hernandez.

Ferreira, 27, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about her past acting roles while discussing her Broadway debut in The cult of lovewhich opens on December 12.

The actress revealed that she drew inspiration from a personal part of herself Euphoria character — bookish, but sexually empowered Cat.

“I was very young. I was 21 years old. I brought a lot of my own vulnerability and my own exploration of my own sexuality,” she recalled. “I was in high school for a while, so… it was very raw and real. I have to bring a lot of my own experience to it. I’m really happy it’s being read.”

Barbie Ferreira as Kat in ‘Euphoria’ on HBO. Eddy Chen/HBO ‘Euphoria’ Barbie Ferreira pays ‘back compliments’ about her body

Ferreira also predicted where Kat would be today – and considered bringing her to life as his first acting gig.

“Well, I’m 27, which means she would be 22,” the actress said. “So, probably in college. Yes, in college, living like that. Probably less, I hope, less restless.”

“Kat means a lot to me too,” she added. “It was such a wonderful experience. It was my first acting job, really, a significant acting role. I used to have little room for guests. And that’s where I actually learned how to be the actor that I am, and that’s the start of this whole thing. It was so wonderful to have a character that was so dynamic and meant so much to so many people. And that is very close to my heart. And I hope I did it justice.”

Ferreira then spoke about her current theater role in The cult of lovewritten by Leslye Headland. Starring Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto, the play centers on four adult Dahl siblings and their loved ones as they return home to a stormy Christmas.

Ferreira plays Loren Montgomery, who comes home with one of the Dahl siblings. “I’m not really part of the Dahl family,” she told PEOPLE. “But I observe the dynamics and intervene. And you could say that I’m a bit like the audience.”

Barbie Ferreira in ‘Cult of Love’ on Broadway.

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“So it’s a really, really fun role. I become a person who is somehow objective about it and reveals the story of the family with my own eyes in real time,” she continued. “So it’s a really fun, fun character. There will be lots of jokes, lots of moments of heartbreak, moments of joy, moments of just stupidity. I mean, it has everything, really.”

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Ferreira, who announced that she will not return for another season Euphoria in August 2022, she also revealed that she did not expect to work on Broadway this year.

“It just popped into my head and it felt so good,” she said of the role. “And it just felt like exactly what I wanted to do.”

The cult of love opens December 12th at the Hayes Theater in New York and will run through February 2nd. Tickets can be purchased here.

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Source: HIS Education