without anybody giving me permission

after I graduated college.

And you should be able to do that without a degree too.

(gentle music)

I'm Victoria Pedretti and this is On The Rise.

Growing up I've loved Pride and Prejudice

and 500 Days of Summer, like when I got older,

but when I was younger I have this vivid memory

of pulling the tape out of the VHS

when I broke my, out of the VCR, I'm young, (laughing)

when I broke my VHS of Brandy's Cinderella.

Well Whitney Houston's Cinderella but, yeah.

I watched that until it broke.

My parents have always been supportive of my choice

to be an actor, they're not shy with criticisms either.

They're both artists themselves, my mother was a dancer.

The definitely see the value in what I do.

My first professional role was playing Nell

in The Haunting of Hill House.

I guess it was in a phone call,

I actually happened to be with the people

that I would end up working with

when I found out that I got the job.

I had not imagined that for myself

and I mean I guess I had secretly

but I'm very superstitious so it's not something

I would verbalize a lot.

It was just mind-blowing.

- Hey, oh, I've been meaning to say,

I'm so glad you're a part of this season.

- Aw.

Coming into a show that already existed

and that I already loved and cared about is

in some ways nerve-wrecking 'cause you don't wanna be like

the squeaky wheel (laughing).

You don't wanna be the thing that makes everything

fall apart (laughing).

Especially when you want it to be good

but that said, I become a fan of whatever I'm doing,

I can't work on a project if in that moment,

I can't absolutely love what I'm doing

'cause then I can't put all of myself into it.

(gentle music)

I was reached out to by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble

after they saw my work in The Haunting of Hill House.

They told me about the character

and I was really excited about the notion of doing it.

I ended up doing a chemistry read with Pen,

and it was like going through a tornado

and then coming out and just being like whoop well,

I did my best (laughing).

There was some promise in whatever we did.

It's incredible to have the opportunity to do what I do

and then for people to enjoy it and take an interest,

you know you want a story to touch people

and if a lot of people watch it,

it's representative of how much people are taking interest

in the work you're doing.

So it's incredible.

I definitely identify as an actor,

I definitely claim that very much so

and I'm an actor but I like the idea

that I might work with other artists

and other mediums to keep progressing,

make something new and fresh.

I mean, I really love these ideas of New York City

or Paris in certain periods of time

when people were very cross-disciplinarian

and working together to collaborate

so anybody's who's down really,

young people who are you know hungry to make something.

And also I might like the art somebody makes

but I don't know if we'll be good collaborators.

That's something that can't be known until you try,

so yeah, you know I'd like to try

to work with Taika Waititi.

I think we could do really well together

but I'd also like to maybe

help somebody with some music 'cause

I have an artistic perspective on that

or direct a music video, or,

I understand that those things take skill and time,

but I want to believe that I can take the time

and develop the skill.

(soft music)

On Netflix I am extremely dedicated

to The Great British Bake Off.

I'm all about positivity and fairness.

These people try to be as fair as they can.

It's incredible what people create, like yeah.

When people really just go off

on like a multilayered cake, it's insane, you know?

And they're so humble about it,

and yet they're making these incredible creations.

Not that I'm saying being humble

is like the best thing ever.

Sometimes you should shout from the mountaintops

about how you've accomplished something,

and sometimes they do and it makes it even cuter

'cause you know how earnestly

and how they're creating these things.

- [Woman] Cut the music.

(laughing)

Who was your--

- It's serious, man. (laughs)

- [Woman] Who was your first celebrity crush?

- My first celebrity crush was Antonio Banderas,

and probably also Catherine Zeta-Jones in Zorro.

I mean, the sword scene...

Yeah, I think I understood something about sexuality

when I watched that for the first time.

Nothing I post on my Instagram,

I don't think anybody follows me on Instagram

because they appreciate my Instagram content.

I post about things that I care about.

I post about my friends.

I post about like the art and work

that my friends are doing

'cause I'm really proud of them.

I don't like have a blog or anything so. (laughs)

It's kind of cool 'cause it seems like people

want to know what I might do next,

and it's a real compliment to know

that people want to see more of me as opposed to less.

(soft music)

(sighs) Man.

The idea of making it.

Every opportunity I have to do the work I do

feels like a miracle.

I remember talking to an actress

when I was working on Haunting, my first job,

and being like, well, this might be it.

One job, I'm satisfied.

I've worked professionally as an actor

on like a large-scale production,

like I can be happy now. (laughs)

But I want to work more.

I want to grow more, I want to do more.

I've exceeded my expectations already

but that's only opened up my mind

to what more possibilities might be for me.

- [Woman] What do you think your life

looks like in five years?

- (sighs) What my life would look like in five years.

I have no idea. (laughs)

I have no idea.

Two years ago you couldn't have told me

I was gonna be in the position I'm in now.

I wouldn't have believed you.

It's really crazy.

Life's (bleep) crazy.