Barbie Ferreira pulled from aspects of her personal life to play Kat Hernandez on HBO drama Euphoria.
Although the 27-year-old actress announced her exit from the series in August 2022 due to creative differences with show creator Sam Levinson, she recently spoke to People about the role.
"I was very young. I was 21. I brought a lot of my vulnerability and my own exploration of my own sexuality," the actress, who stars in Broadway play Cult of Love, told the outlet. "And it wasn't too long before that I was in high school, so ... it was very raw and real. I got to bring a lot of my own experiences to it. I'm really happy that it read."
The actress guessed that Kat would be 22, "living it up" and being "less restless" if her time on Euphoria continued.
"Kat means a lot to me too," she added. “It was such a wonderful experience. It was my first acting job, really, a substantial acting role. I had little guest spots before. And it was really where I learned how to be the actor that I am, and it's the start of this whole thing."
She concluded, "It just was so wonderful to have a character that is so dynamic and meant so much to so many people. And I really hold that dear to my heart. And I hope I did it justice."
With the third and final season of Euphoria reportedly scheduled to arrive in 2026 after multiple delays, Ferreira left the series after no longer wanting to play "the fat best friend."
"I don’t think there was a place for her to go," she said during a visit on podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard last year. "I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show. I don’t know if it was going to do her justice, and I think both parties knew that I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend. I don’t want to play that, and I think they didn’t want that either."
