[This story contains spoilers for Netflix‘s The Wrong Paris.]

Miranda Cosgrove is not a new face in Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t new sides to her that she’s ready to show.

The 32-year-old actress got her start at a young age, starring in the Jack Black-led film School of Rock and the Nickelodeon shows Drake & Josh and iCarly, just to name a few. She tells The Hollywood Reporter that once she realized she loved acting, that’s “when I started auditioning for parts where the characters were evil or mischievous or really sassy. … As a kid, it was exciting to get to do these crazier characters.”

Fast foward to years later, Cosgrove is now taking everything she learned growing up and leading her first rom-com, Netflix’s The Wrong Paris, opposite Pierson Fode. The film follows her character Dawn, who enters a dating show thinking it’s in Paris, France, for an art opportunity, only to discover it is actually in Paris, Texas. But her plans get complicated when she ends up falling for the bachelor.

“I’ve never been the lead in a rom-com in my whole life, even though I love the genre and I feel like rom-coms have gotten me through a lot of tough moments in my life,” she says.

Below, Cosgrove gets candid about growing up in the industry, why getting cast in The Wrong Paris felt like a dream, her favorite scene in the rom-com, whether an iCarly movie is really happening and more.

How did you first get attached to The Wrong Paris and what did you initially think when you read the script?

It kind of fell into place just through meeting people on the other [Netflix] projects and then I’ve never been the lead in a rom-com in my whole life, even though I love the genre and I feel like rom-coms have gotten me through a lot of tough moments in my life. I just feel like they’re comforting and fun, and there’s certain ones like Notting Hill where anytime I’m in a funk or something, I’ll just watch that movie and it makes me happy. So I was really excited to get to be a part of it because thinking I could get to be in something that maybe could do that for someone feels good. I just love comedy and I like more lighthearted stuff, and I used to watch The Bachelor a lot, so the reality show that’s in the movie is most similar to The Bachelor. 

Since the movie features an exaggerated take on real-life dating shows, what was your experience like filming a reality show within a movie?

It was definitely really fun because we would film on the scene like how we would normally film a movie, and then we would film [what] we’d call the Honey Pot cam because the reality show, The Honey Pot, in the movie. It’s kind of fun because they got to do crazy, silly things where they zoom in on a person’s facial expression, or they just got to do a lot of fun stuff they wouldn’t have normally been able to do if it were just filmed the normal standard way. So I think later when they edited it all together, it helped a lot too because random things that you don’t expect that weren’t in the stage direction or in the script ended up being the things that they’re cutting to a lot when it’s the Honey Pot camera. 

There are some wild challenges throughout the movie. What was it like filming all those scenes and did you fave a favorite challenge?

I was most excited to go into that mud pit because that was definitely the craziest thing of all the challenges. And Madison Pettis, who I fight with in the mud pit, is the most game, just fun, easygoing person, and we went through it a week before we started filming and then one weekend before we did it, kind of choreographing it so we didn’t like hurt ourselves. But when the day actually came, it was raining really hard and we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to film it that day, and then it kind of let up a little bit. You can’t tell in the movie, but it was actually totally raining the entire time we were filming that mud pit scene, and I think that added a whole other element to it in real life at least. Also I was really sick. I had a really bad cold when we were filming it, so it was crazy and I still had such a good time, despite like not feeling my best. … Also riding a mechanical bull, I’ve never done anything like that before and it is really hard to stay on a mechanical bull (Laughs). Like I had no idea. I would see videos of people and think, “Why are they falling off? Like it’s so so easy.” I could barely do it. 

How did you approach balancing Dawn’s independence and personal goals, while also telling this love story between her and Trey?

After playing a character for so many years that just such a nice person, it was fun getting to play a more flawed person. Obviously she has a good heart, but when she signs up for the show, her heart really isn’t in the right place because you’re supposed to sign up looking for love. You’re not just supposed to be trying to get a trip to Paris and money. So it was fun getting to play a character that’s so willing to go after their dreams and wasn’t really interested in the guy and then getting to see all the other girls like clamor for him (Laughs). That was just fun to get to put myself in that headspace, but also just being a part of a rom-com I haven’t seen a ton of, so I thought that was cool that it was a unique take. 

The movie has such a stacked cast, including you, Pierson, Madison and Yvonne Orji. What was it like working with them all?  

Being in a new place, like exploring a new city and also getting to meet all these people for the first time, it was a really special experience because most of us all stayed in the same apartment building in Vancouver and that was really cool. I could just text them and be like, “Want to meet in the lobby in 5 minutes?” and we can go walk around the city together. So I haven’t really had a lot of experiences like that where you’re just so close to the people and getting to hang out all day every day. I loved it! I loved getting to make so many new friends and be with my friend Hannah [Stocking] and try so many restaurants. Also me and Pierson [Fode], we did a lot of horseback riding on the weekends. 

I have to also ask about iCarly — having been on that show when you were younger, and then coming back to play that same character as an adult for the reboot, what was the experience like since you kind of grew up with this character?

I will say it was very strange, like the first day when we got there and we saw all the sets built again, but the sets are all a little different, because it’s supposed to be like all this time has passed. So it was a kind of a crazy, almost felt like a social experiment (Laughs). I remember when I walked through the set with Jerry [Trainor] and Nathan [Kress], they were like, “This is so strange,” because it brings back so many things too about your childhood. Like, imagine walking back through the hallways of the high school that you went to and then you’re with all the people you were best friends with at the time walking through it for the first time in 10 years. It was really cool, but it’s definitely kind of strange and crazy and not something that I think everyone gets to experience. It was really fun getting to play that character again as an adult in a new environment and getting to actually have a say in what the character does and the scripts and the cast and all that stuff, that was really exciting. 

I know there’s been talks of an iCarly movie to wrap up the series after it was canceled. Can you tease anything about that?

The script is almost finished and it looks like we’re gonna be filming it early next year, so I’m really excited. I think the biggest challenge now is gonna be casting the character that’s gonna be the mom because that’s a character I don’t think any of us ever really thought we were gonna meet within that universe, so we just really want to make sure we get it right. 

Having grown up in the industry since you were a child, how did that experience impact the actor you’ve become today?

I definitely feel like I view child acting in a very specific way just because I lived it, and I definitely don’t think that it’s for everyone. Like it was my first time working with a kid as an adult on the iCarly revival, and luckily Jaden, who was in the revival, she loved acting so much and that made me feel good about it. Like she was there because she wanted to be there, but I do feel like a lot of kids that are in acting, their parents are definitely pushing it a lot more than like they actually want it. So having my perspective on child acting has definitely changed over the years and it’s complicated just because of my experiences, but other than that I would just say I feel very comfortable with acting just because I’ve been doing it for so long, so I feel lucky in that sense because I’ve been on set since I was a kid. 

Was there ever a point where you thought about leaving the industry or could you even see yourself doing something else career-wise? 

When iCarly ended and I went to college, the whole reason I went to college is because I was trying to find something else that I loved as much as acting because I felt like I never really had that opportunity. When people are in regular middle school and high school, a lot of the time they find their passion and they kind of figure out what they want to pursue. So because I had been acting for so long and kind of just working so much and always busy, I didn’t really have that opportunity. So I’m really happy I went to USC because I explored a lot of different avenues and took a lot of different classes and, in the end, I realized that I love acting and it probably is my number one passion. 

Since there’s been so much conversation surrouding the early days of Nickelodeon, especially after the Quiet on Set docuseries, what was your experience like with the network since you were on several shows as a child?

It’s always gonna be complicated when a child is doing an adult’s job. I guess it’s not the same hours because you can only work a certain amount of hours [as a child], but it very much feels as a kid like you’re doing just a normal job and I feel like that’s the strangest part for me at least. I got really lucky and I do feel like I had mostly a positive experience. I think my parents have a lot to do with that because when I started out, I was trying to save money for college. And I did really enjoy acting, so there are a lot of things in my favor that I think made it a pretty good experience, but I definitely won’t say everything was always absolutely perfect because I was still a child with a bunch of adults around, like it’s kind of strange to be in that work environment. But I had a lot of other kids with me and I formed really tight friendships with the other kids that I was with, like Nathan and Jennette [McCurdy], getting to be on iCarly with them helped me a lot. 

What does your perfect day off of work and filming look like?

I have two older dogs, they’re both 13, and I’ve been trying to take them to do bucket list things, like hopefully they still have a few years left, but I’ve been trying to just do more fun stuff with him. Like I realized one of them had never been to the beach before, so I took him recently. And just hanging out with a couple of my close friends and my dogs and going somewhere fun and relaxing, or even just going to the movies. I really love going to the movies. I go like all the time. 

When you look back on your career so far, is there a moment you’re most proud of? 

The best experience I’ve ever had in acting is one of my first experiences acting, and I think it’s why I fell in love with it, which was working on School of Rock. I knew at the time that I was having an amazing time and that it was something special, but I think as an adult looking back on that, I realize now more than ever how special it was. I feel really grateful for that whole experience because getting to work with Jack Black, I think that’s why I love comedy as much as I do. 

If you had to describe what makes Miranda Cosgrove, Miranda Cosgrove, what would you say? 

I definitely try really hard to be a good person. I love animals a lot. That’s like one of my biggest passions. I’m a huge animal advocate and I foster cats and dogs. I actually have like six foster cats right now and I’m always looking for homes for cats. It’s something I kind of fell into maybe four years ago and it’s brought a lot to my life. I’m always getting pictures from people, like updates of different fosters I had, and it makes me feel really good.