The clueless protagonists of Sex Lives of College Girls study biology and poli-sci when they should really be studying Lila. Played brilliantly by Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, the SLOCG fan-favorite possesses a je ne sais quoi that the other characters don’t. She’s gutsy, horny, and endlessly quotable, chasing after what she wants — dick, usually — with verbal aplomb. At the beginning of season one, we get to know Lila as Kimberly’s (Pauline Chalamet) co-worker at the campus coffee shop, where she dishes out wisdom about the other sex. “A journal?! Hot guys don’t journal. They just let their thoughts fade away. It’s what makes them hot,” she says. Now, she’s undoubtedly the best part of the show.
In season three, Lila is back with more antics and one-liners. She launches a men’s underwear clothing line to connect with hot male models, sets fire to delivery robots, and demystifies queer men for Kimberly. “I use all gay hookup apps for friendship,” she says, pulling up her Grindr account. “Hell, I’ve met gay men on Google Sheets.” Approximately 70 percent of Lila’s lines are improvised by Isorelýs Paulino, who’s more level but retains her character’s verve and wit. “She’s just so impulsive. In my mind, she has to be an Aries,” the actor says. “We both love fun. We’re both girls’ girls.” In addition to being on The Sex Lives of College Girls, Ilia has also wrapped up the second season of Netflix’s fantasy series One Piece, coming next year, and is working on her second short film with a friend.
How did Lila come to be?
We didn’t sit down and talk about it. It was just like an organic flow of me bringing in how I moved through the world, meeting the text, the amazing writers that we have on the show. That’s when you get a bomb-ass salad.
What’s your favorite thing you’ve improvised?
Lila’s giving advice on Nico checking Kimberly’s Instagram or whatever. Caden comes to my left, I just spray a bottle in the space and say, “Boom. Shakespeare.” Because her advice was so top tier, but it wasn’t, but it was to her.
What are ways in which you are and aren’t like Lila?
She might be bolder than I am when it comes to guys. If I’m not interested in you, I can spit some of my best game. I’m cool as a cucumber. The minute I actually have actual stake in the game, I revert to 12-year-old Ilia. I’m still working through these abandonment wounds that make me more anxious. I recently had to take a bit of a break from dating because I was just like, Okay bitch, you got to learn how to date yourself.
Let’s say that one of your friends is dating someone new. How do you screen them?
Oh, I’m such a good screener. You have no idea. Everyone brings their new boo around so I can have a conversation with them. I’m a fan of getting right to the heart of it. I’m just like, Tell me about how you grew up. Do you have a relationship with your parents? You can learn a lot, some might even say everything, by asking questions about what role they served in their family dynamic.
You’re doing a little attachment-theory wizardry.
Ohhh YES. If I wasn’t an actress, I would have been a therapist, for sure. But I’m nobody’s mother, and I’m not trying to be. If I see something that’s like, Yo, baby. I mean, he kicked the dog, maybe you shouldn’t be with him, I’ll mention it. But whatever you need, as long as you say you’re happy, you will eventually learn the lessons that you need to.
I was going to say — you seem very fluent in therapy language and grounded. How did you get to this point of self-understanding?
I’m a curious person by nature. One of the reasons why I’m an artist is I like dissecting myself. I’m just like, why am I doing the things that I’m doing? It’s behavioral science. And I read a lot. I love classical plays. I love Shakespeare. I love classic Greek drama. So it’s not that I’m like reading like …
You’re not reading like, The Body Keeps the Score.
No. There’s a part of me that feels like maybe I should be, but I don’t know I just I love people watching. Now I’m going to sound like a creep, but the things we do when we feel like we’re not being watched are fascinating to me.
Do you have any texting pet peeves?
I mean, I think people have pet peeves when it comes to texting with me. I am one of those people that, I swear to God, I responded in my mind, and then a week later, I’m like, Why did it never go back to me? And it’s because I never got back to them.
What’s the best form for you?
I love a voice note. I’ll save them until the end of the day, snuggle my dog, roll a joint, and listen.
When can you tell when a voice note is going to be good?
I want to feel like you are in my ear and dishing all the tea. There are certain people who don’t send a lot of voice notes. So when they do, I’m like, Okay, I gotta sit down. And then there are other people who, if they send anything over four minutes, their world is ending. Maybe I need to call them.
You post a lot of singing videos on your socials. When did you start singing?
My father is a minister. I had this notion that my singing was just for the church. Being honest with myself, there is a part of me that wants to release my own music and perform.
I love music that feels unpolished. I want to know what my instrument can do beyond sounding pretty. A couple months ago, I did a cover of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and it went viral. I was trying to sing the song from a place that felt true to me, and I wanted to bring my own stamp to it. But it was the first time where a lot of the comments were like, This kind of sucks. Or I don’t know if this is supposed to be good or not. But there were also comments that were like, I believe her, and ultimately that’s what’s important to me as an artist.
You seem like a big reader of smut and erotica. How do you find what you’re going to read next?
I love this question because I am. They were one of my first avenues into sex, particularly because my parents don’t speak English, so they had no idea what the fuck I was reading. They were just excited that I was reading. But for me, I like going into the bookstore and letting the spirit guide me. Or I’ll strike up a conversation with either the person that works there or without another customer. I tend to love some good tropes. So like, if the book has a good ballroom scene, or a one-bedroom, one-bed scene and they hate each other but have to sleep in the same bed — love it. If the book has a chosen-one trope, I love it. There is something super, super comforting about well written tropes, and I think it has to do with, probably has to do with my need for control.
When you’re reading smut, are you reading it in the open or are you trying to lay low?
I think when I was younger, I was trying to be smooth with it, but now I really don’t give a fuck. They’ve been really good conversation starters. Some of the covers don’t really have that hunk of a man on a horse. So you kind of have to be in the know. When I read those books, they call over friends.
What are other things you like to do in your off time?
I love dancing. I’ve been getting into the habit of smoking half a joint, putting on romantic salsa, and dancing in my living room with my dog. I can do that for hours. And I love writing. When people ask me what I do, I’ve been saying actor less and just saying artist. People assume that I mean I draw. I do draw. I went through a time in my life where I would only draw penises. I don’t know why, I was just fascinated with the male form, I guess. But anything that has to do with the creative.
Do you have rituals for when your new projects come out?
Typically I’ll take my best friends to the premiere or screener and then we’ll go get coffee or pie, something fattening, and we’ll discuss what worked, what didn’t work, and why. In the beginning, I was just so excited when Queenpins dropped. I read everything. I saw it so many times. And now I’m so in love with the process of making the thing that I just want to do the next one.