The 23-year-old budding actress opened up about drawing on her junior high and high school experience for the Hulu role.
Paris Jackson made her acting debut only five years ago, and in that short time, she's honed her craft to the point where she can now draw on personal experiences as a teenager to elevate her character in the coming-of-age comedy Sex Appeal.
The 23-year-old actress tells ET's Matt Cohen there were moments while shooting the Hulu Original Film where she harkened back to a heartbreaking experience during junior high school to help her emote her character's angst and first-love experiences.
"There's this one part where my character kinda expresses some of her emotions about some things that happened that led her to being the way she is now," Paris tells ET. "I definitely tapped into my experience with my first love in junior high. And, you know, it took me five years to get over that."
In Sex Appeal -- also starring Mika Abdalla, Jake Short, Margaret Cho and Fortune Feimster -- Avery is a perfectionist who wants her "first time" with her long-distance boyfriend to be nothing short of, well, perfection. Things quickly get complicated, as Avery's pursuit for perfection is so relentless, she resorts herself to interviewing her classmates and even experiments on her childhood best friend.
Paris' character is a "bad ass" helping Avery's pursuit, and the actress says she was very much reminded of herself playing the role.
"My character wears combat boots and listens to death metal," she said. "That's how I was in high school."
Paris hopes fans who stream the film Jan. 14 on Hulu take note of the message that women, too, are free to express their sexuality.
"Equality is a cool message that we can take from," she said. "That, and also just not take yourself or anything too seriously."
Paris also opened up about how her godfather and longtime family friend, Macaulay Culkin, helped her acting career, like helping with her American Horror Story: Double Feature audition last year. But while she's opened up about asking him for help on that end, Paris says seeking acting advice isn't something she's completely comfortable with.
"I usually don't ask the people in my life to watch the things that I'm in," Paris admits. "I usually get a little uncomfortable when they do. I did ask him for that kind of help because we were in the middle of the conversation. And he was on board in the AHS family. So, it was kind of like a casual thing, but I usually don't ask him about guidance too much. If he wants to offer it to me, great. But it's more so, just having that familial love."
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