Maia Reficco Had A Huge Crush On Lucy Hale, And 12 Other Behind-The-Scenes Facts That Will Make You Love Her Even More

Read more on buzzfeed.com

Maia Reficco Had A Huge Crush On Lucy Hale, And 12 Other Behind-The-Scenes Facts That Will Make You Love Her Even More

If you’re obsessed with Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin like me, then you know the iconic Maia Reficco. The 22-year-old plays Noa Olivar, a high school track star who recently got out of juvie, and she’s an absolute delight to watch.

Steve Granitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images

Reficco is Argentinian. She was born in Boston, but grew up in Buenos Aires and speaks fluent Spanish. “Honestly, as a Latina and as a first Latina Liar ever, I think for me, my biggest priority was to represent my people and the stories that we’re telling in the most accurate, responsible, and respectful way I could,” she said in an interview with People.

Reficco has also opened up about the difficulties she’s faced in the industry as a Latine actor. “When I’m in the U.S., I definitely do feel less welcomed,” she said in an interview with Refinery29. “Speaking in Spanish almost feels like a political decision sometimes, which is really heartbreaking. Life here in the U.S. — honestly, it is harder. I’m having to justify my life, and my existence, and why I’m here so many times a day.”

2. She’s bisexual. When a fan asked if her character Noa was bi, Reficco responded: “Idk about Noa but I sure as hell am.”

3. She describes Lucy Hale — who played Aria Montgomery on the OG Pretty Little Liars — as her first “girl crush.”

Kevin Winter / Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

“Lucy Hale was the love of my life,” Reficco said in an interview with People. “She was my girl crush. Literally, the reason why I realized I like girls. I was obsessed with Lucy.” She met Hale for the first time in July when Hale hosted the Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin panel, which she described as “extremely surreal.”

“I had a girl crush on [Aria]; she was like the first girl I liked,” Reficco told BuzzFeed. “I was like, ‘Am I gay?’ Then I took a BuzzFeed quiz and realized I was.”

4. She’s also a total super-fan of the original Pretty Little Liars in general.

Eric Mccandless / ABC Family/Courtesy Everett Collection

“I was such a huge fan! I loved it. I was obsessed with Lucy [Hale]. I was obsessed with Aria. I was obsessed with Hanna and Caleb. I was obsessed with Emily. I was obsessed with all of them,” Reficco gushed in an interview with StyleCaster.

She further explained in an interview with Glamour: “This show meant so much to me. I grew up in Argentina, but I was born [in the U.S.] so I connected to this country through shows like Pretty Little Liars. I lost it when I got the part. I literally couldn’t keep myself together. At all.”

When Reficco was a teenager, she used to be a big fan of Aria and Ezra’s relationship — she even wrote “Ezria” on her bed with white nail polish. However, she definitely doesn’t support the student-teacher pairing now. “It was a couple that now in hindsight I don’t support anymore,” she told StyleCaster. “But as an impressionable viewer, I was a 13/14-year-old kid who was buying into the narrative I was being fed. Understanding what I was supporting, I now obviously don’t agree with it at all.”

Randy Holmes / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

5. In fact, she’s such a big fan of Pretty Little Liars that she even asked to visit the Warner Bros. set for her birthday one year.

Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage

“For my birthday, I asked to go to the Warner Bros. lot [where Pretty Little Liars filmed],” she said in an interview with StyleCaster. “And I live in Argentina — that was not an easy thing.”

6. She actually messed up during her Pretty Little Liars audition — but her mistake ended up paying off.

Barbara Nitke/HBO Max

“It was funny because what they liked about my audition is that I forgot to edit a part out where I messed up,” Reficco revealed in an interview with Glamour. “I was like, ‘Ergh, no! I messed up!’ But executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring said, ‘That’s when we saw Noa.'”

7. In addition to acting, she’s also a talented singer and musician. In fact, she’s literally been playing music her whole life.

Her gymnastics skills definitely came in handy while filming Original Sin, especially for an intense chase sequence in Episode 4. “That was so exciting,” Reficco said of the scene in an interview with TVLine. “I remember Lisa Soper, our director for that episode — and for episodes 1, 2, 5 and 10 — coming up to me and saying, ‘This is your moment. Enjoy it.’ I started sobbing, because it was such a surreal, pinch-me moment.”

HBO Max

“I’m a gymnast, so physical stuff is my favorite,” Reficco added. “And in terms of the storytelling, it’s pretty insane to get the first chase sequence of the show.”

You can watch the full scene below:

Steve Granitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images

Reficco revealed that she and Bailee Madison (who plays Imogen on Original Sin) almost cried on the first day of rehearsals when the producers showed them the blueprints for the OG Pretty Little Liars locations. She and her cast-mates agreed that her and Madison are the biggest criers out of the group.

Rodin Eckenroth / WireImage / Getty Images

10. Prior to Original Sin, she starred on the Nickelodeon Latin America series Kally’s Mashup.

Victor Chavez / Getty Images

Reficco even performed at the Kids’ Choice Awards Mexico in 2018, where she sang “World’s Collide” and “Unísono” with her Mashup co-stars.

Victor Chavez / Getty Images

11. She’s also been on Broadway. Most recently, Reficco starred as young Eva Perón in the New York City Center’s production of Evita alongside Solea Pfeiffer (who played Eliza in the first national tour of Hamilton).

Walter Mcbride / Getty Images

“That was such a dream come true,” Reficco spoke about the role in an interview with Tmrw Magazine. “That was one of the most surreal moments of my whole life. As an Argentinian performer who grew up in theatre, that is quite literally just the dream. … It changed my life because that’s how I started working here. I don’t know, it truly was everything I could have ever asked for. It inspired me. I learned so much from it.”

Reficco added that she would love to get back to Broadway someday and revealed that her dream role would be Wendla Bergmann in Spring Awakening.

12. She has an album coming out soon!