Priah Ferguson is taking things one day at a time.
The 12-year-old actress has become an overnight sensation thanks to her standout performance in "Stranger Things" season 3.
"I'm definitely getting recognized a little bit more," the young star told Wonderwall.com on July 17. "I'm just taking it all in right now and really enjoying every moment. I have this journal with me to write down the places that I'm going to, what happened, how I like the city—so I'm just taking in every moment and enjoying it all. I enjoy getting fans."
Priah stars as Erica Sinclair, Lucas' little sister, on the Netflix series, which premiered on July 4 to rave reviews and millions of streams (40 million accounts have reportedly watched at least one episode). This time around, her character is helping the "Stranger Things" bunch defeat not only the Mind Flayer monster–but evil Russian spies too.
In one scene she has to crawl through an air vent while wearing a hardhat, backpack, elbow-pads and kneepads–an experience Priah said was challenging but fun.
"I liked doing the action scenes when I was filming season three," she explained. "Putting on all the gear was probably the most challenging [part]. It was hot, but I dealt with it because I knew it was for a bigger cause and the ending would be bigger."
Priah also lists singing "Hamilton [songs] in the hair and makeup trailer" and sharing a school trailer with Millie Bobby Brown as some of her season 3 highlights. The teen cast members of the series–Millie, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink and Noah Schnapp–have given their youngest castmate some advice on handling fame.
"Always believe in yourself, stay kind. That's the advice I've gotten from them," Priah dished. "They were all really welcoming to me. They gave me a lot of cool advice to stay kind and be yourself."
The young middle schooler shared that she initially got into acting by imagining scenarios with her Barbie dolls.
"I started off with playing Barbies—I don't play Barbie dolls now, not as much as I use to—but that's how I built my imagination. From there I got into other cool activities," Priah shared. "If you use your imagination you can experience a career you would like to do in the future. That's how I found out I was really passionate about acting."
She is now partnering with GoGo Squeez to inspire other children to put down their phones and enjoy "BE Time," unstructured play time where they can use their imaginations.
"I like to go outside and ride my bike, walk my dog, and I also get on my scooter. I also dance around the house with my cousins and my little sister," said Priah, who lists '80s and '90s acts like TLC and Zapp & Roger as her favorite music.
So, what's next for the young Netflix star?
"I'd like to get a taste of behind the camera. [I'd like to learn] directing, definitely getting into writing and producing."
"Stranger Things" is now available to stream on Netflix.