When she was younger, Aria Mia Loberti had big dreams.
But her doubts held her back.
People don’t want to deal with that.
Campbell Addy/Netflix
So she focused on other goals.
But something wasnt clicking.
Loberti felt restless, and unsure what she was doing with her life.
Aria Mia Loberti and her service dog, Ingrid.
Then she heard about an open casting call for theNetflixminiseriesAll the Light We Cannot See.
Maybe I’ll get the courage to do a theater class.
She got way more than that.
Loberti was chosen after a global search to play Marie-Laure in the miniseries, which premiered last month.
Critics have been raving about her deft portrayal of the character, withThe Hollywood Reportercallingher performance radiant.
Now, Loberti says, she is just getting started.
Glamour: All the Light We Cannot Seewas a hugely popular book upon its release in 2014.
Had you read it before the casting call?
Shed read it and she’d call me crying….
It meant a lot to her to read that book.
In a lot of ways it was also really hard for her to read the book.
So then she passed it on to me….
It was genuinely one of the best things I’ve ever read.
It went with me every place I ever moved for seven years.
It was the only book I did that with.
Im a die-hardHarry Potterfan, a die-hardLord of the Ringsfan.
It sat on my nightstand.
When I did my recording at Penn State to film the video, I had the book there.
So I assume you did finish it though, right?
Yeah, the night I got cast.
What was that moment like, when you found out you got the part?
I just cried a lot.
And then I asked [director Shawn Levy] to call my parents because I couldn’t dial.
I was crying so hard and I couldn’t get my hands to move….
I couldn’t go see them in Rhode Island.
It’s like seven hours away [from Pennsylvania], and I can’t drive, obviously.
So I’m sitting in my apartment.
I didn’t have groceries, all I had was flour and butter and eggs.
My parents went out and bought fancy Champagne, and we sat and we all just cried.
Your life changed forever in that moment.
How did you even process it?
It was just a weird thing to happen to somebody.
At the time I wasn’t even sure if [the series] would be the thing.
I think that’s the big message that I want to send to that group of people.
Like everyone, I was afraid to take a leap.
I didn’t want to embarrass myself.
I didn’t want to be silly.
And just taking that leap, you don’t know what’s going to happen.
You don’t know what your future is going to hold.
And we’re taught that it probably should work for everybody.
Whats the best thing youve bought for yourself since becoming an actor?
I have this Dior coat that I bought.
After we finished filming, we went to Paris and I didn’t have the intention of buying anything.
I’ve never splurged ever in my life on anything….
It was just there on the mannequin.
I think they said they had one or two of them in circulation.
And I was just like, If you don’t get it, it will never be there again.
I put it on my body and I cried.
Often it is a combination of gender and disability.
You still can’t win.
And I put it on and that’s the first thing that went through my head.
And every time I put it on…I feel that.
I’m like, I broke free, everyone else didnt.
So that’s a symbol of that whole thing
What a lovely reminder of all you have accomplished.
How did you end up hiring your bestie?
So they flew her out.
So they hired her…she was an assistant-slash-consultant.
Now she’s juggling 20,000 things all the time.
And we write together as well.
How does it feel to be that person now?
I never saw myself ever not once, not in a book, TV show, movie, nothing.
You are an actress…you’ve changed how I look at film.
That to me is all I need.
They both matter to me a lot.
And it’s really extraordinary to hear that.
You have so many opportunities on the horizon now.
What is your dream for your career, and for the careers of other blind or low-vision actors?
I’ve had this amazing stepping stone….
I also don’t want to take an opportunity away from someone else.
I want to verify that they have the space.
Any person from any marginalized group doesn’t deserve that.
And I’m like, Come on, guys.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
