Before Irene Maiorino was cast as Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo in HBO’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’ s Neapolitan novels, she was Lila in her own right. The Naples-born, Rome-based actress, 39, was raised in a small village outside of Salerno, an area which she describes as “very tough and very powerful.” To survive, Maiorino learned to be a scrappy and strong-willed child, unafraid to stand up for herself, just like the character she would go on to play in the fourth and final season of My Brilliant Friend.
Ferrante’s tale follows the lifelong friendship of Neapolitan working-class girls Lila and Elena “Lenù” Greco, as their lives weave in and out of touch. “I have a ‘brilliant friend’ in my life, ” Maiorino says. “I have an Elena.”
She recalls the day, more than a decade ago, when her best friend, Alessia, handed her a copy of Ferrante’s first novel in the series, which The New York Times recently dubbed the best book of the 21st century. “There is a child in this book,” Alessia told Maiorino. “And that child is you.”
Maiorino is as sublime as Lila. With deep-brown eyes and an impish allure, she provides the perfect juxtaposition to Alba Rohrwacher’s Elena. Since childhood, the actress has been enthralled by storytelling, which for years felt like a solitary act. “I have been making up stories since I was little,” she says, but “I have always played with my imagination alone rather than in groups.”
It wasn’t until her senior year of high school that Maiorino considered acting as a career, enrolling in her first drama class. “From there, my passion was born,” she says, recalling the day that changed the course of her adult life. “It was a winter night after class,” says Maiorino. “It was raining heavily, and I was without an umbrella, but I felt happy and full of emotions. I thought, This is what I love to do.”
Maiorino is no stranger to playing complex women on-screen. In the 2019 Sky Italia series 1994, she played Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito. “I am anti-Fascist, and it was difficult for me at the beginning to get along with a character who has ideas opposite to mine,” she says. “But it is the game of acting … and I am proud of [the result].”
“I have a ‘brilliant friend’ in my life. I have an Elena.”
Though some Americans may recognize Maiorino from her roles in 1994 or the Italian-organized-crime drama Gomorrah, My Brilliant Friend marks her introduction to a much wider audience. Playing Lila for U.S. audiences “is a world apart,” she says.
The role was hard-earned; the casting process took more than two years. “It was a long fight,” she says, using the prolonged period to immerse herself in Lila’s psyche. “It doesn’t just matter if you’re a good actress,” she says. “There are so many things it depends on.”
But Maiorino believes the role of Lila came into her life at just the perfect time. “I live alone, I’m [single], and now I’m the woman I want to be,” she says. “And this season, Lila becomes a woman.”
Season Four of My Brilliant Friend is streaming on Max now
Caroline Reilly writes for GQ, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post
