Mean Girls’ Bebe Wood Is Making The Role Of Gretchen Wieners Her Own

In Elite Daily’s series At The Moment, celebs dish on their current projects, pop culture hot takes, and everything taking over their group chats. Below, actor and singer Bebe Wood talks about her upcoming role in Tina Fey’s 2024 Mean Girls remake and the impact of being able to place a Cuban American on screen for the first time as a proud second-gen Latina.

Bebe Wood is faking it until she makes it — and she’s nearly there.

At 22 years old, the rising Cuban American star has already earned a starring role in Hulu’s Love, Victor, worked with Hollywood greats like Guillermo del Toro and Ryan Murphy, and released an EP full of indie bangers. Up next on her career to-do list? Nailing the role of Gretchen Wieners in Tina Fey’s Mean Girls revival.

“I found out that I got the part in an Uber with a near stranger about to perform one of my first concerts ever,” Wood tells Elite Daily. She managed to maintain her composure and didn’t totally freak out until she was in the theatre’s green room. “It was just a very funny situation.”

Starring alongside Reneé Rapp, who plays The Plastics ringleader Regina George, and Angourie Rice, who plays new girl Cady Heron, Wood will lend her talents to the 2024 musical-comedy that provides a fresh take on the beloved early-aughts film.

“[Mean Girls] really is sort of a blueprint for so many young people. It is kind of like this Bible,” Wood says. “It’s one of my comfort movies. It's just so easy to just throw on and watch over and over and over again.”

But it isn’t just her love of the film that made this particular role so special for Wood. It’s a full-circle moment in her career. Twelve years earlier, Wood starred alongside Mean Girls creator Tina Fey in the hit show 30 Rock where she played a young girl that reminded Liz Lemon of herself and helped further the storyline of Lemon potentially seeing herself as a mother. It was one of Wood’s first roles ever and she attributes her career to Fey’s kindness.

I'm so thankful for my community and the people that I grew up with and my family, and to know that you're making people proud and you're representing people is special.

“If I hadn't had such a positive experience doing that job, I probably would not be an actor today,” Wood says. “It was just incredible to kind of reunite with her. I never thought that we'd end up here.”

In addition to lending her natural talent as an actor and singer to the film, Wood was able to truly make the iconic role of Wieners her own by making the character Latina thanks to the encouragement of director Arturo Perez Jr. As a self-described “super blonde and super white-passing” person, Wood was excited to finally be able to bring her heritage to life on-screen.

“Not a lot of people understand that Latinos come in all different shades, different hair colors, all of these things. I think that’s partly because of Hollywood’s representation of our community and certain stereotypes,” she says.

Although she was excited to be able to play a Cuban American in the film, she wanted it to feel as organic and natural as possible. “It’s complicated, because there is a level of imposter syndrome for a lot of first- or second-gen Latinos. … I'm so thankful for my community and the people that I grew up with and my family, and to know that you're making people proud and you're representing people is special.”

Below, Wood reveals the last Mean Girls cast member she texted, the fictional character she relates to the most, and the best piece of advice she’s ever received.

Elite Daily: What’s your favorite Mean Girls quote?

Bebe Wood: You can't go wrong with the whole “Irregardless, ex-boyfriends are off-limits to friends. That's just the rules of feminism.”

ED: The Mean Girls co-star you last texted?

BW: Oh, Angourie. We were talking about our Spotify Wrapped and how she is from Burlington, Vermont, according to Spotify. She's obviously from Australia.

ED: Well, now we need to know, where is your music taste from?

BW: I’m from New York, because my No. 1 artist on Spotify this year was Stephen Sondheim. I was listening to a lot of Sweeney Todd.

ED: How do you celebrate after finishing a career-related project?

BW: I feel like I don't celebrate much. I think it's only maybe over the last year or so that I've tried to make more of an effort to celebrate, maybe go out to dinner or have a nice bottle of wine or something with friends.

ED: Who’s the fictional character you relate to most?

BW: Anne of Green Gables. She and I were very similar children. I think even as she grows up, her spirit sort of stays the same. She is a very romantic soul and has these grand notions of life and love, and she has an affinity for literature and nature. She and I are very similar in those regards.

ED: First celebrity crush?

BW: David Tennant in Doctor Who. I stopped watching Doctor Who when I was a child after David Tennant left because I was just so loyal to him.

ED: If you could do a duet with anyone, who would it be?

BW: There are two people. If I could resurrect someone, I'd want to sing with Celia Cruz, but someone alive, Hozier.

ED: Your favorite Broadway musical?

BW: This is so hard; I have several. Grey Gardens, Sweeney Todd, and In The Heights.

ED: Fave teen movie?

BW: 10 Things I Hate About You.

ED: Dream co-star?

BW: Pedro Pascal.

ED: Dream role?

BW: I'd love to do a period piece, so anything that's in another time. But there's also a play called Arcadia, and I'd really like to play Thomasina.

ED: Your favorite karaoke song?

BW: Oh, that's a great question. I think maybe “What's Up?” by 4 Non Blondes. That's kind of a staple.

ED: Go-to comfort meal?

BW: Arroz Congri.

ED: Favorite cuisine?

BW: Cuban food. It’s just, like, superior.

ED: Fave color?

BW: It's always weird. I feel like I just gravitate toward Halloween colors. I like black and orange and white.

ED: When you’re at the movie theater, what’s your favorite snack?

BW: Popcorn, absolutely. Classic, no butter. Just give me salt. I feel like butter is delicious, but it gets messy, and I'm like, “No, I can't focus on cleaning my hands. I need to watch the movie.”

ED: What’s your biggest career goal?

BW: That's a complicated question. I feel like there's sort of several paths. I really want to finish writing this album that I'm working on. I’d like to eventually produce a show. I'd like to work on a period piece, whether that be a film or something else.

ED: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

BW: I've been so blessed to work with so many amazing actors and performers who are always dispensing wisdom that I feel is a part of my soul. One thing that I can think of right off the bat, is what I needed to hear at the time.

On the set of Mean Girls, I was really stressed out because we had to shoot a lot of material and I was worried that we weren't going to have enough time to really capture what I wanted. Tim Meadows, who plays Principal Duvall, was there, and he came up to me and he was like, "Bebe listen, at the end of the day, we're filming a movie. Listen to that. You know what I mean? It's all pretty silly." I was like, “That's so true. Let me just relax.” That was so helpful because when you care about something, you want to give it your all and whatever, but it's like at the end of the day, we're filming a movie.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.