Midori Francis
Actor
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Meet and Greet
Anyone else still screaming over the season finale of The Sex Lives of College Girls? For obvious reasons we’re stating spoilers ahead… but Alicia is back! And we got the inside scoop from Midori Francis (she/her), the actor who plays her. When she’s not busy running the Essex Women’s Center on Sex Lives, you can catch her on Netflix’s rom-com series Dash & Lily, the latest season of Grey’s Anatomy, or in future thrillers like Unseen.
Now let’s see what college is really like for actors, a few roles Midori would love to manifest for the new year, and the best party she’s ever been to.
The show’s title doesn’t specify this, but in addition to sex, we’re also seeing the financial struggles, complicated relationships, and parties that the characters experience. So, what was college like for you as an actor?
Even though I went to Rutgers University, I literally was in my own little bubble at their art conservatory Mason Gross School of the Arts. Like, I went to 1 frat party my freshman year and never went back to another for the entire 4 years. Then, there was another time where a group of us were going to all go to a Rutgers football game and instead, we smoked weed and laid on some grass called the Field of Dreams. So, I never made it to a single college football game, which is pretty iconic considering I went to a state school [laughing].
For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who I could be myself around, where being weird was cool. I have a lot of little cousins, and I just hope that they can find that sense of being themselves during that time, too. And then hopefully don’t party too much, because I went pretty hard.
You’ve played a teen, a college student, and a medical intern. What’s a role you haven’t played yet that you think would be really cool?
I love the production company A24. The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Everything Everywhere All At Once are some of my favorite movies over the last few years. I love the pure, brave exploration of what it means to be a human being and have always wanted to tell stories like that. Oh! And I also want to be a superhero.
Is there a specific superhero you have in mind?
I think there’s a lot of Japanese comic book characters that haven’t been played by Japanese actors. And I would love to play a superhero who’s rough around the edges. There’s those stories when it’s the down-trodden person not living up to their potential, and they have to step into it for the sake of everybody and save their little world. I want to do that—something cool and extreme, but still rooted in humanity.
In the spirit of college life, we have a few fun Qs to ask. What’s your fav party game?
There’s one I haven’t played, but need to: Mafia. I just love role playing games and stuff that’s interactive and a bit unhinged. Something about the immediacy of it makes me competitive, too. We recently did this Vulture Fest panel for Grey’s Anatomy where we were split into 2 teams. It’s largely for the fans and to have fun, but I was so angry when we started losing. I was literally screaming my answers into the microphone and hitting the bell so hard that I broke it.
Do you have any party tricks?
I can do a really good baby cry. [Imitates a baby crying.] I’m also good at instigating wild games. I hosted a little viewing of the Halloween episode of Grey’s where I tried to play a murder/mystery game by turning off all the lights periodically and having people scream. I don’t think people were as into it as I was [laughing].
What’s the best party you’ve ever been to?
I’m going to go for one of the first parties I ever threw, which was in college. In high school, I never threw parties because I was so terrified to be in trouble with my dad. This was the first time I bought stuff and was a host, and I loved every second of it.