She's a Society girl. MaameYaa Boafo is the Pakistani-born Ghanaian actress who currently stars in The Mysterious Benedict Society. The sleeper hit series follows a misfit collective of orphans (or are they…?) as they grow up, solve puzzles, save the world, and flaunt some of the best vintage outfits since The Royal Tenenbaums. (Bonus: While The MBS has the quirky look and wit of a Wes Anderson project, it’s considerably more diverse, and female-driven, too.)

Before hitting the Disney big leagues, MaameYaa won the Drama Desk Award for her stage work and appeared on shows like Ramy and Madam Secretary. She’s also a frequent street style target for photographers, because, well, just look.

Here’s what MaameYaa does after a long day on-set, including her book pick, her dessert selection, and her refusal to have a bedtime. (Relatable.)

6 P.M. I like to read in the early evening. Currently, it’s The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. A friend of mine recommended it to me years ago. She’s an avid reader, and we went to a thrift store, and she told me to get a whole bunch of books. I grabbed like 10 of them. I was determined to finish all of them that summer… and it was 2014. Now I’m finally getting around to it! [Laughing.] What’s interesting is, it’s kind of creepily timed with what’s happening in the world—since the pandemic, it feels like Groundhog Day sometimes. And in this book, the hours of the day begin to go slower. A day turns into 48 hours, because the sun’s orbit has changed. It’s a fascinating book.

7 P.M. I wouldn’t say I’m 100% a health nut, but okay, I’m a pseudo health nut. I strive to be 100%! I’m definitely into making my own tomato sauces, my own meatballs from scratch, and because it’s been so hot lately, I love eating summer fruits—I can somehow eat an entire pack of cherries in 20 minutes! I also like to put watermelon on my salad. I toast my own walnuts for salad, too. And while I’m not vegan, I do love vegan ice cream, which is my frozen dessert of choice. It’s called Must Love Bananas, and the flavor I love is “Dipped Strawberries.” It’s so good.

8 P.M. I’m still really into the movie Into the Spider-Verse, and that song “Sunflower” by Post Malone from the soundtrack? That’s what’s on repeat for me… Often, I’ll also be reading a script at night, because scripts for TV change all the time. We get different color drafts within an episode, and by the end, I have a rainbow of scripts in my bag—white, blue, goldenrod, pink—all spread out before me! So I definitely make sure I review scripts when I’m in production for something, because I want to be up to date.

9 P.M. In college, my friend’s sister told us that the secret to having great skin is to let it air dry after you wash it. Don’t pat it down with a towel. Don’t dry it; don’t pat it; don’t touch it, basically! Anytime I wash my face, which I like to do with black soap, I walk around to let my skin dry on its own. I also like to use natural oils on my face. Right now it’s jojoba oil, because it’s quite light and great for summer. It’s a pretty simple skincare routine, but it really works!

10 P.M. I don’t really have a bedtime right now, because it’s summer and it was the Olympics, so I was up all night trying to watch the meets live. I’ll watch anything, but I love track and field. I used to think I was a fast runner until I did a race in 3rd grade and realized, no, I’m actually pretty slow. But I loved field day at school anyway, and I’m always so captivated by long jumps and high jumps. There’s so much adrenaline and it just feels like we’re in solidarity with the athletes. You know, I’m from Ghana, and I’m always looking to see if there’s a Ghanaian in the races! It gives me such joy when my country is represented, whether it’s running or swimming or World Cup soccer. I also like rooting for the underdogs.

11 P.M. The last dream I remember having was one about my friend from grad school. It was last night, actually, when I had the dream! And then I woke up and—this is so amazing to me—one of those “Facebook Memory” posts popped up, and it was her wedding! The friend from the dream! Is that a coincidence? How could that be random? It’s so amazing but I still can’t figure out what it means, except that I love my friend and had a great time at her wedding.

Midnight. I love seeing on social media or hearing from friends that they’re watching Mysterious Benedict Society. Did you say you watch it late at night before bed? I think that’s a great choice, obviously. It’s great for adult women to watch because the show celebrates so many different types of women and girls. But something all of our characters have in common, I think, is that we are very strong, independent characters. We all have our own strength, our own talent, our own skill, and those things are celebrated. But they’re also challenged! So even though the show really roots for its women to save the day, I mean… you have to watch until the end to see if we do save the day or not. I can’t tell you! [Laughs.]