Ella Stiller Makes Her Off-Broadway Debut on Her Own Terms: ‘My Whole Goal Is to Tell Young Women’s Stories’ (Exclusive)

Ella Stiller is making an impact in the new play Dilaria. 

The 23-year-old actress, who is the daughter of Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, is making her Off-Broadway debut in the world premiere of the new work by Julia Randall. She tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she was immediately drawn to how the script represents young women.

“This is the exact kind of thing I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” Stiller says. “I’ve always only wanted to do cool, gritty plays written by women and about young women. My whole goal in life, as an artist and a person, is to tell young women’s stories in an unfiltered way, and to be a voice for young women who often don’t get a voice.”

In the darkly comedic play, Stiller plays the titular character, a wealthy young woman who becomes obsessed with the online attention her late classmate receives after her sudden death. Dilaria’s obsession blossoms into something deeper and begins to affect her relationships with her best friend and her kinda-boyfriend, played respectively by Chiara Aurelia and Christopher Briney. 

The actress says the play would have meant a lot to her at a younger age. “I want to do work that when I was in high school, I would have watched and been like, ‘I needed to see this.’ I needed to hear and see girls who are like me and who I understand,” she explains.

Directed by Alex Keegan, the play began performances on June 13 ahead of its June 18 opening at DR2 Theatre in New York City. The show is set to run for only eight weeks.

Stiller, a recent Juilliard graduate, pulled together her role in just over a month. She recalls getting the script in early May, mere days before her audition. After her audition, she had a callback and was then notified the same day that she got the role. The news, she says, came at a perfect time in her life as she was in a rough place.

“I was definitely in a place, the week before this all happened, where I was doing a lot of auditioning, a lot of taping and feeling a little bit down,” she shares. “This is what we do. It’s a lot of rejection. And then this came along, and it really, really changed everything. I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Now, Stiller feels as though she is living a “dream come true.” Coming from a family of actors, she has always been immersed in the acting community, but she recalls specifically falling in love with theater at age three after she saw the musical Wicked. 

“I watched Elphaba fly, and I was like, ‘That’s what I need to do.’ I’ve never felt so seen, so understood. From that moment on, I was hooked,” she says. “I was so lucky to grow up in the city and see shows all the time.”

In fact, theater kept Stiller company during a difficult time. “[Seeing shows] was the most exciting thing my childhood and high school years. I had a hard time in school. Socially, everything was tough. So getting to see a show at night and live in that world was so meaningful,” she says.

As for her character specifically, the actress loves that “she says what everyone is thinking.”

“She says and does all the things our intrusive thoughts tell us to do but we can’t because it’s not socially acceptable and it’s too self centered, or whatever,” Stiller says. “It’s freeing to go out every night and say all the things I know are true for a lot of people, obviously to an extreme in this play. Everyone is Dilaria in our deepest, darkest part of ourselves.”

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Stiller has nothing but praise for her two costars, whom she says she felt connected to “within minutes” of meeting.

“Chiara [Aurelia] and I was like love at first sight. We got so close over the first few days. And Chris [Briney] is just the sweetest, best guy. He’s so funny. I think it’s so underrated how comedic of an actor he is. He’s a brilliant comedic actor,” she says. “I just feel so honored and lucky to be working with two incredible actors who are so kind and funny, and normal people. We have a really, really good time together.”

With nostalgia still on her mind, Stiller is asked to share the advice she’d give to her teenaged self. “Go on anxiety medication sooner?, she says with a contagious laugh. “No, I mean, yes, but also, it’s all gonna be okay.”

The actress continues earnestly, “It’s all gonna be okay. Take deep breaths. It doesn’t have to be so hard and scary all the time.”

Tickets for Dilaria are now on sale.