Walter Boys Star Nikki Rodriguez Reflects on 'Pinch Me' Experience at Golden Globes with Costar Noah LaLonde

Nikki Rodriguez's life has been a “whirlwind” since the release of Netflix’s breakout hit, My Life with the Walter Boys — but “in the best way," she says.

“We thought [the show] was something special when we were shooting it, so I'm happy that it's been received in the way that it has,” Rodriguez, 21, tells PEOPLE while at NYLON Nights: Fashion Edition, a New York Fashion Week event in collaboration with Kate Spade. “It's just been the best, craziest, most exciting time of my life.”

Much of that excitement has come from the various starry events she’s been attending for the first time — NYFW included. In January, she and her costar Noah LaLonde attended the 2024 Golden Globes together, an experience she calls “insane.”

“I constantly find myself in a room where it's a pinch me moment and I'm like, ‘How did I get here?’ ” she says of star-studded evenings like the Globes, which she and LaLonde followed up with another red carpet appearance together at Sunday's 2024 People's Choice Awards.

While she’s still getting used to the glitz and glamor of red carpets, spending time around her costars in real life has become something of a routine.

“We hang out all the time,” she says of the Walter Boys clan, which includes seven other boys, hence the title of the series and the book by Ali Novak on which it was based.

Rodriguez shares that she's with LaLonde — who plays her love interest Cole Walter — and Ashby Gentry — who completes her character Jackie’s love triangle as younger brother Alex Walter — the most. “They're both so amazing and wonderful people, and I just love them dearly," she says. "I love them both.”

“I got super, super lucky. Everyone in the cast is — from the bottom of my heart — the most genuine people," she adds. "I couldn't have asked for a better cast.”

Last month's Golden Globes was also a "reunion" for the actress, who had a brief stint on Netflix's On My Block before scoring her role in the teen romance, as she and LaLonde spent time with Sarah Rafferty at the awards show. It was a night full of reunions for Rafferty, 51, as she and her Suits costars Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams and Gina Torres came together to present an award.

"Sarah is amazing. She's the best," Rodriguez raves of Rafferty, who plays the Walter family matriarch who takes in Jackie after she tragically loses her family. "She's the best scene partner. She's so sweet in person. Sarah's amazing."

Rafferty similarly raved to PEOPLE about Rodriguez just after the show premiered.

"She made it like I didn't have to do any work, I just had to look in her eyes and just be present," she said.

Their instant chemistry "speaks to who she is and how available she is as an actress, how available her heart is," Rafferty added.

Rodriguez is still finding her footing in the public eye, though. She admits to feeling some “pressure,” especially when it comes to her off-screen relationships with LaLonde and Gentry, 22, as they both vied for her heart in the show.

“I of course feel like there's pressure in every sense of the job, but I just try not to take it too personally or too to heart, and I just don't think about it,” she says. 

“I just try to just live my life every day as truthfully as I can, and that's the best that I can do. It's really easy to get wrapped up in everything, but I really just try to just live my life as authentically as possible.”

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The cast is now gearing up for season 2 of the series, though Rodriguez plays coy about what's to come next for Jackie, who ended season 1 returning to New York City and leaving both Cole and Alex behind in Colorado.

"I wish I knew," she says of what the second installment will bring. "I like to be in the know. But I don't know anything."

My Life with the Walter Boys is streaming now on Netflix.