The Cut - The Character Actor Turned Leading Lady

Keyla Monterroso Mejia has a dark, shameful secret. She loves — no, she’s obsessed with — videos of kids getting hurt. “I’m really sorry. I know this is so bad,” she says. “I’m trying to correct my ways.” Without skipping a beat, she asks, “Can I show you one of my favorites?” One turns into several, and over Shirley Temples and pizza at Jane Q in Hollywood, Mejia takes me on a tour of her guilty-pleasure videos, which include a baby body-slamming her dad with the technique of a professional wrestler, a brutal two-kid collision on a trampoline, and a blindfolded woman whacking a friend’s head after mistaking it for a piñata.

This interest in physical comedy makes sense, as the 24-year-old actor is becoming quite the slapstick expert herself. Last year, Mejia captivated audiences with her performance in Curb Your Enthusiasm, which placed her tête-à-tête with Larry David. As Maria Sofia Estrada, an impossibly untalented wannabe actress whose father blackmails Larry into giving her a starring role in his autobiographical television show, she sparred with Cheryl Hines and Ted Danson, gyrating and body rolling her way into stardom.

The No. 1 biggest story out of last night’s Super Bowl was Rihanna’s pregnancy, but the second should be the environmental toll of all of the superrich fans who flew in and out of Arizona on private planes. From now on, NYFW stands for New York Ferry Week. North West is a member of the Spice Cabinet. Tom Holland as Fred Astaire actually makes a lot of sense — talented dancer with next to no sex appeal. On the limits of attachment theory. Margaret Atwood on the inefficacy of book bans. An overlooked government indicator shows that Americans are on vacation half as often as they were 40 years ago. And if you’re not feeling like yourself, consider phoning a friend.

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