Chase Sui Wonders on 'Pretending' to Know 'What the Freak I'm Doing' in Real Life, Like Sam in 'City on Fire'

"A lot of times you have to rise to the occasion, or at least pretend like you know what the heck is going on," the City on Fire actress tells PEOPLE exclusively as her Apple TV+ series debuts

Chase Sui Wonders and her City on Fire character have a lot in common.

The 26-year-old actress chatted with PEOPLE about the Apple TV+ murder mystery, revealing how her real life has "weirdly" matched the journey of her role Samantha "Sam" Yeung.

Inspired by Garth Risk Hallberg's 2015 novel of the same name, City on Fire takes place in the unsettled post-9/11 New York City world and chronicles the investigation of Sam's shooting in Central Park on the Fourth of July.

Wonders' life fortunately hasn't necessarily aligned with that part of the storyline, but instead with Sam's "coming-of-age journey" that's explored in the first two episodes of the series. The actress tells PEOPLE that the journey Sam is "presenting to the world is outpacing the journey she's actually going through."

"To everyone else, she's got it all together. She's cool, she's calm, she's confident, she knows all the answers," Wonders explains. "She can walk into any room and chameleons herself to that room."

Related:Chase Sui Wonders Strikes Up a Connection That Might Turn Bloody — and Fatal — in City on Fire

Wonders sees connections between Sam's ability to acclimate to unfamiliar environments and her own experience as a Hollywood actress.

"I definitely think in this industry, it throws so much at you at any given time," says Chase. "And a lot of times you have to rise to the occasion, or at least pretend like you know what the heck is going on."

The actress points out that her ability to adapt — combined with a bit of imposter syndrome — has helped her in "the past couple years" of her career.

"Just pretending I know what the freak I'm doing. That matched Sam's journey, weirdly," says Wonders, who's previously starred in HBO Max's Genera+ion and is currently costarring with boyfriend Pete Davidson, 29, in his Peacock comedy Bupkis. "But inside, she's still a kid and she's still trying to find her people ... her chosen family."

Related:Chase Sui Wonders Says Acting with Pete Davidson 'Is My Favorite Thing' and Calls Bupkis 'Close to the Heart'

City on Fire delves into Sam's backstory throughout the eight-episode drama, with flashbacks from her past and the investigation into her shooting happening in parallel with her hospitalization from a coma.

Sam's friends — and potential suspects — are among the characters who are forced to reflect on their own lives, actions and morals.

Related:Pete Davidson Met Chase Sui Wonders' Family as Source Says They're 'Seeing Where It Goes'

Chief among those is Charlie Weisberger (Wyatt Oleff), a lost soul struggling to cope with the death of his father on 9/11 when he meets Sam.

Oleff tells PEOPLE he had a "very parallel journey to Charlie" in real life. "I got to follow this journey of finding my own confidence. This is the first project I've been on without my parents around." The 19-year-old had to find his "own self" on set, he added.

Sam decides to make Charlie — or "Charles" as she flirtatiously calls him — her "project." As a photographer, writer and artist, she's entrenched in New York's underground music scene, so introduces him to her anti-gentrification, pyromaniac friend Nicky (Max Milner), his band Ex Nihilo and two pals he considers his "family."

While Oleff says he "loves" Charlie because of his evolution from an "awkward, in-his-shell kind of guy" to this "very active character" who becomes a crucial component in the crime case, Wonders had to stretch herself a bit to embody Sam's outgoing concert kid persona.

"I am at my worst on the dance floor and in front of live music. I hate myself when I'm watching music," she confesses. "Honestly, my hardest acting was dancing and jamming out to the music. I remember [the producers] being like, 'You need to be having way more fun than you're having!'"

"Certainly in high school and first years of college, I had no idea who I was," the Harvard University alum recalls. "And I was so not confident. Such a wallflower. I was happy being a ghost."

Now, she says, "I think I've definitely grown a little bit more into my own skin."

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The first three episodes of City on Fire are currently streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping Fridays through June 16.

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