'Renfield's Awkwafina tells Kelly Clarkson about getting duped trying to score a fake ID as a teen

In Universal Pictures' Renfield, Awkwafina plays a good-hearted New Orleans traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy, who helps the titular protagonist (Nicholas Hoult) extricate himself from a toxic relationship with the Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage).

Appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show this week to promote the film, the actor confessed that despite her role as an officer of the law, she wasn't always a stickler for the rules growing up. In fact, she once tried to procure a fake ID in the hustle and bustle of Times Square.

RELATED: How did Nicolas Cage become 'Renfield's Dracula? Teeth shaving and 'iridescent' makeup

"I was really young and stupid and I was like, 'Why not?'" she said of the naive plan, remembering how the less-than-reputable vendor insisted on doing some kind of background check in a nearby Roy Rogers chicken restaurant. "We went upstairs and he pointed to a table. He's like, 'You see that guy?' There was a guy in a hat and what looked like a trench coat. And he was like, 'That's my associate.' I was like, 'Okay, good to know you operate out of a Roy Rogers...' He then was like, 'Do you have any bills on you? Because I have to make sure that you're 15-years-old [and] you're not a CIA agent.'"

Not knowing any better, the teenage Awkwafina then handed over a crisp 10-dollar bill to the shady operator, who claimed he had to briefly step away to run it through a counterfeiting machine.

"He leaves and like 45 minutes goes by. I have a whole chicken meal and I keep eyeing his associate, who's reading a newspaper, doing very associate things. [The other guy] didn't come back for 45 minutes, so I get up and go over to his associate and I'm like, 'Excuse me, sir. Your partner, I just want to make sure he's okay and didn't hit any road bumps.' And he was like, 'What are you talking about?' He didn't even know that guy [who] made off with 10 dollars."

Watch Kelly Clarkson interview Renfield star Awkwafina below:

When the discussion turned to the production of Renfield, Awkwafina revealed that she was able to base the character of Rebecca on an actual New Orleans detective, from whom she picked up a few useful mannerisms. "When they do a traffic stop, they'll always put their hand on the fender, so that if something happens, you can see that their hand was there."

She continued: "My character's basically an angry traffic cop that senses Renfield is up to no good, but has no idea that he has this really age-long relationship to Dracula. And so, the movie is pretty much getting to the bottom of that while Renfield also figures out what he's doing."

Written by Rick and Morty alum Ryan Ridley and directed by The Tomorrow War's Chris McKay, Renfield arrives on the big screen this Friday, April 14. You can pick up tickets right now on Fandango. To see what critics have been saying, click here.

You can catch The Kelly Clarkson Show weekdays on NBC or streaming on Peacock.