Dolly de Leon talks about being in 'Nine Perfect Strangers,' 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'

GMA Network

26-05-2025

There is no stopping Dolly de Leon's star rising in Hollywood as the Golden Globe nominee for Ruben Östlund's "Triangle of Sadness" bagged not one, but two, TV series – "Nine Perfect Strangers" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender."
In the Netflix series, "Avatar: The Last Airbender," which is executive produced by Ryan Halprin among others, the talented De Leon told us, "I play the Fire Nation twins Lo and Li who are behind Azula in her quest for the throne. We've already shot Season 2 last March and I was so excited to be part of such an iconic show playing twins no less which I've never done so I am so excited about that too."
Another Fil-Am actor, Jon Jon Briones also joins De Leon in Season 3 as he portrays Piandao.
In Hulu's Season 2 of "Nine Perfect Strangers," meanwhile, De Leon joins no less than Nicole Kidman who portrays the enigmatic healing guru Masha Dmitrichenko, Christine Baranski (Victoria), Annie Murphy (Imogen), Mark Strong (David), Henry Golding (Peter), Murray Bartlett (Brian), King Princess (Tina), Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Wolfie), Lucas Englander (Martin) and Lena Olin (Helena).
De Leon portrays Agnes, an ex-nun-nurse in the wellness retreat in the Austrian Alps where Masha has her controversial treatment methods.
In an exclusive virtual interview, De Leon talked to us about her experience and her journey in the unconventional world of Masha.
Photo courtesy of Hulu
I actually got the good news from my team. The good news was that I was being invited to play Agnes. So, first of all, I was already very flattered by that. It's Fifth Season, the company of Nicole Kidman, and Hulu. So, it was a big deal for me. Then when I read the script, that's when it really became more intense for me because I really fell in love with Agnes, the character that I played here, and my reaction was disbelief.
I couldn't believe it, until now. I still can't believe that I'm actually in the show. It's very strange. Who would have thought that I, who always played lawyers and doctors here in the Philippines, would end up playing one of the nine perfect strangers in a series called "Nine Perfect Strangers" starring Nicole Kidman. I really couldn't believe it. It was surreal. Very surreal.
You mentioned Nicole Kidman. Talk about working with her now as your co-star and executive producer.
She was really so much fun to work with. I went in there a little bit nervous because I didn't know what to expect from her, but she's very nice. She's super sweet. Very warm. She's adorable. We had a lot of fun on set because we did some scenes together. She made me feel very comfortable. She did not make me feel intimidated at all. She made me just enjoy working with her, doing the scene together, and having fun with it.
What was your most memorable scene with her?
My most memorable scene with her. It might be a spoiler, but it's a scene where she psychoanalyzes me. She psychoanalyzes my character and tries to get down to why Agnes behaves a certain way. I'll never forget that, because that's the one scene that we have together, just the two of us. For me, that was really something special that I could not believe would ever happen to me, to be working with someone like her in that capacity.
You mentioned your character, Agnes? She's a former nurse and nun. Can you tell us more about your character? And why do you think she joined this controversial wellness retreat with Nicole, aka Masha?
I think that Agnes was going through a crisis of faith, so she was starting to question her beliefs, and she was lost. Completely lost. So, she left the convent, got an invitation to join the wellness retreat. Agnes is very open to finding all means of a solution to her problem of finding herself again and finding out more about her faith. So, she thought that she could find her answers there from Masha, who was played by Nicole. And that's why she went there. She went there with a very open mind, willing to do anything to get down to the root of her problem.
You have a lot of memorable scenes in the series. Can you just talk a little bit about them, like that scene where you screamed, was that a gut reaction, or from the director, or from the script?
That was from the script. It was really there. Early on, it was already in the script, and I had to do that nine times. Can you believe it? I had to do it nine times. And by the eighth time, I was already beginning to lose my voice. I was so tempted to tell (director) Jonathan (Levine), I can't do it anymore. If you're going to make me, do it one more time, I can't do it anymore. I'm going to lose my voice, but I didn't.
I fought the urge to tell him that I couldn't do it again, because I'm not going to disappoint myself because I would be most disappointed if I couldn't do it again. So, I plowed through it and thank goodness by the ninth time, okay, that was the last time when I really could not do it anymore. When he said, okay, it's good. We'll work with that.
And how about the preference of Agnes to sleep on the floor? How are you in real life? Do you also try sleeping on the floor?
Oh my gosh, no, I cannot sleep on the floor. I already have back pains sleeping on the bed alone. I already wake up uncomfortable, even if I have a soft bed. Still not enough to make me feel good. So, no sleeping on the floor. No, no, no. Cannot do that. Will not do that. I am not as strong as Agnes. Agnes is one strong woman. I am nothing like her. She's incredible.
Photo courtesy of Hulu
That scene. Oh, my gosh, I was really worried about that scene. Because it's a very, very emotional scene. I was really so anxious about that day, about going into the set and doing that scene because it required a lot, not just a lot of emotions from me, but it also required a lot of technical choreography, because we had to make sure that we were doing it right. So, it was a bit of a challenge to do that scene, but the whole crew were so supportive, Jonathan was so supportive.
Our director of photography Frank (Lamm) was also so supportive and so helpful. They just made everything so easy for me. When you're working with a team that is very helpful, very caring, they care only about your safety, they only care about your comfort, it really makes our job as actors so easy. That's one of the things that I value about the show, how much they were looking out for us and making sure that we had all the support that we could get to make our jobs easier.
How about dancing with the group when you have some hallucinogenic drinks? How freeing and liberating was that scene?
Oh, it was so liberating. I had so much fun doing that scene. That was my favorite scene. It was really so much fun to just dance, let go and just have fun with it. We were dancing like no one's watching. I did some dancing in "Ghostlight," but that wasn't the same here. It was really just wild out-of-this-world dancing. It was so liberating and freeing. That's why I love being an actor, because you can just go, let go and just because you're not really yourself, you're playing a character. So, no one can ever blame me. They can always blame Agnes, the character I'm playing.
Were you able to get a chance to go around town, do some sightseeing or shopping?
Oh my gosh, yes, we were able to do that. I stayed in Munich for six months, and in some months during that period, we also went to Austria, to Salzburg. I love Salzburg. I love Munich, where we stayed for a long time. I really love those places. So yeah, I was able to go around, look at these places. It became my home for some time, so Munich was really a special place for me. I consider it a second home.
People are nice. It's so safe to go out at night. You can walk alone in the middle of the night, and you're completely safe. Nothing bad's going to happen to you. And it's not so congested there. It's not overpopulated. I really loved it so much. And Salzburg was also a very special place I loved. I love the way there is nature in the middle of a city. That's what I loved about it the most.
But how was it filmed in the snow and getting cold for a person from a very warm country?
In the beginning, I was really scared about that. I was worried about that. But that's what I love about Hulu, about how they took care of us when we got there, before we even started shooting, they already made us put on our costumes, go outside and see if we could stand the weather. So right then and there, they already asked, are you feeling okay? Do you need more? Because they even had an electric jacket for heat, and we tested it.
I went outside and tested it, and by the time we were filming already, we were shooting. I was completely protected from the elements. So, I was scared in the beginning. But because they really took care of us there. They made sure that we were safe. We felt safe. And I didn't get sick, not once. So, they even gave us flu shots, vitamin drips and all that. So yeah, it was fine. By the time we were shooting the scene, it was okay. I was completely fine. I wasn't freezing or anything.
What was your reaction when you went into the set, this humongous wellness center?
Oh, wow. Yeah, that was amazing. To see this whole set, it was huge. It was a huge set, and it was so detailed. Just the details were incredible, and it really felt like we were in Austria. It really felt real. For me, that's a very important aspect of being an actor is to make the set completely believable. And they really did that. They did their job so well.
Photo courtesy of Hulu
Lena Olin is such an elegant woman. Same with Christine Baranski, both very elegant women, but they can also be very funny and quirky. I love them so much. They're just incredible. And very sweet, very nice and very kind.
Henry, of course, is a good friend. Same with Annie. I really connected with Maisie Richardson-Sellers. We became super-duper close, and until now, we're still in touch. We still contact each other.
I just idolize Mark Strong. I've always loved Mark's work ever since. So, when I knew that he was cast, I was so excited to meet him. And when I met him, I was like, oh, he's just a regular guy, you know? So, it's so refreshing to meet people like him who are so talented, yet so grounded and so down-to-earth.
What was the most challenging scene?
The most challenging scene for me was the confessional because it's always challenging to be working alone in a scene. I always build from my scene partner. I take a lot from them. But when I'm all alone in a scene, I have no one but myself to rely on. So that was really challenging for me.
Have you ever gone to a therapy session like this?
Never. But I would like to. I've heard a lot of stories. I've met a few people who have done something like that, and I heard it's really effective. They have that, I think, in California and in some parts of the US. I would love to do that. But I've never done it. I've never tried it.
If you were given a chance to be stranded on an island or in the Alps with nine strangers, who would you want to be stranded with?
Oh my gosh. Oh, I would love to be with my kids. I would love to have my kids there. I definitely want to have Bear Grylls there because he's good with the outdoors, and I'm sure that he's going to make sure that we survive.
Maybe I also want to be with someone who can make me laugh, like maybe Robin Williams. God bless his soul. And Ninoy Aquino. Maybe I'd love to be with Ninoy Aquino. I'm sorry. They're all dead people, but I would love to, because he seems like a really great conversationalist. I think that spending time with Ninoy Aquino on an island we would never run out of things to talk about. And I would have learned so much from him. —MGP, GMA Integrated News