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In the snow-drenched Austrian Alps, Dolly de Leon faced more than the cold. On the set of Nine Perfect Strangers, every day brought a new creative challenge and new collaborators to meet it with. With a star-studded cast, including the likes of Nicole Kidman and Christine Baranski, the acclaimed Filipino actress’ journey embraced the collaborative spirit that fueled her experience on set.
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Introducing Agnes
Dolly de Leon plays Agnes, a nun with a checkered past. Having renounced her vows, she is a mirror of contradictions—devout yet defiant, serene yet stormy. She arrives at Tranquillum House as a figure draped in mystery and spiritual unease. To navigate this character, de Leon turned to a real-life nun for guidance: Sister Mary John of St. Scholastica’s College, her alma mater. “Even if I went to an all-girl Catholic school, I’ve never been a nun, so I don’t know what that’s like,” de Leon said. “I asked her a lot of questions… and I read her book about her adventures in Europe.”
The conversations served as a compass through Agnes’s inner maze, especially as the series reveals layers that are, in de Leon’s words, “not very conventional.” But Agnes’ complexity wasn’t just cloistered in the script—it stirred personal revelations as well. “It made me realize how important it is to cultivate human relations,” she shared. “Especially when you’re in a film set, it’s really important to be respectful of each other, to be kind to each other, so that you can create something meaningful for everyone to see.”
There’s one early moment that landed with an ironic thud: in the premiere episode, Agnes is mistaken for the help. De Leon remained unconcerned. “It’s just, for me, a common mistake. You see someone in a uniform, of course you think that they’re the staff,” she said, taking it in stride. “Besides, Agnes is not very worldly. She has no concern about how people look at her or how she’s perceived. So, those things don’t matter to her.”
For those looking for a repeat of Triangle of Sadness’s survivalist tyrant, de Leon draws a clear line between Abigail and Agnes. “Agnes eventually comes to terms with who she really is, and has a sense of empowerment that impacts her own life, and also the people around her, but more or less in a good way,” she said. “Not like Abigail, who just wanted power all on her own, and to take control of everyone on the island.”
Agnes, then, isn’t just a former nun with secrets, but a woman in transformation.
The Cold Never Bothered Her Anyway—Almost
The icy Alps were a character of their own—beautiful, brutal, and absolutely unforgiving. “It was my first time to work in snow,” De Leon confesses. “So it was really hard. I had such a hard time.” While Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy, naturally insulated by her Canadian birthright, breezed through the frost like a walking Patagonia ad, de Leon was layered up like a walking pasalubong bag from Uniqlo. “I had like five layers underneath. I had hot packs on my back, my pockets, my abdomen, everywhere.”
They even gave her a mystery oil to rub on her body—like Vicks but for emotional endurance. Yet, even through the sub-zero suffering, De Leon found grace. “I enjoyed it more than Filipino weather,” she says. “Here, it’s too hot. I’m very sweaty. I sweat right away.” There, at least, no sweat threatened to steal her close-up. No panic-patting mid-take. In the Philippines, you have to practically be naked with packs of facial wipes by your hand just to conjure up a line.
What Happens When Strangers Play Nice
Under all the thermal wear and skin-saving oils, the cultural warmth broke through. “We talked mostly about theater,” she recalls when asked how her innate Filipino identity showed up on set. “About how we all started in theater, and the different cultures. But also a lot of similarities in terms of the practices.” If anything, her identity wasn’t an outlier but a shared language.
The chemistry translated on camera. Surrounded by a cast that included Mamma Mia and The Gilded Age’s Christine Baranski and Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, de Leon found herself in her element. “It was such an honor,” she says plainly, with that signature mix of sincerity and steel. “I’ve admired these people from afar. I’ve watched their work for many years. To be able to share the screen with them and play with them is the best gift.”
Series lead Nicole Kidman brought a different flavor to every take, nudging de Leon to stay light on her feet.
“Every take she would do it differently… I love that she was able to give that to me, and she really made my job easy,” de Leon says—a nod to the set’s spirit of collaboration, and to Kidman’s refusal to hit copy-paste. One take, she’d go soft and soulful; the next, sharp as a tack. Like a variety of wigs she dons in every television show.
“I don’t like doing the same thing every single time because I get bored with that,” she adds. With Kidman in the scene, boredom was never on the call sheet.
As she puts it, acting is a game of give and take. “You only can do so much depending on your scene partner,” she says. “If they don’t really give anything for you to work on, it’s going to be harder.” Fortunately, generosity was the rule, not the exception. “Everyone was very generous. Everyone was always giving each other something to play with. It was the best fun.”
Psychedelic Pathways and Spiritual Sojourns
Nine Perfect Strangers delves into unconventional healing methods, including the use of psychedelics—something de Leon’s character undergoes as part of her own journey. While the actress has no personal experience with such substances, she dove into research to portray Agnes’s transformative path authentically.
“I believe in its healing properties… as long as it’s regulated and you’re guided by a therapist,” she said, acknowledging the potential of these methods to facilitate profound personal revelations.
But while the idea of psychedelic healing resonated with her, de Leon’s approach to it was more grounded in imagination than firsthand knowledge. “Psychedelics, psilocybin in particular, have a lot of healing properties,” she shared. “They were actually used back in the day for healing, but once the government realized they couldn’t make money off of it, they made it illegal.”
She’s clearly open to the idea—if, and only if, it’s done responsibly. “If it could be made legal, I think it would help a lot of people… but it needs to be regulated, and you need someone like Masha,” she added, referring to Nicole Kidman’s character, the therapist guiding the retreat.
As for how she connected with Agnes’s psychedelic experience, de Leon couldn’t exactly draw on her own personal trips. “It’s not legal here, and it’s kind of taboo,” she admitted with a wry smile. “I just had to rely on my imagination, and YouTube videos of people getting high. I mean, it was the best I could do.”
By the final take, the icy landscape gave way to the camaraderie, shared stories, and generosity of her co-stars. With connection—both with the craft and the people around her—showing just how much more is possible when everyone is generous with their energy and their talent. Through the biting cold, the demanding shoots, and the intricacies of ensemble acting, Dolly De Leon illuminates the world is warmer for it.
Photographed by KARL KING AGUNA. Art Direction by ANDREW ENCAPAS and SEAN CASTELO III. Makeup by MARK ANTHONY LETO. Hair by MATT LEDESMA. Styling by ERICA TEROL. Written by SEAN CASTELO III. Sittings Editor MIA CASTRO. Shot on location MANILA PENINSULA.
Special thanks to IRISH MAUREEN MANUEL and LUIS GUILLERMO.
