Most people see Dolly de Leon as an actress. But many things make up the award-winning star beyond showbiz. For starters, she’s a big gamer (she owns a PS5), plays games such as Resident Evil, Split Fiction, and Call of Duty, and can’t wait to try The Last of Us and Ghost of Tsushima.
De Leon was once a dubber for a few years and worked on the dubbing of international telenovelas that aired in the Philippines. She also used to have a Letterboxd account but stopped using it four years ago because she felt that it wasn’t right for her as an actress to judge other actors’ work. And being the cinephile that she is, de Leon considers Fight Club, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Little Miss Sunshine as her top recommended movies.
But in everything that makes up one of the coolest actors working today is also a Filipina who has found herself in the middle of an international career that has been on full steam ahead since her breakthrough in 2022’s Triangle of Sadness. This August, she’s flying to the US to shoot a movie with Matt Bomber, while in September, she’ll begin shooting a film with Taylor Russell while also embarking on the press tour for DreamWorks Animation’s Filipino-centric Forgotten Island. It’s been achievement after achievement, and de Leon isn’t forgetting to have fun in all of it.
RELATED: Dolly de Leon and the Long Road to Recognition
Dolly de Leon on Her Recent International Projects
Dolly de Leon is no stranger to her name being on international productions. But the past couple of months have been particularly exciting for the actress. First, she was on season two of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender playing Lo and Li, Azula’s firebending mentors. As this was the first time de Leon played twins, it was a fun experience but also one that demanded a certain level of physicality from her.
“It was challenging because we would shoot the scene with my double, who’s also in costume and fully made up, and then I had to change clothes and then switch places with her and do the scene again playing a different character,” de Leon tells MEGA Asia. “But it was so much fun. I had so much fun doing that.”
She also credits director Jabbar Raisani for helping her get into character and giving her the space to experiment and find that sweet spot. “He was fun to work with because he would let me play with different ways of approaching the scene. He’d make me first do really big and then really small and then any style I want.”
Beyond the opportunity to work on a major franchise like Avatar, which de Leon and her kids are big fans of, it was also an opportunity to work with a predominantly Asian cast. Aside from de Leon, there were other actors of Filipino heritage on the cast, such as Jordan Roberto Chien, who played a young Zuko, Eileen Cruz, de Leon’s body double, and, of course, Gordon Cormier, who played Aang. “They’re very down to earth. They’re very cool,” she says. While her scenes were mostly with Elizabeth Yu (Azula) and Daniel Dae Kim (Fire Lord Ozai), de Leon enjoyed meeting the whole cast.
Around the same time, de Leon appeared in the Apple TV crime-drama series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, playing Detective Sofia Gonzalez. But what caught viewers’ attention was the character’s Filipino accent, with many praising de Leon for having a natural Filipino-English accent that wasn’t forced or a caricature. It’s a kind of accent that feels normal to hear from a Filipino who can speak English, and one that is rarely heard on US shows.
A scene of her character speaking went viral on social media, but for de Leon, all she did was talk regularly. In her view, accents and whether or not they sound good to viewers shouldn’t solely be blamed on actors. There are a lot of factors that go into how a character speaks. “It’s because that’s the background of the character they’re playing,” de Leon comments. “It could be that they’re new immigrants, so that’s why they speak like that. And some of us really talk like that.”
For Detective Gonzalez, de Leon approached the character with a Filipino-English tone that sounded typical for her, which the producers were more than ok with. But as an actor, she always sees it through the lens of the characterization. “How I play Detective Sofia Gonzalez is dependent on her background. So if her background were like those other characters, I would’ve done that accent as well. If the intention is to just make fun of us, that’s when it’s wrong. But if you’re really representing a certain demographic, it’s okay.”
How Dolly de Leon Approaches Her International Stardom
With de Leon busy with a career that spans from Manila to Los Angeles, she is living a life most actors dream of. Decades of hard work and taking on nameless and supporting roles have built up to this moment, with de Leon becoming an internationally acclaimed actress. And even as she lives through it, it still hasn’t settled in for the veteran actress that this is her life. “I never imagined this would happen to me,” she admits. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine. Sometimes I still pinch myself. Sometimes I still can’t believe that it’s happening.”
As she continues to adjust to her life as a working Filipino actor in Hollywood, de Leon understands that she has become Filipino representation for many who look up to her as an inspiration. While those kinds of expectations might be a lot to handle for some, for de Leon, she welcomes them and, above all, is enjoying the ride.
“In the beginning, I felt like it was a huge responsibility. But now it’s just fun. I’m having fun. I’m just enjoying the ride and making the most of it. I’m forever grateful for what’s happening to me now, which actually took decades of hard work.” If there’s anything else on de Leon’s bucket list, it’s seeing more Filipino stories and actors get their deserving spotlight on the global stage just as she has. “I hope the hard work of most Filipino artists will pay off.”
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured Image: Taken by Jerick Sanchez
Photos: NETFLIX (via Website), APPLE TV (via Website), DOLLY DE LEON (via Instagram)
