Dolly de Leon generated much buzz for her portrayal of an overseas Filipino worker on an ill-fated luxury yacht in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.” Her performance in that Palme d’Or-winning 2022 dark comedy clinched the homegrown Filipino actress a best supporting performer trophy from the LA Film Critics Association and best supporting actress nominations at the Golden Globes and Bafta, and she has since proven she’s no one-trick pony.

Even as she continues to do daring work in Filipino productions (“Iti Mapukpukaw,” “Ang Duyan ng Magiting,” “A Very Good Girl”), she has also cleverly parlayed her career-boosting Cannes debut into an international career that has yielded four Hollywood productions so far.

Dolly’s latest project, “Nine Perfect Strangers,” is her most mainstream foray into Hollywood to date, with no less than David E. Kelley (“Big Little Lies,” “Ally McBeal”) as showrunner. The series features a star-studded cast led by Nicole Kidman and begins its eight-episode sophomore season late this month on Prime Video. 

But we also loved the other US productions in which Dolly was cast.

In Nathan Silver’s May-December comedy, “Between the Temples” (85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), Dolly plays Manila-born Jewish realtor Judith Gottlieb, the lesbian mother of 40-year-old bachelor Ben (Jason Schwartzman). Judith gets the shock of her life when Ben announces he’s fallen in love with Carla (New York Film Critics’ best supporting actress winner Carol Kane), his former music teacher in grade school! 

Then there’s the sublime “Ghostlight” (99% on RT). In Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s “dramedy,” a construction worker (Keith Kupferer) coming to terms with the inexplicable suicide of his teenage son finds a measure of healing when he inadvertently ends up playing Romeo opposite Dolly’s Juliet in a community theater production of Shakespeare’s most enduring love story. In the credits, Dolly is also billed as one of the movie’s coproducers—a feat in itself.

Meanwhile, Dolly’s cameo in John Cena and Awkwafina’s action-comedy caper “Jackpot!” may be fleeting, but flashy just the same. Set in 2030, the dystopian movie revolves around a grand lottery where participants must eliminate each other to win the multibillion-dollar jackpot prize. Dolly’s deceptively naive character, Grandma Tala, with crying baby in comedic tow, starts the bloodbath by killing Seann William Scott (“American Pie”)!

Ex-nun

But her role in “Nine Perfect Strangers” was a particularly tough row to hoe for Dolly, who describes her ex-nun character Agnes as “quite daunting” to essay.  

“I found the idea of playing a former nun challenging because I’ve never been one obviously,” she explained in an exclusive interview with CoverStory last month. “It was intimidating because I wouldn’t know how it feels to be a woman of the cloth.” 

Asked how she surmounted that initial trepidation, Dolly said, “I tried to calm my nerves by talking to Sister Mary John (Mananzan), who’s a dear friend of mine because we’re both Scholasticans (alumnae of St. Scholastica’s College). I asked her: Why would a nun do certain things or behave a certain way? Because Agnes does some things that aren’t very becoming of a nun. I even read Sister Mary John’s book so I could understand my character more.” 

She added: “But the most exciting thing about the whole process was working with Jonathan Levine, our director, because he gave us free rein to explore and do whatever we felt was right for our respective roles. He respected our choices and allowed us to just have fun with the material. He would just tweak it a bit.”

Another “source of intimidation” for Dolly was the thought of working with her Oscar-winning costar, Nicole Kidman, who reprises her role in the show as the enigmatic health and wellness guru Masha Dmitrichenko.  

“Nicole is an icon, and I was a little nervous knowing that I’d be working with her,” Dolly said. “Thankfully, she made me feel very comfortable on set right away. When we did our scenes together, I didn’t feel like I was working with a big star at all. It felt like she was just another actor like me.” 

In their scenes together, “Nicole was really in the moment,” Dolly recalled. “She wasn’t behaving like a diva or any of those things that we think people of her stature would do. It was so easy to do the scenes with her because she made the set a very safe and fun space for the actors.”

Handpicked ‘strangers’

Based on Liane Moriarty’s novel, the first season of “Nine Perfect Strangers” gathers strangers who are handpicked by Masha to take part in a 10-day retreat at the Tranquillum House in California, relive past traumas and come to terms with them by adding “psychedelic” drugs into their diet. Unknown to her clients, Masha is driven by the needless death of her young daughter, Tatiana.

Melissa McCarthy’s character likens Masha’s unorthodox ways to “identifying your hump, then hurling yourself over it.” Aside from Nicole and Melissa, the stellar cast of the pilot season also included Regina Hall, Luke Evans, Michael Shannon, Bobby Cannavale and Filipino Canadian Manny Jacinto.

Shot mostly in Munich, Germany, for six months, Season 2 sees Masha relocating to the Austrian Alps after becoming the subject of multiple federal investigations in the United States following the tumultuous events in the previous season. 

Aside from Dolly, the brand-new batch of “perfect strangers” in Nicole and Lena Olin’s snow-drenched resort also includes Mark Strong, Christine Baranski, Murray Bartlett, Annie Murphy, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, King Princess, Aras Aydin and Henry Golding. 

Not just another talented actress

The interview with Dolly made us realize what makes her performances tick and click. She isn’t just another talented actress who fires on all cylinders every chance she gets; she explains her life and acting choices with thoughtful eloquence. 

Take the Cinemalaya entry, “Ang Duyan ng Magiting,” where she plays a social worker who stands her ground against police brutality. Dolly was a sobering, forceful presence in that well-meaning but occasionally overwrought indie.

If you think you’ve got Dolly’s nun character in “Nine Perfect Strangers” all figured out, think again. For instance, in one fleeting moment in an episode we’ve seen, Agnes even references a female God!

Here’s the rest of CoverStory’s one-on-one chat with Dolly:

I’ve only seen two episodes so far, so I’m wondering, what is it about Sister Agnes that resonated with you? Didn’t you also play the school principal nun in the QCinema-winning lesbian romance, “Billy & Emma”? 

Yes. The big difference between Sister Agnes and the nun in “Billy & Emma” is that Sister Agnes authentically cares about the human struggle, about making a connection with God. The nun in “Billy & Emma” just cares about disciplining students. That’s because she feels that that’s the way to heaven…to follow God’s law and all that. 

But with Sister Agnes, she’s very introspective. She goes beyond what’s been taught to her in the convent. She often thinks about her relationship with God and wants to put deeper meaning into that, rather than focusing on the indoctrination or the way the Church taught her to think. 

Agnes has a mind of her own. She has agency. She’s not controlled by the Bible or the teachings of the Church. She wants to dig deeper and understand why she’s being asked to do the things that God is asking her to do.

What can Filipino viewers learn from this series?

Filipino viewers will be able to appreciate the way relationships work, because we Pinoys are very relationship-focused, right? We value family and friendship, we value being kind to one another, and we look out for each other. 

And this series shows you just that…through the interconnection of the characters, how they meet, blend and communicate with one another. This is a testament to how relationships form human beings, or how dealing with each other helps shape us. That’s very Pinoy. 

Also, it gives Filipinos a new light on how we perceive nontraditional medicine and therapy, because that’s one of the key elements of the show. We Filipinos are very traditional when it comes to healing ourselves and our approach to medicine. But “Nine Perfect Strangers” presents a very different view, so I think they would learn a lot from that.

On a lighter note, in my separate interviews with your costars Mark Strong and Aras Aydin, they said the sweetest things about you. Aras even became emotional because he said he misses you. Any reaction to that? 

Aras, who plays Christine Baranski’s young consort, was the first actor I met in Munich. On the very first day of the shoot, we rode in the same vehicle going to the sound stage. He is the funniest person in the cast. I adore him! 

I’m a huge fan of Mark Strong, who plays Henry Golding’s billionaire father, David. I have admired Mark for the longest time, so just the idea that I’d be working with him was intimidating. But when I met him, he was so cool, so down to earth. Mark and Aras helped make that whole experience so much fun. I love them so much.

Can you think of a common denominator shared by your recent characters in Hollywood—from Sister Agnes to Abigail to Judith to Tala to Rita (of “Ghostlight”)? 

It’s hard to come up with one common denominator for the characters that you mentioned, because they’re all very different from each other. I would say, though, that with Judith in “Between the Temples,” it’s her desire to be faithful to Judaism. She truly wants to serve her church, which is a trait she shares with Agnes. The thing with Agnes is she’s more concerned about her existence, so may pagka-existentialist s’ya. She thinks about issues like that. She doesn’t take things at face value.

Perhaps their most common thing is they don’t just take things as they are. They question, they challenge, they don’t rely on doctrine or what people tell them to do. They have their own beliefs and paninindigan (principles)—that’s the thing they all have in common. 

That’s true even for Tala in “Jackpot!” (laughs). She loves her family and all that, but she will still fight for what she believes is rightfully hers. And I think that’s the most common thing. They want what’s best for them and the people they love. They’re fighters.

Does your background in theater influence your artistic decisions? Has it helped you choose the kind of characters you play?

Not necessarily in the way that I choose the characters to play but in how I approach characterization. But in making that decision, it’s always about whether I can resonate with the character or not. Every time I read a script, it’s automatic. If I feel a connection, if I’m moved by what the characters are fighting for, if I can see myself in them even a little bit, that’s when I know I have to do it. 

When I read the script for “Nine Perfect Strangers,” I immediately fell in love with Agnes because I could absolutely relate to the way she’s able to make decisions on her own despite the fact that an institution is forcing its beliefs on her. 

And that’s one thing that I can always relate to in the characters I portray—if they have agency or if they fight for what they believe in. If the character is passionate about family, church, or their relationships, that’s someone I want to play!

The second season of “Nine Perfect Strangers” premieres on May 22 on Prime Video with new episodes every Thursday.