Dolly de Leon shares which ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ co-star she bonded with most

 — Actress Dolly de Leon is still in disbelief she got cast in the second season of “Nine Perfect Strangers” opposite Nicole Kidman.

The series is based on the 2018 book of the same name by Liane Moriarty. It premiered in 2021 and was renewed for a second season two years later.

Nicole portrays Russian guru Masha Dmitrichenko who founded a wellness resort in California. For the second season, she will invite a different set of nine new strangers to wellness retreat, this time, in the Austrian Alps.

Dolly’s character is named Agnes, and accompanying her as newcomers are Christine Baranski, Mark Strong, Henry Golding, Murray Bartlett, Annie Murphy, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, King Princess, Aras Aydin, Lucas Englander, and Lena Olin.

The actress recounted to Philstar.com in an exclusive interview ahead of the second season’s wide premiere the long journey it took from getting cast to finally releasing.

She said it was surreal to get cast in her first-ever internationally produced series, although expectations were tempered by the 2023 actors’ strike.

“Hindi na ‘to mangyayari, hindi ‘to matutuloy, ang malas ko talaga, kahit kailan na lang laging ganyan,” Dolly told herself at the time.

After the strike ended and she was beginning her preparations, Dolly was still in disbelief even when she had landed in Germany and met with the show’s executive producer and assistant director.

The disbelief remained even when Dolly hit the soundstage, met Aras, Christine, Annie, and Mark, and shot a scene with Nicole.

“This is all very surreal to me, I never would have imagined my career would end up where it is now. It’s crazy!” Dolly told Philstar.com.

The actress quipped that shooting in the Philippines is tough because of the humidity, and the main concern while shooting in the mountains was not to freeze up.

Dolly admitted she gets sweaty whenever she’s nervous, but that helped a lot during chilling shoots, “It’s a match made in heaven! I would love to work in cold weather all the time. Iba, ang sarap!”

Of all her “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Dolly bonded the most with Maisie, whom she described as a wonderful human being and great actress.

“We got really close there kasi we were away from home for a long time, six months,” Dolly ended. “[Maisie] became kind of my anchor, she really helped ground me and keep me sane.”