Kaila Estrada Is Saving The Drama And We Are Seated For It

What dazzled me the most about Kaila Estrada was her eyes. Their expressive, doe-like quality, yes, but more specifically, their persistence in holding your gaze. Our interview took place amid beauty touch-ups and hair-extension applications. The up-and-comer sat in her glam chair facing the mirror while I was on a much smaller seat to her right, far below her eyeline. Every few seconds, she turned her head towards me, determined to maintain eye contact with each response, before quickly turning back to the mirror in a sequence she repeated tirelessly. It's a subtle gesture, but the impression she leaves is this: She's paying attention. 

I was reminded of her wild, bulging eyeballs as she threw Kim Chiu against the hood of a car on drama series Linlang. Her heavy, narrowed lids and knitted brows when she tearfully called off her wedding on Can't Buy Me Love. Her quivering, ill-tempered glare as she repeatedly berated Charlie Dizon on Viral Scandal. While just a few years into her acting career, Kaila has already made waves for her compelling work as a kontrabida. So her real-life disposition was surprising at first.

Despite her larger-than-life TV characters, the actress is unhurried, unassuming, almost self-effacing. Between takes, she sways in place almost imperceptibly, shifting her weight between her legs, silently mouthing along to the Ariana Grande songs playing on the speakers. Her movements are precise and intentional. When the camera starts clicking, she maintains the exactness of her motions, turning her head in mere centimeters, moving her arms ever so slightly to get that perfect shot.

And you'll see it in her on-screen performances, too. When even a swivel of her head can convey disappointment. When a slow, deliberate blink tells the audience just how frustrated her character really is. When a perfectly timed inhale announces oncoming chaos. For Kaila, the drama is in the details.

Rookie moves

Whether on television, on the set of a photo shoot, or on a glam chair answering questions, Kaila carries herself with a noticeable attentiveness, an eye for precision. This should come as no surprise from a woman who began her career modeling at the age of just 17, an undertaking that took a lot of courage from her younger self.

"I was very self-conscious and I really wasn't confident at all," she says of her early days as a model. "I was also very shy." As anyone who was once 17 could attest, Kaila quickly learned that the only way to overcome that kind of self-consciousness was through sheer practice. "As I was gaining experience, that's when I really felt more and more confident with myself," she recounts. "Because then it felt like I knew what I was doing already."

And it seems she carried that same mindset into acting. With Kaila, nothing is up to pure chance or intrinsic know-how. When she describes the aforementioned fight scene with Kim Chiu, she highlights the minutiae of the performance, calling it "really technical" and "highly choreographed." In fact, thanks to meticulous preparation, the scene was completed with just one full take and a quick second take to iron out the details. "You want to make sure you do everything correctly that one time [because] you're actually physically hurting the other person," she explains, quick to add that it was also a group effort. "It was really a lot of teamwork between me and Kim and our directors [FM Reyes and Jojo Saguin] and the cameraman…we all have to be synchronized."

Kaila also credits her Linlang directors with guiding her "into becoming that character," and in particular, sharpening her tone, delivery, and expression. Though she's spent the better part of her adult life in front of the camera, it's clear she remains eager to learn. Her willingness to be a beginner might just be her greatest strength.

As of writing, she's appeared in a handful of television shows and three films—mostly in supporting roles, but surrounded by quite a few industry titans. "Just by observing what they do and how they execute the scene, I feel like I've learned so much," she shares. She admits feeling "like the rookie out of the whole group" working with the powerhouse cast on Linlang, which, aside from Kim, included Paulo Avelino, JM De Guzman, and Jaime Fabregas, among others.

But perhaps her most memorable co-star thus far has been the legendary Maricel Soriano who played Kaila's supposed soon-to-be mother-in-law on the series. She describes working with the actress as "training [while] shooting a scene," particularly thanks to the pointers she was getting in real-time. "Even in the middle of the scene when they would cut, she would give me advice," recalls Kaila. This included reminders not to cry until just the right moment, to use her diaphragm when delivering dialogue, or even just to not be fearful. "Not everybody gets to have that moment with the Diamond Star," she says with admiration. "It was surreal."

Mindful of the shoulders she's standing on, Kaila admits it wasn't easy going toe-to-toe with a cinematic force like Maricel. "I was so scared because I couldn't bring myself to yell at her," says the young actress, remembering a confrontation scene they shot together. "When I get nervous, you can really tell." For a moment, the shy, teenage model she described earlier seems to surface. Not because Kaila herself seems timid or uncertain, but because you can tell she's still carrying around the same lesson that young model first learned over a decade ago: The confidence comes through the doing.

Turning nerves into nerve

"I feel like nervous is my default emotion," she confesses, but also adds, "that just means you care about what you're doing." In fact, she's learned to channel those anxieties into her performances. "If you make use of it wisely, then it'll actually work to your advantage," she says, explaining that inner tension can often manifest into dramatic tension.

Kaila's quickly becoming known for her more intense scenes—a quick YouTube search will yield more than a few shouting-match compilations featuring the actress—and she admits they're something of a release for her. "You don't get to express emotions like that all the time," she says. "Being able to really express yourself in that way can be very freeing."

So perhaps that's why she gravitates towards roles and genres that demand that kind of pent-up emotion, and its eventual release. "My dream role? I always say action," she says. This year, she's set to appear alongside Richard Gutierrez, Daniel Padilla, Ian Veneracion, and Maris Racal in action series Incognito, which she calls "a dream come true."

In the teaser trailer, which dropped in September, she looks perfectly comfortable clutching onto a rifle, her dagger stare holding the camera lens hostage. Her next big aspiration? A psycho-thriller. Given her filmography and the skillset she's demonstrated so far, it makes perfect sense. "I feel like that [genre] would definitely be something that would test me and sort of push the boundaries," she says, ever inclined towards trial by fire. "I'd like to see how far I could take it."

Made, not born

Admittedly, it's easy to forget that Kaila's still finding her footing in entertainment. Here's someone who, by all accounts, was pretty much born to do this. In the middle of our conversation, it's Kaila herself who utters the term-that-must-not-be-named: nepo baby. "It doesn't offend me at all because it's true," she says. "It's not something that I deny." While she's proud of where she came from—and also acknowledges the heavy expectations that come with the territory—she really doesn't feel the need to compare herself to her parents. "[They] had a different journey that nobody can ever replicate," she says. "Not even me."

"It doesn't offend me at all because it's true. It's not something that I deny." — Kaila Estrada on being a nepo baby

You'd expect that she had to have inherited some of her talent from her superstar parents—antagonist extraordinaire John Estrada and the Queen of Horror-Drama herself, Janice de Belen—or at least honed her skills through a lifetime of proximity to cinema. It's certainly not lost on anyone that she's demonstrating the same ferocity on screen that her mom and dad mastered ages ago.

But when asked what she's learned from her actor parents, her first takeaway was this: "It's really not an easy job." She recalls her mother often coming home from 14- to 16-hour work days just to take a shower before immediately heading right back to set. Other than that, she lists off some classic tenets. "Always be on time, be professional, be a team player, work with the people around," she recites. "Know your script, know your lines, know your character, and little things like keep yourself hydrated."

If anything, the lessons she remembers from her parents are somewhat mundane; "sound general advice," as she calls it. She has a habit of making her work seem, well, like work. There's no spectacle in Kaila's stories, no drama—she saves all that for the screen. Instead, you get particulars, habits, technicalities, rehearsals, revisions. Her focus is clear. "The message that I want to convey is if you work hard enough and if you love what you do, you'll get to where you want to be," she says, adding firmly that "you don't have to have connections."

It's easy to roll your eyes at a statement like that from someone of Kaila's pedigree. But she's determined to prove it—to herself, most of all. Early in her career, the model-turned-actress didn't even want to tell her family about her professional aspirations. "I didn't really want them to lift a finger for me or try to help me in any way," she says. "It's just something that I wanted to achieve on my own."

So while she's taken the wisdom from her parents to heart—it's worth noting that she arrived at the day's shoot about an hour before her call time—she's not afraid to claim her accomplishments as her own. "I also have something to bring to the table," she says. "That's why I'm here."

And the proof is in the performances. Whether she's taking care to perfect her every movement, heeding advice from her veteran co-stars, or pushing herself to gain the experience she needs, Kaila Estrada is determined to succeed. And we're excited to see what she does next. If her on-screen work so far—and the grit with which she tackles it—is any indication of what she’s capable of in the future, then take your cue from Kaila herself: It's worth paying close attention.

PRODUCED BY: Cheska Santiago and Ida Aldana
ASSISTED BY: Kate Sarmiento
PHOTOGRAPHY: Alan Segui
ART DIRECTION: Pau Moyano
STYLING: Team Rain x Em
MAKEUP: Gelo Dumlao
HAIRSTYLING: Jonas Lucas
WORDS BY: Ashley Martelino
VIDEOS: Jino Del Mundo, Cherrie Julian, and Olan Pingco
SOCIAL MEDIA: Aina Lizarondo