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Kaila Estrada Is the Dark Horse We Didn't See Coming
We're placing our bets on rising actress Kaila Estrada, who's here to prove that she's not just another "nepo baby."
by Em Enriquez
Published Dec 11, 2023
On the heels of her breakthrough performance in Prime Video's teleserye Linlang, Kaila Estrada cements her position as an actress to watch.
Dime and Abraham were growing restless. Under the unforgiving rays of the 12 o’clock sun, both horses were eager to exit the set—a vast rice paddy in the middle of Plaridel, Bulacan. Positioned in between our special talents was Kaila Estrada, garbed in head-to-toe black, with her long dark tresses and a set of fringe framing her visage. Whenever her co-stars would do as much as neigh or even take a step in the opposite direction, we onlookers couldn't help but flinch. The actress, on the other hand, stayed put and offered them a handful of hay to munch on.
A couple of days after she bid goodbye to her co-stars for the Preview cover, the 27-year-old had a new hobby brewing in mind. “[After] we did the shoot, all of a sudden I [thought of trying out] horseback riding,” she tells me over a Zoom call. “Alam mo yung ga’non? Ang bilis ko ma-inspire.”
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Seeing the extent of her abilities is second nature to Kaila, who was never the type to stick to just one thing. At the moment, she’s an actress, and if you’ve seen the reviews of critics waxing poetic online, she’s situated to be one of the best ones from her generation. No one saw her coming, not even herself.
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Kaila Estrada for Preview December 2023
After debuting on our screens in 2020, her breakthrough moment commenced when she shook viewers with her compelling performance on Prime Video teleserye Linlang. Holding her own amongst heavyweights Kim Chiu and Maricel Soriano served as proof that there’s more to her than just being another “artista daughter.” With the path she’s treading on right now, it seems like the last thing anyone will be thinking about is her famous last name.
Back in the Saddle
“I would say that our lives were pretty normal, or baka yun na kasi yung normal namin,” Kaila says of her childhood. Growing up as the real-life “anak ni Janice” (the joke got old for a bit, but it’s a title she’s honored to have nonetheless), she always knew that her mom and dad weren’t working regular 9-to-5 jobs.
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Aside from the occasional fan who would intercept their family time at the mall by asking for pictures, Kaila knew she had celebrities as parents whenever she’d visit them on set. Her mom, acclaimed actress Janice de Belen (as if she needed any introduction), would bond with her and her siblings whenever she wasn’t shooting a scene. “Noong time na yun, the taping schedules were a bit more intense. So, [I wasn’t really visiting the set] out of curiosity or to see how things work. [We were there to] spend time with our mom because she was so, so busy at the time,” Kaila recalls.
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Those trips to her mom’s “office” fascinated her. Witnessing how her mom could easily transition between emotions and switch on her actress mode piqued her interest to the point that she wondered if she could do it herself. “At the back of my mind, naisip ko na, ‘Oh, baka kaya ko itong gawin,” she shares.
Becoming an actress wasn’t initially on Kaila’s mind, though. As a kid, her imagination led her to fantasize about being a lawyer, a doctor, a barista, or maybe even a tattoo artist, but not necessarily an actress. “Nag-iiba-iba yung pangarap ko. There were so many different things that I wanted to try,” she gushes, but acting wasn’t on top of her list.
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At 17 years old, on her last leg of high school, Kaila thought about modeling. With permission from her parents, and with a promise to not let her studies be compromised, she signed with Mercator Talent Agency. To this day, the girl still knows how to serve face. Point a camera at her and she’ll paint an expression so fierce and dynamic that it can almost pierce right through you. When the shot has been taken, she’ll transform back into her gentle-natured self. “It's kind of like embodying a different character,” she says.
“Because of social media, you have a platform, [so] you’re more in control of your narrative.”
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Her personality behind the cameras is exactly why she held off entering the scene despite being surrounded by it her entire life. “I still consider myself [to be] a pretty private person. I didn’t know if I wanted to enter show biz because I didn’t want to be so accessible online,” Kaila shares, “I didn't want my private life to be so out in the open.”
One might think that someone born in the spotlight is used to a lack of privacy, but as it turns out, it’s something Kaila still yearns for. The self-confessed ambivert arrived at a point where she realized that she has autonomy over how she’s perceived. She says, “Because of social media, you have a platform, [so] you’re more in control of your narrative.”
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And so, after a pivotal pep talk with her mom’s close friend ate Mimi, Kaila signed up for her first casting with Star Magic. “Sabi ko sa sarili ko, if I want to keep things private or if I want to put things on blast, I have options to do either now,” she expresses. “I'm going to give it a shot. If I love it, then I'll stick to it. If I don't, then I'll try something else.”
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Hitting Her Stride
Perhaps one thing that made Kaila’s foray into the biz unique was that it was held virtually. As we’re all aware of, 2020 was an incredibly tough time. Aside from the limitations set by the COVID-19 pandemic, ABS-CBN was also forced to shut down due to being withheld a franchise renewal. So what made a newcomer like Kaila want to penetrate a scene standing on thin ice?
“Divine timing,” she states.
“I really wanted to do it on my own. I really wanted to prove to myself na kaya ko ‘to’ng gawin nang mag-isa... I wouldn't have to use my parents for this, and I didn't want to do that.”
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Coming of age with parents who basked in the limelight, there were several signals for Kaila to follow suit. But the circumstances just never felt right until they finally did. “I didn't feel like I wanted it yet. I didn't feel like I was ready,” she remembers thinking. “It was just so weird that I had this gut feeling that it had to be now, that this is the time for me to try.”
It was crucial for Kaila to try on her own. Sure, it would’ve been a tad bit easier if either her mom or dad put in a good word with the executives, but she believed that it was only going to work out if she came in as nothing but herself.
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“I really wanted to do it on my own. I really wanted to prove to myself na kaya ko ‘to’ng gawin nang mag-isa. If it really is for me, if this is really where I'm meant to be, magagawa ko [‘to] nang mag-isa. I wouldn't have to use my parents for this, and I didn't want to do that.”
Her casting session, held through Zoom, was with Johnny Manahan a.k.a. starmaker Mr. M himself. “Are you really ready to do this?” she recalls him asking her. In hindsight, Kaila acknowledges that she may have had a better shot at things because of her surname. If she got in because she was the daughter of so-and-so, she’ll never know. Though, it’s not like she had control over the minds of those who allowed her advance to the next round either. She is, at the very least, aware of the unspoken advantage.
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“I really, really understand that it's a privilege,” she says, in regards to her status of being a show biz “nepo baby.” It doesn’t offend her to be labeled as one, admitting that there’s truth to it anyway. However, Kaila prefers to earn every opportunity—not as Janice and John’s daughter, but as someone who works hard.
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“I really am trying to create a name for myself, and I'm trying to establish myself. I'm trying to show people that I have something to offer other than just being a nepo baby. I'm trying my best to carve my own path,” she declares.
Come 2021, she was featured in the ensemble cast for drama series Viral Scandal as Raven. The role bears similarities to Bettina Tiu, the character she currently portrays in the much raved-about show Can’t Buy Me Love. Both projects have her playing individuals who possess a “spoiled, sassy energy”—in other words, a “maldita.” What Kaila likes about playing such characters, despite how aggravating they can get, is the sheer humanity behind them.
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“They're gray characters. So they're not completely bad, but they're also not completely good,” the actress explains. “I enjoy playing them because they're very human. It's very realistic because even the evil characters, may pinaghuhugutan sila eh. I feel like innately, they're good. Everyone is innately good. It's the things that they went through in their lives that made them into what they are.”
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Perhaps none of her roles thus far represents this grayscale better than Sylvia Lualhati, the woman scorned in Linlang. In its 14-episode arc, the thriller-drama series arrested audiences with its gripping storyline and A+ acting performances.
Initially, Kaila was unsure about hopping on board when the project was offered to her. But the role was a huge step up for the fresh face, who had not been assigned to play someone so mature up until that point. Sylvia is a lawyer in her mid-30s who’s deathly dependent on her partner Alex, played by JM De Guzman. She was also an incredibly broken person, whose pain only heightened with her husband’s infidelity. This agony was what Kaila drew from to authentically bring the character to life.
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ON KAILA: Top, Skirt, both RAFGLANG, Instagram/__rafglang. Boots, FENDI.
“I had so much empathy for her,” she states. “As a wife and as a woman, she didn't feel like she was good enough or that she deserved to be loved. And I feel like at some point in my life I felt that way. And that's why it was easier for me to really connect with her and to attach myself to her.”
Viewers most likely remember Sylvia for that scene. With her husband’s mistress in sight, she wasted no time in confronting her and marking her territory. Claws were out and emotions surpassed a boiling point. What resulted from the altercation is one of the highest-rated episodes from the whole series, and in Kaila’s case, a breakout moment that solidified her spot as an actress to watch.
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“The sabunot was real, the slaps were real,” she says of the sequence. It was imperative for her to meticulously prepare for such an intensely emotional and physical scene. It was almost like a choreographed dance between her, her scene partner Kim Chiu, their cameramen, and director FM Reyes. Screenshots and clips of Kaila fuming with rage quickly made rounds on social media, with many utterly impressed by her performance. Who knew this ingenue had that much fire in her?
When the applause poured in, Kaila was nothing but overwhelmed. “I got super emotional,” she recalls. “Kasi I really poured my heart and soul into Sylvia's character. I worked really hard, and I was also so nervous about it.”
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She beams with gratitude for the opportunity to play such a complex woman. Acting alongside individuals she grew up watching was the real prize for her at the end of the day. “Bonus na lang talaga 'yung good feedback. I feel super fulfilled,” she says with a smile.
Off to the Races
Looking back, Kaila was relatively a latecomer to the industry, especially for someone who had a gateway to it the second she was born. But if her budding career has proven anything, it’s that she knows when the time is right.
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On her hip, you’ll find the angel number 444 inscribed in ink. The sequence represents clarity and decisiveness. It’s believed that encountering it, say on one’s watch or through a sign on the road, means that the angels are affirming you on the path you’re currently on. At this point in her life, it seems that angels both in heaven and on Earth are on Kaila’s side.
With a brand new year approaching, the 27-year-old is eager to see the heights she can attain. In the same vein, she’s not at all picky when it comes to the roles that come her way. Work is work, after all, and every script is another chance to expand her repertoire.
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“At this point in my career, I really want to experience everything. I want to experience different genres, I want to experience different roles. Because at the end of the day, it's gonna help me grow and improve as an actress. And we'll see where it all goes,” she says.
Of course, she has her dream roles, which include becoming an action star a la Anne Curtis in BuyBust. Though, if she were to have a drama penned after her life, she also has an idea of how she would want it to go. “Siguro [it would be about] my childhood and where I am now. Though my childhood was challenging, and others would even say na malungkot siya,” she shares, presumably referencing her set-up with her parents, and all of the tabloid headlines that sprouted from it, “I turned out perfectly fine.”
“Even now that I'm [an actress], I still think that there's so much to experience and that there's so much to try.”
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The moral of her story goes that, “even though you've been through hard times, you can still be who you want to be.”
“It doesn't have to stop you. It doesn't have to hold you back. That choice is completely your own,” she adds.
If we were to go by her playbook, making your own choices and trusting your gut can take you to some pretty cool places. Where she goes from here is solely up to her. “Even now that I'm [an actress], I still think that there's so much to experience and that there's so much to try.”
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“You don't just have to be one thing your whole life, ‘di ba? You could be so many things.” And with that, the horizon awaits.
Produced and Styled by The Preview Team
Photographer: Borgy Angeles, assisted by Pao Mendoza
Creative Director: Bacs Arcebal
Editor-in-Chief: Marj Ramos-Clemente
Production: Em Enriquez, Katrina Maisie Cabral, Reg Rodriguez
Fashion: Marj Ramos-Clemente, Leika Golez, Isha Fojas
Makeup: Chuchie Ledesma, assisted by Kim Echavia
Hairstyling: Bryan Eusebio
Production Design: Paul Jatayna, assisted by Lance Navasca
Story: Em Enriquez
Videos: Jana Jodloman
Social Media: Jamie Lou Briones
Shoot Location: Rancho Mati in Plaridel, Bulacan
Special thanks to Star Magic, and Mercator Talent Agency
* Editor’s note: No animals were harmed in the production of this cover.
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