‘Special Ops: Lioness’ Star Laysla De Oliveira On Playing A CIA Recruit For Taylor Sheridan: “It Physically Hurt, And Emotionally Hurt, Too”
deadline.comIn Taylor Sheridan’s Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+, Laysla De Oliveira shocks and awes as Cruz Manuelos, a military recruit who escapes the mean streets to go undercover in the CIA’s war against terrorism.
Here, the Ontario-born newcomer talks about how painful it was — both literally and figuratively — to kick ass in the drama that also stars Zoë Saldaña (Joe), Nicole Kidman (Kaitlyn Meade), Dave Annable (Joe’s husband Neal), Michael Kelly (Bryon Westfield) and Morgan Freeman (Edwin Mullins). “I can finally talk about it because it’s been a little bit of torture, not being able to shout it from the rooftops,” De Olivera says in reference to how the drama dropped during the actors strike and thus prevented her from talking about the series. “It’s such a dream job.” DEADLINE How did this role find you? LAYSLA DE OLIVEIRA I got a call from Taylor that he wanted to meet me.
It was at the peak of Covid. I had to fly to Montana where they were shooting Yellowstone. I performed the entire first episode for him on the set while he was directing an episode.
It was really exhilarating. When I was done, I went home and thought, ‘oh my gosh, this has totally changed my life.’ I was just so excited to be there and to be considered.
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