Liza Soberano On Resonating With Alexandra Trese: "We Both Feel Very Pressured"

Netflix’s adaptation of Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s award-winning comic book series, has premiered on the streaming platform. It introduces generations of Filipinos worldwide to the keeper of balance between humanity and the supernatural underworld: Alexandra Trese. 

There’s enormous pressure on the shoulders of whoever voices this beloved and iconic heroine, and Liza Soberano, the actress chosen to portray Trese in the Filipino version, knows that all too well. Filipino-Canadian Shay Mitchell is the voice behind the character in the English version.

At the Trese roundtable with the actress, she spoke about her thoughts on the impact of this show on Philippine folklore and mythology, her resonating with Alexandra Trese, and feeling nervous in the recording booth. 

On resonating with Alexandra Trese 

“We both feel very pressured because we both have this huge responsibility on our shoulders. For her, it’s maintaining the balance between the underworld and human beings and making sure that they’re living harmoniously and in peace. And with me, I guess I feel like as a celebrity, as a public figure, I have this huge responsibility with everything that I do—with what I say in interviews, with the roles that I accept, with basically everything I post on social media—because I know that there are a lot of children that look up to me and probably teenagers and even adults that even look up to me, and I always just want to be my best and I want to influence them for the better. So I always feel like there’s this huge pressure on me to be good—which comes naturally to me—but I just feel pressured about it.”

On the show’s impact on Philippine folklore and mythology

“I feel that it's greatly going to have an impact on the youth of today because [Philippine mythology is] kind of dying down a bit. And I feel like in a way, this series is going to revamp that or bring the discussion back up in the minds of people and our youth is going to learn more about our culture, about mythology, and they're going to learn to fall in love with these supernatural beings even though they're a bit scary because in the series, I feel like they bring more life to each and every creature that we have and they kind of give you a deeper understanding or an explanation of why these creatures are here and what they're meant to do, what their purpos is. It's just going to bring light to all those stories that we used to hear as kids and it's going to be shared now with the future generation.”

On being Alexandra in the recording booth

“First of all, I had to calm myself down, because the first day of dubbing I was so nervous, and my voice coach could hear it. I was so nervous because I felt like my Tagalog wasn't good enough, I felt like I wasn't getting the voice down. And I just had to get through that nervousness and become more comfortable with the whole idea of voice acting. And then after that, when I became more comfortable, I then had to start bringing more of the character in because at first, it was my first time so nangangapa pa ako and the thought process that I had pretty much was, 'Don't mess up. You have to pronounce it this way. You have to you have to deliver it this way.' So there wasn't really much room for the emotions that I was supposed to be feeling or for whatever it was that I needed to convey those emotions through my voice. But like I said, when I got more comfortable, that's when it felt more like acting to me because the voice became like secondary. I felt like I was in the show itself, even though it's animation. That's when I became more at ease with dubbing and I felt like I was Alexandra.”

Lead photos from Netflix and @lizasoberano