She carries a famous name, but speaks in her own rhythm. A slow-burning presence rewriting what it means to belong in the spotlight. Kaila Estrada is done with the "nepo baby" discourse&mdash;not because it's false, but because her story proves there's so much more to say.

PHOTOGRAPHY Renzo Navarro
STYLING AND CREATIVE DIRECTION Yanna Lopez
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It's the age of the nepo baby. From red carpets to runways, a parade of last names dominate&mdash;Depp, Kravitz, Schwarzenegger. They come with built-in audience recall and a controversial foot in the door. But every so often, a nepo baby quietly rises, disarms with her own voice, and builds something undeniably hers. That&rsquo;s where Kaila Estrada stands.
&ldquo;You know, I really wanted to prove something to myself,&rdquo; she tells me on set, settled into a director&rsquo;s chair, and dressed in a blazer over an LBD. &ldquo;When I decided to try acting, I didn&rsquo;t tell my parents. I didn't ask them for help. I just wanted to see if I could do it on my own.&rdquo;
She leans back, relaxed but clear-eyed. &ldquo;If I embarrassed myself, that was on me,&rdquo; she shrugs. &ldquo;At least I would&rsquo;ve known I tried.&rdquo;
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Sneakers, SKECHERS

<h5>FIRST FOOT IN FASHION</h5>
Kaila, 28, stepped into the industry without making a splash. She began on the runway. &ldquo;I really wanted to model when I turned 16,&rdquo; she says. Fashion was her first creative love, one that felt close enough to her world (her father, John Estrada, also began as a model) but also free of the intensity that acting brought. &ldquo;Tito Randy [Ortiz] was a huge part of that,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;He teased me about modeling since I was little.&rdquo; By 17, she was walking in shows and booking commercial gigs under the agency Mercator.
Her modeling years earned her more than just experience in front of the camera. The period allowed her identity to unfold in its own time. &ldquo;Modeling helped me understand how much I love expressing myself visually,&rdquo; she reflects. &ldquo;It taught me taste. Confidence. But more than that, it gave me the feeling of being part of something artistic, without needing to speak.&rdquo;

During the L&rsquo;Officiel shoot, that visual fluency is clear. Kaila moves in a kind of focused quiet, unflinching in sportif layers edged with lingerie codes. She brings her game face in Skechers sneakers one moment and embodies femininity in sheer-paneled runway separates the next. She doesn&rsquo;t need much direction. She works the camera with natural instinct.
But what impresses isn&rsquo;t her effortlessness&mdash;it&rsquo;s her lack of entitlement. She arrived earlier than call time, slipped into the makeup chair without fanfare, and greeted every crew member with a warm smile. There&rsquo;s a calibrated refinement in her presence. Then, the camera clicks, and suddenly, she&rsquo;s not so quiet.
For Kaila, the highlight of the shoot was footwear. Specifically, her rotation of Skechers pairs. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a sneaker girl, really,&rdquo; she laughs. &ldquo;What I love about these styles [from Skechers] is how they reflect my lifestyle. I&rsquo;m very active. I work out a lot. But I also wear sneakers with dresses, blazers, and trousers. They&rsquo;re sleek enough to fit my everyday style.&rdquo;
Style, for Kaila, has always been tied to feeling. She&rsquo;s drawn to the silhouettes of YSL, the quiet luxury of The Row. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a very black-and-white kind of person. I don&rsquo;t play with color much. I like neutrals and strong tailoring. Maybe that&rsquo;s the model in me still.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I told them to add me to the casting list. No favors. I wanted to see if I&rsquo;d even make it past the audition.&rdquo;

<h5>A QUARTER-LIFE PIVOT</h5>
At 24, Kaila felt that she has reached the ceiling of fashion. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what I wanted anymore,&rdquo; she admits. &ldquo;I had this quarter&rsquo;life crisis where I was like&hellip; what now?&rdquo; It was an unexpected crossroads. Modeling sustained her post-college life, and content creation was flowing. &ldquo;But I was seeking evolution. I just didn&rsquo;t know through what.&rdquo;
Then came the suggestion of acting. &ldquo;It actually came from my mom&rsquo;s assistant,&rdquo; she laughs. &ldquo;She said, &lsquo;Try it. If you don&rsquo;t like it, you can walk away. No one&rsquo;s going to miss you.&rsquo; I think that made it feel less scary.&rdquo;
She reached out quietly to Star Magic&mdash;not as a celebrity daughter, but as a hopeful newcomer. &ldquo;I told them to add me to the casting list. No favors. I wanted to see if I&rsquo;d even make it past the audition.&rdquo;
She did. And the rest, as they say, was a slow-burn transformation.
Kaila&rsquo;s early roles&mdash;Viral Scandal, MMK, The Chosen One&mdash;were quietly confident. But it was Linlang that made people stop and say: wait, who is she?
As Sylvia Lualhati, a woman navigating betrayal, miscarriage, and emotional manipulation, Kaila tapped into depths that felt far from her own life. Yet, it worked. Her performance was raw, mature, and deeply human. It earned her a ContentAsia Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a rare feat for someone new to the field.
&ldquo;I was so scared,&rdquo; she confesses. &ldquo;Everyone in that cast was a veteran. I kept thinking&mdash;am I too green? But I held on to my drive. I just told myself, I&rsquo;m not going to fail at this.&rdquo;
She didn&rsquo;t.
Directors praised her work ethic. Audiences were floored. &ldquo;I cried when the show aired,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;I had no idea how people would react to me playing a wife&mdash;a woman who lost babies. I&rsquo;ve never gone through that. But people saw the truth in it. I felt so grateful.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I want gritty roles. Characters that aren&rsquo;t glamorous.&rdquo;

Just as Linlang proved her dramatic range, Incognito proved her physicality. As Max Alvaro, a stoic cyber-hacker with a lethal edge, Kaila dove headfirst into training. &ldquo;I always wanted to do action,&rdquo; she grins. &ldquo;We trained for three to four months. It was the most physical I&rsquo;ve ever been.&rdquo; But Max wasn&rsquo;t just a badass. She was layered and haunted. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s very guarded,&rdquo; Kaila explains. &ldquo;So the challenge was: how do you show vulnerability without saying much?&rdquo; Her solution: empathy.
&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s my strongest tool as an actress. Empathy. I&rsquo;m a Pisces. I absorb a lot,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Even when I play villains or morally gray characters, I always try to understand where they&rsquo;re coming from.&rdquo;
Kaila wants more films, especially indies. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to do Cinemalaya,&rdquo; she says, eyes lighting up. &ldquo;I want gritty roles&mdash;characters that aren&rsquo;t glamorous.&rdquo; She also mentions wanting to try a rom-com (&ldquo;just to see if I can do it!&rdquo;) and a psycho-thriller. &ldquo;Playing a serial killer or a ghost&mdash;that would be fun.&rdquo; And her dream collaborators? &ldquo;Jericho Rosales, Angelica Panganiban, Angel Locsin, and directors like Mikhail Red and Antoinette Jadaone.&rdquo;
<h5>STANDING HER GROUND</h5>
Despite being the daughter of actors John Estrada and Janice de Belen, Kaila&rsquo;s childhood wasn&rsquo;t defined by the spotlight. &ldquo;We lived pretty normally,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The only weird part was when people asked for photos. I&rsquo;d be like, why are they doing that?&rdquo; She&rsquo;s thankful for it now. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I entered the industry as an adult. I had a life. I wasn&rsquo;t thrust into something I didn&rsquo;t choose.&rdquo;That life&mdash;college, modeling, friendships&mdash;shaped her maturity, and she believes it&rsquo;s part of why her acting has resonated.

Lace pants, OUR PARAISO. Sneakers, SKECHERS

For Kaila, fame has never been the goal. It&rsquo;s about pursuing a passion that fuels her life and spirit. So when asked about wellness and keeping her peace, she asserts that it isn&rsquo;t about juicing or spa days. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more about acceptance,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Accepting that I can&rsquo;t control everything. That I can&rsquo;t change people&rsquo;s opinions, and I don&rsquo;t have to.&rdquo;
She works out, yes. But she also prioritizes sleep, boundaries, and time with her core people. &ldquo;My personal life is sacred,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I keep it private because that keeps me sane.&rdquo;The separation between work and life is what grounds her. &ldquo;I try to live normally, be with my family, and nurture my real relationships. Wellness is keeping those parts intact.&rdquo;
Perhaps what&rsquo;s most remarkable about Kaila is she remains grounded in a business that rewards clout chasing. Her self-assurance isn&rsquo;t performative. It&rsquo;s quiet. Earned. Solid.
&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;ve gotten to know who I am,&rdquo; she says unshaken and ready to rock the boat.
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PRODUCERS Maura Rodriguez, Knelle Rosario, and Yanna Lopez
HAIR Bryan Eusebio 
MAKEUP Gelo Dumlao 
SET DESIGN Bojo Tarroja of AdSet Prod 
FASHION ASSISTANT Frances Laman 
SHOOT ASSISTANT Tere Gabat
SETMEN Regie Alcayde, Erwin Arda, Erickson Salvante
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