By Janet Susan R. Nepales
Siena Nicole Agudong was just seven years old when she was cast in a local production of Willy Wonka at the Hawaii Children’s Theatre.
Her older sister, Sydney, who portrayed Nani Pelekai in the live-action film Lilo & Stitch, inspired her to pursue acting.
Today, the charming and talented Kauai, Hawaii-born actress is enjoying her role in the Amazon Prime Video series Carrie, a supernatural horror drama based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel of the same name and the franchise’s first television series adaptation.
The 22-year-old Fil-Am actress, who portrays Susan “Sue” Snell, a popular student who experiences remorse after participating in the bullying of Carrie (portrayed by Summer H. Howell), explained in an exclusive interview why she wanted to be part of the project.
“I wanted to be part of this project because the story of Carrie has survived over time, but it is more relevant today than it ever has been,” she said. “In a world where we always talk about casual cruelty in this series, and now we have so much access, and it’s so easy for people to do that online and to affect one another in a matter of seconds and over miles. This story, at least from my character, is very much about kindness. I felt very drawn to explore that on screen.”
Agudong, who appeared in the films Upside-Down Magic (2020) and F9 (2021), admitted that she had not watched the original 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek.
“I did read the book,” she revealed. “It was glued to my hip up until it fell apart. Because I was carrying it around so often, but I didn’t watch the original before playing.”
Agudong, who has earned several Young Artist Award and Young Entertainer Award nominations throughout her career, also shared how much she enjoyed working with lead actress Summer Howell.
“I love Summer and everyone on that project; they are my forever family,” she confessed. “I like the cast and crew. Summer is a very beautiful Carrie on screen, and she is my own superhero off screen as well. She carries herself with so much strength as a woman and knows herself. I think the strength you see in Carrie, she’s able to access from her own powerful vulnerability. But that is real for her.”
Speaking about her character, Sue, she explained, “it’s funny because you always bring a big part of yourself to your character. I feel like from the beginning when I was playing Sue, I was obviously in a hard project.
Janet Susan R. Nepales is an award-winning journalist and the first Filipina voting member and Associate of the Golden Globe Awards. She has been a member since 2008 and is the first Filipina to be elected to the Advisory Board. She is the author of the coffee table book “FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World” and the co-author of the first FWN book “DISRUPT: Filipina Women: Proud. Loud. Leading Without A Doubt.” A graduate of UST (AB Journalism, cum laude), she is based in Los Angeles and is a Hollywood entertainment journalist and TV correspondent.
