'Special Ops: Lioness' Star Laysla De Oliveira Says A Toronto Restaurant Pushed Her Into Acting

Before Laysla De Oliveira was playing an action star in Special Ops: Lioness, she was playing the role of staff at Toronto’s Terroni restaurant. And while she’s come a long way since those days, the Canadian actress hasn’t forgotten the push her former boss gave her to pursue her acting dream.

“I’m obsessed with Terroni,” De Oliveira told Narcity during a recent sit-down interview for the series, which is out now on Paramount+ Canada. Narcity's Ashna Bharkhada spoke to her before the current SAG-AFTRA strike began.

“I used to work at Terroni,” she told Narcity. “That was my last job before I moved to L.A., and I still have a note from my manager that says ‘Follow your dreams,’ and I did.”

Netflix viewers might know De Oliveira best as Dodge/Echo, the immaculately dressed villain from the fantasy Locke & Key series that was shot in Ontario.

But De Oliveira has traded in her magic keys for firearms in Special Ops: Lioness, which sees her playing Cruz Manuelos, an undercover operative in the U.S. War on Terror.

The series was created by Yellowstone mastermind Taylor Sheridan, and it sees De Oliveira lining up alongside the likes Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman and series lead Zoe Saldana.

De Oliveira says she was especially thrilled to work with Saldana, whom she’s looked up to for many years.

“The first day I met her and she hugged me and said ‘I can’t wait to work with you,’ I couldn’t let go of the hug,” said De Oliveira. She added that Saldana has become her “biggest supporter ever,” and De Oliveira hopes she can one day do the same for another up-and-coming actress in Hollywood.

“She empowers me, and I think that’s such a beautiful thing,” she said.

Despite all that’s changed since her Terroni days, De Oliveira says she still loves to visit all of her old haunts when she’s in Toronto, so long as she's doing it with friends and family. That includes stopping in at Jimmy’s Coffee, paying a visit to 416 Snack Bar and heading to Trinity Bellwoods Park and “sitting there all day with my friends.”

But even when she's not in Toronto, De Oliveira says she can still get a taste of home in L.A.

That's because Terroni has five locations in North America: four in Toronto and one in West Hollywood.

"The pasta (...) I eat it so much in L.A.," she said. "Everyone goes to Terroni. It's great."

You can catch De Oliveira, Saldana, Freeman and Kidman in Special Ops: Lioness right now on Paramount+ Canada.