Alba Baptista Talks What She Learned From Mrs Harris Goes To Paris and Teases Warrior Nun Season 2

It’s never too late to follow your dreams.

In Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, a widowed cleaning lady falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress, deciding she must have one of her own. After working to raise the funds to pursue her dream, she embarks on an adventure to Paris that will change not only her own outlook -- but the very future of the House of Dior. I spoke with actress Alba Baptista, who plays Dior model Natasha, about going for your dreams, working alongside fellow Netflix star Lucas Bravo, and Warrior Nun season 2.

Lesley Manville plays Mrs Harris, a woman who feels invisible until she discovers the magic of couture fashion. Her journey is an inspiring one about following your dreams at any age. “I’m still at the infancy of my own journey, but I’ve had moments where I remember having a realization of, ‘Wait a minute, I could dream a little higher than this and it might be possible, who know?’” Baptista shared about her own dreams. “Specifically with my career, I remember when I was younger, I wanted to thrive in Portugal. Then one day, I thought, what if I try to go outside of Portugal as well?”

Baptista’s character Natasha struggles with being a cerebral introvert who would rather be home than live the extravagant life of a model. “I suppose [I relate to] the duality, the inner battle of genuinely enjoying this creative process within your industry, but then struggling with the exposition side of it all,” she shared about getting into character. “I think that was something that I could instantly connect with.”

Her character forms a romantic connection with André, played by Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo. “It was lovely. We were both kind of the kids on set because all the other actors are so experienced and confident that both of us were in a very uncertain state of mind, so we relied on each other and we developed a great friendship luckily,” she said about working alongside Bravo. “It was an enormous help for both of us. We were very connected with Lesley who we just look up to immensely.”

Baptista opened up about what she learned from working with such incredible veteran actors on this set. “With Lesley, she’s the type of actress that I think all actors ambition to become one day. Just that effortless confidence, leadership, just being so giving and so selfless. She is amazing and wanting to see everyone else succeed,” shared Baptista. “And Isabelle [Huppert], I just loved seeing her confidence on set within the development of her own character. That opened doors for my thought process of remembering to believe in my own thoughts a little more.”

She also shared her favorite memories from working on Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. “I absolutely loved driving around through Paris with Lesley in this 1950s Caravelle. That was quite epic and she was terrified that I was going to get us in an accident, but I didn’t,” she said. “And just outside of set, we all had many dinners at Lesley’s place. It was […] a very family environment.”

Up next, Baptista returns to her role as Ava in season 2 of Netflix’s Warrior Nun. “I suppose I could say that it’ll be bloodier,” she shared about the next season. “A lot bloodier and a lot more fights and some other cool new superpowers.”

Mrs Harris Goes To Paris hits movie theaters on Friday, July 15.