After spending more than a decade working in Indonesian television and film, Leo Consul admits that returning to the Philippines has been eye-opening, not because he’s unfamiliar with the industry, but because he can finally work without holding back.
Consul, who spent years hosting Indonesian television shows, including Eat Bulaga Indonesia and It’s Showtime Indonesia, while carving out acting roles, shared that working abroad came with creative boundaries shaped largely by cultural and religious norms.
While those limitations did not prevent him from building a solid career, they did influence the types of roles he was able to explore.
“The biggest factor is religion,” Consul said. “In Indonesia, I never had kissing scenes. There were so many restrictions.”
He explained that while such limits were part of the system, they often affected how deeply he could explore certain characters, noting that even simple expressions of intimacy were often off the table because of cultural considerations.
That contrast became clear when he began working on local projects again, including the series Fit Check: Confessions of an Ukay Queen, where he shared intimate scenes with veteran actress Angel Aquino.
“When I did a series here in the Philippines, I was culturally shocked,” he said. “Like, wow, this is the Philippines. We’re bolder here. We’re moving forward.”
For Consul, the shift was not about being provocative but about having space to tell stories more honestly. “It’s easier to explore,” he said.
In Indonesia, another challenge came from performing in a language that was not his own. While he worked hard to master Bahasa, Consul said the mental effort of getting every word right sometimes took away from the emotional core of a scene.
“You have so many things running through your head,” he said. “You’re thinking about diction, pronunciation, articulation.”
That constant mental checklist, he added, showed on screen. “Viewers can tell when you’re struggling with a word,” he said. With little room for reshoots, performances often moved forward as is.
“You just go with it,” he said. “So in a way, you end up neglecting the craft.”
Back home, working in his native tongue has eased that pressure. Consul said performing in Filipino, or even Taglish, allows him to focus less on mechanics and more on meaning.
“Now that I’m using my own language and my brand of humor, everything comes more naturally,” he said. “It takes a lot of the pressure off.”
The creative freedom has also allowed him to take on heavier material, something he said suits him better at this stage of his career. In Indonesia, he was often cast in lighter roles, playing students or young leads in romance-driven stories.
“Most of my roles there were as college students,” he said. “They were very light roles.”
Here, he said, there’s more room to take on roles that ask for heavier emotions.
“Now, here, I get to use my own language,” he said. “The roles feel more natural to me now.”
Consul stressed that his experience abroad taught him discipline and respect, but coming home has given him a renewed appreciation for storytelling that reflects emotion without hesitation.
As he settles back into the local industry under ALV Talent Circuit, headed by Arnold Vegafria, Consul said he is not rushing anything. “Time is everything,” he said. “I trust the process.”
For now, he is focused on roles that allow him to grow and on telling stories that finally feel close to home.
