Isabela Quilodrán has been working in three formats at once. The actress recently wrapped her second vertical production alongside creative partner Thiago Carvalho, a Portuguese-language project shot and produced in Los Angeles. She is also rehearsing for a stage run and preparing to return to a screen role she helped create. Moving between short-form film, live theater, and episodic work is rare, and Quilodrán has built her recent schedule around all three.
Her latest stretch also brought recognition. She earned a best actress nomination at the Indie Shorts Festival, a nod that reflects the range she has shown across independent projects.
A Second Vertical Shot Entirely in Portuguese
The collaboration between Isabela Quilodrán and Thiago Carvalho has now produced two vertical films. Both were made for the fast-growing world of short-form, phone-first storytelling, where scenes are framed for a vertical screen rather than a traditional widescreen frame. Their newest project was performed in Portuguese and produced in Los Angeles, a combination that connects the work to audiences across Brazil and Portugal while keeping production inside the city’s independent film scene.
Choosing to shoot in Portuguese was a deliberate move. It lets the pair tell stories for viewers who rarely see vertical dramas made in their own language, and it gives the performances a specificity that translation often flattens. Working with the same partner across two projects has also let them develop a shared shorthand on set, something that shows up in the pacing and chemistry of the finished scenes.
How Do Vertical Series Change an Actor’s Craft?
Vertical productions ask something different of a performer. The frame is tight, close, and unforgiving, so small choices in expression carry more weight than they would on a wide stage or a cinema screen. Actors have to hold attention within a narrow visual space, often in short bursts designed to keep a scrolling viewer watching.
Quilodrán has leaned into those constraints rather than fighting them. Vertical scenes reward restraint and precise timing, qualities that also serve her theater work. The format has grown quickly as studios and independent creators chase mobile audiences, and performers who can carry a story in a phone-sized frame are increasingly sought after. That fluency, built across two productions with Carvalho, has become part of what she offers.
Stepping Onto the Stage in Murder on the Orient Express
Away from the camera, Isabela Quilodrán is preparing to return to live performance. She has been rehearsing since the start of the year for a production of Murder on the Orient Express, the stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic detective novel. The play trades the intimacy of a phone screen for the demands of a full theater, where an actor has to reach the back row without a close-up to help.
The Christie story runs on tension, misdirection, and a large ensemble confined to a single train, which puts pressure on timing and group dynamics. Rehearsing a role of that kind over several months speaks to the depth of preparation the production has asked of its cast. For a performer moving from vertical film to the stage, the shift is a full recalibration of how a scene lands.
Isabela Quilodrán Reprises Kendall for Feast 2
Feast 2 gives Quilodrán the chance to bring back Kendall, a character she originated. Returning to a role means revisiting someone she already knows while accounting for how a story and its people shift in a sequel. Actors often describe reprising a part as a blend of familiarity and reinvention, and she has spoken about her enthusiasm for stepping back into Kendall’s world.
Between the second vertical with Carvalho, the festival recognition, the stage run, and the return to Feast, her recent calendar reflects a performer comfortable across very different kinds of storytelling. Audiences can follow her current projects on Isabela Quilodrán’s Instagram, and Thiago Carvalho’s Instagram page documents their collaborations.
