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  • In April 2020, a little-known, Canadian-made science fiction movie called Code 8 came out

  • of nowhere and immediately wowed audiences.

  • Co-written and directed by Jeff Chan, Code 8 is set in the near future in a world where

  • certain individuals possess superhuman abilities.

  • Stephen Amell, best known for his years starring on the CW's Arrow, heads up the cast as a

  • Power-possessor named Garrett, but one of the film's breakout stars is the actress who

  • plays the metal-melting Maddy.

  • That's Laysla De Oliveira, and if she looks familiar, it's probably from her work in audacious

  • genre fare not unlike Code 8.

  • Before she hit laptop and TV screens as Maddy in Code 8, De Oliveira was best known for

  • her role as another not-quite human in the Netflix series Locke & Key.

  • De Oliveira's character, Dodge, is the principal antagonist of the show, based on the beloved

  • comic series by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill, and Gabriel Rodriguez.

  • Due to the morphing mechanics of the magical Identity Key, the demon Dodge could feasibly

  • be portrayed by multiple actors as Locke & Key's plot unfolds.

  • But hopefully De Oliveira will be back in future seasons, because she definitely shines

  • in some pivotal moments in the series' first season.

  • "Death is not as final as you think.

  • Your whole family can see your dad again."

  • In addition to charming and conning lonely Bode Locke into breaking her out of her well

  • house prison to begin her reign of terror, viewers learn she also used her feminine wiles

  • to trick people into some pretty despicable acts.

  • It was a role that made audiences sit up and take notice, but it actually wasn't the first

  • time De Oliveira appeared in an adaptation from the King family.

  • De Oliveira is quickly becoming a screen-darling, a go-to star for movies and shows.

  • De Oliveira landed one of her first major film roles in the 2019 horror movie In the

  • Tall Grass.

  • In the project, based on a novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill, De Oliveira plays Becky,

  • six months pregnant and on her way with her brother to start a new life in California.

  • Those plans fall by the wayside when they get sidetracked by the cries of a boy named

  • Tobin during a stop near a creepy field.

  • "Did you hear that?"

  • "Here what?"

  • "Help!"

  • That sets off a whole host of horrors for Becky, who gets lost in the field and quickly

  • finds out that getting her shoes muddy is going to be the least of her worries.

  • The stakes build to an insane crescendo, giving De Oliveira plenty of opportunities to let

  • her acting talents shine.

  • The role certainly proved that De Oliveira was a star on the rise, and a talent who could

  • anchor a big project.

  • While De Oliveira was lucky enough to score two big breakout roles in 2020, she's been

  • steadily working as an on-screen talent for nearly a decade, honing her skills and building

  • her resume with small parts in episodic television.

  • Her first screen credit came from guest-starring on a third-season episode of the USA crime

  • drama Covert Affairs in 2012.

  • A year later, De Oliveira returned to the USA Network, portraying a character on an

  • episode of the espionage series Nikita.

  • Seemingly finding at least one career niche in genre television, De Oliveira later starred

  • as a villain on one episode of the CW zom-com iZombie, and three episodes of Fox's X-Men-adjacent

  • superhero show The Gifted.

  • Inadvertently preparing for her roles as both Dodge and Maddy, De Oliveira played a young

  • mutant with the uncanny ability to create glowing orbs of light who escapes from her

  • unjust confinement in a mental institution.

  • But De Olivera doesn't only make horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.

  • She's appeared in several thoughtful and acclaimed indie movies that take place in normal realities

  • where regular, non-powerful human beings are just trying to, y'know, deal.

  • In 2018, De Olivera anchored Acquainted, a drama about two old sort-of-friends who reconnect

  • and are left questioning their pre-existing romantic entanglements.

  • The movie won the award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the Mammoth Film Festival.

  • A year later, De Olivera showed off her acting chops again in Guest of Honour by Canadian

  • writer-director Atom Egoyan.

  • De Olivera starred as Veronica, a wrongfully convicted woman desperately haunted by her

  • past.

  • The film did well on the festival circuit and was nominated for Best Canadian Feature

  • at the Toronto International Film Festival.

  • While film buffs might be familiar with those films, parents might notice De Oliveira from

  • her work in slightly fluffier fare, such as the 2016 American Girl-doll-based movie Lea

  • to the Rescue.

  • Like many actors and actresses, De Oliveira parlayed her natural charisma and good looks

  • early on into a job as a professional model.

  • So if she looks familiar to someone who has never seen her in any role besides the fiery

  • Maddy in Code 8, it could be that her face made an impression from a magazine spread

  • or advertising campaign from a decade ago.

  • Based on her captivating performances in recent projects like Locke & Key and Code 8, Laysla

  • De Oliveira will undoubtedly continue to grace our TV screens far into the future.

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In April 2020, a little-known, Canadian-made science fiction movie called Code 8 came out

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