The actor opens up to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL about the legacy of To All the Boys I&rsquo;ve Loved Before, fighting for her life in the new thriller Pretty Lethal, and reckoning with her ballet past for the role.

Long before Lana Condor charmed audiences as Lara Jean Covey in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/interview-lana-condor-to-all-the-boys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">To All the Boys I&rsquo;ve Loved Before</a>, the actor, 28, trained extensively in ballet. Although she hadn&rsquo;t laced up a pair of pointe shoes in over a decade, Amazon MGM Studios&rsquo;s campy action thriller Pretty Lethal offered the perfect opportunity to bring both of her passions to the screen. Condor stars as Princess, a snarky, spoiled ballerina who&rsquo;s traveling to a Budapest competition with her troupe&mdash;portrayed by Iris Apatow, Millicent Simmonds, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/avantika-interview-grwm-coach-spring-summer-2026-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Avantika</a>, and Maddie Ziegler&mdash;only to be taken hostage by a deranged, ballet-obsessed captor played by <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/uma-thurman-best-movies-pulp-fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uma Thurman.</a> Beyond the gory thrills of the film (streaming on Prime Video on March 25), the role also resurfaced the darker realities of the dance world, reminding Condor why she left it behind at 18.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Being a ballerina is incredibly painful, and on my first day back in the studio, I had a panic attack,&rdquo; Condor tells L&rsquo;OFFICIEL. &ldquo;On top of the stamina and physical and mental strength that it requires, you&rsquo;re constantly aware of your body&mdash;and being in a leotard and tights every day is tough, even under the best camera lenses in the world. But I didn&rsquo;t let the fear overtake me, and I proved a lot to myself in doing so. I think most of the girls felt similarly, and we all had varying degrees of dance training.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Condor and her co-stars put their backgrounds to good use onscreen, strategically placing blades between their battered toes as their characters attempt to survive as a tightly choreographed unit. &ldquo;The ferocity in their fighting reflects the bottled-up intensity from their training, which they never get to show on stage,&rdquo; she says, noting that each actor had two body doubles&mdash;one for stunts and one for ballet. &ldquo;Ballerinas are seen as graceful and beautiful&mdash;but there&rsquo;s so much effort that goes into seeming that effortless. They&rsquo;re perfect on stage, but they&rsquo;re screaming inside. What's so fun about the film is that they actually get to release all that emotion and internal pain in a very real way as they fight for their lives.&rdquo;
Condor faced her own struggles during filming, grieving the loss of her mother, who passed away just five days before she left for Budapest. Below, she opens up&nbsp;about why she stayed with the project, how it helped her heal, and why she&rsquo;s currently drawn to survival thrillers over rom-coms.

Portrait of Lana Condor by Jonny Marlow. Courtesy of Condor.

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: Pretty Lethal feels like it hits a different note than your past roles. What drew you to the project?&nbsp;
LANA CONDOR: With my background being in dance, it was a no-brainer. But I also wasn't really getting a lot of villainous characters at the time; those opportunities just weren&rsquo;t coming my way. And while I wouldn't say that Princess is a villain, I don't think she's the most likable character. I was excited to show what else I can do. I started my career off in action and then took a bit of a detour, but action is my first love. I was really hoping to bring that back into my career in a way that made sense, and Pretty Lethal felt perfect for that because it still leaned into camp and femininity. I knew it was going to be a heightened world, but I didn't realize how gory it was going to be. It played a lot louder and more colorful and high-concept camp than I had expected&mdash;in the best way. I love movies where there's never one second where you're not entertained.&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;Instead of focusing on ballet&rsquo;s physical and mental toll, the film reframes that training as a tool for survival. What did revisiting that world bring up from your own experience as a dancer?
LC: There were many benefits from my dance background. It taught me discipline. It taught me body awareness, when it comes to presenting yourself. But it was really tough. Maddie [Ziegler] can speak to it even more; she&rsquo;s been a true professional since she was a child. But I trained classically in conservatories for my entire life, and there were positives, but also some serious negatives. I've talked a lot in the past about body dysmorphia and having to fight perfectionism, and a lot of that came from the dance world, which comes as no surprise.
L&rsquo;O: How did you prepare ahead of production?
LC: I trained like crazy for six months: five days a week, weight training in the morning and ballet training in the afternoon. I was not healthy or fit or at all ready to do the film, so I had to be really disciplined. We also did a boot camp prior. But it was scary&mdash;I felt like I had left the ballet world for good; I was like, Thank god that&rsquo;s done. Aside from the physical toll, mentally, it was hard to be back in a leotard and tights. Early on in the production, there were only salads for us to eat on set&mdash;and it wasn&rsquo;t production&rsquo;s fault, because it was just part of a larger misconception. I think the PAs who were ordering food just figured that ballerinas only have lettuce. It&rsquo;s like, Actually, no, when I&rsquo;m dancing for 12 hours a day, you need to give me a hamburger or I&rsquo;m going to die. They realized very quickly, Oh, these are athletes, and we need to feed them. In the end, I&rsquo;m glad I went back to it. I was just telling my husband that I kind of want to take adult ballet classes now, because it was so much fun and healed a lot of that weird past pain.

The cast of 'Pretty Lethal.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

L&rsquo;O: Did you and your co-stars bond over your shared dance backgrounds?
LC: The cast is my favorite part of this whole experience. I feel so grateful that it was the five of us. I've never been a part of a project where all of the women on set are just the most unified, proper team&mdash;and I&rsquo;m not just not just saying that we were a team because it sounds good; we actually supported each other in a very real way. This was by far the strongest cast that I've been a part of, and that was incredible. I didn't really know any of them before; we were strangers. At the end, they were all invited to my wedding [in 2024].&nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: And then, of course, you had Uma Thurman&mdash;an action icon&mdash;playing the villain. What was it like to work with her?
LC: Uma was the blueprint. Before she was cast, when we were still looking for our villain and names were being thrown around, Uma was literally the blueprint of the character. Like, she was why it was written. So it was crazy that she signed on to it. We were training in Budapest by the time we got the news that she was going to be our girl, and we all freaked out. And then instantly we were like, We can't fuck this up. &nbsp; L&rsquo;O: How was your time filming in Budapest?&nbsp;
LC: It was my first time there, and it was beautiful&mdash;there was a shocking amount of delicious Asian food, which I was not expecting. But to be quite frank, my mom passed away five days before I was supposed to film the movie [in July 2024]. That&rsquo;s why I say that those girls were a support system in a way that I can't even put into words, because work aside, having them there was truly life-saving right after I lost my best friend and the love of my life.
L&rsquo;O: I&rsquo;m so sorry. That&rsquo;s an incredibly tough position to be in.&nbsp;
LC: You know what though? I was so afraid to go back into ballet, and once my mom passed, I was probably going to pull out of the movie. The only reason I didn&rsquo;t was because I had my mom read all of the scripts I've ever considered; it was one of the things we loved doing most. I would give her the script, she would give me notes and tell me if it was a good idea or not to do the project. When she read Pretty Lethal, she loved the script&mdash;and she also loved the idea of me dancing again. So that's really the only reason I was able to get on the flight to go. But I have to say, being able to do such a hard project during the worst time of my life and coming out of it alive, I consider that a win. I tried really hard to do my best every day and make my work great. And to do that while having to go through losing someone? I don't care if no one sees this movie or if the whole world sees this movie. I already feel like I won.
L&rsquo;O: How much do you typically lose yourself in a character while filming? Is it hard for you to shake them at the end of the day?
LC: Not really. For something like Pretty Lethal, I'd like to believe I'm not this much of a bitch. But I recently filmed this shark movie called The Devil&rsquo;s Mouth, and the whole movie takes place under the water [in submerged caves]. That was much harder to shake, because it was an all-immersive experience. I'm never getting in the water again.
L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;There seems to be a theme here&mdash;what&rsquo;s drawing you to these survival thrillers right now?
LC: I genuinely love survival thrillers&mdash;it&rsquo;s a genre I consume as a fan, reading and watching them&mdash;and I have always wanted to be a part of one. I also think either I'm a masochist, or I&rsquo;m in a place in my life where I've found that my acting is better if I can physically challenge myself on a project. If my body is going through something, my acting is just better; I wish it wasn't the case. But when I put myself in physically challenging positions, it's much easier for me to suspend my disbelief and believe what's happening in front of me because my body is already going through it. I like that kind of technique in acting, and I'll do it for as long as I can before my body gives out.

L&rsquo;O: In The Devil's Mouth, you star alongside Gavin Casalegno from The Summer I Turned Pretty. Is this a Jenny Han fan's dream come true?
LC: I hope it would be a dream! I was so excited when Gavin signed on, and as soon as he did, I was like,&nbsp;Oh, okay...Amazon knows exactly what they're doing.
L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;What kind of stories do you want to tell now, with the characters and projects you&rsquo;re choosing? LC: If even one person watches a film and leaves feeling more empowered or seen, that's a win for me. I'm really just looking to stretch myself. I love playing the girl next door and doing that whole world, but I really think I have more to give. And so I've been choosing characters that don't make me feel comfortable. At the same time, I'm also like, Whoever's willing to hire me, hire me.
L&rsquo;O: Audiences first really got to know you in the To All The Boys films. How has your life changed since the first movie came out in 2018?
LC: Oh my god. My life changed in every possible way after To All the Boys. Other than my friends and family, there&rsquo;s no part of my life that&rsquo;s been the same since. My boundaries are a lot stronger now; during that time, I didn't really have any boundaries. I was just saying Yes to everything, and then I was completely burnt out. I'm not as much of a people pleaser anymore; I'm a lot more confident and more decisive. I also have a husband and three dogs now. So before, I was at the bar; now I have a whole family. &nbsp;
L&rsquo;O: In terms of representation, how do you think the industry has changed since To All the Boys I&rsquo;ve Loved Before?&nbsp;
LC: I'm seeing a lot more roles available to Asian-American women. That's awesome. Obviously there's a long way to go, but I do think that things are different today versus eight years ago when To All the Boys first came out. I believe I was the first Asian-American actress leading a YA romantic comedy, which is crazy. But To All the Boys also came out the same summer as Crazy Rich Asians, so we had a very strong summer together.
L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;You were 20 at the time. How has it been to have that fandom grow up with you?
LC: Amazing. Someone recently came up to me at the airport and was like, &ldquo;I watched you in college and now I have my first job, and when my friends and I are dating, we always think,&nbsp;Is this our Peter Kavinsky or not?&rdquo;&nbsp;I'm like, Thank you so much&hellip;but, oh my god, you've graduated college already?! There&rsquo;s also a huge amount of [To All the Boys spinoff series] XO, Kitty fans who have never seen To All The Boys I&rsquo;ve Loved Before. They&rsquo;re that much younger, which blows my mind. I&rsquo;m like, That really was a while ago, wasn&rsquo;t it?
L&rsquo;O: Fashion-wise, how has your style evolved over time? What designers are you gravitating towards right now?
LC: I've always and forever loved Tory Burch. I think she's incredible, and her last three collections have been so fresh and fun and elevated. Whenever I get to wear Caroline Herrera, I feel very joyful. I just wore Zimmerman to SXSW in Austin. I love Moschino and how loud it is, but I don't wear it too often&mdash;that&rsquo;s more for when I need a little va va voom. I would love to work with Miu Miu, too. I actually just hired a new stylist, so I'm in a bit of a transitional period. Again, I'm trying to lean away from &ldquo;the girl next door&rdquo; and go into a more elevated place. But I'm still trying to find it&mdash;and I'm enjoying myself in doing so.

Lana Condor Is More Than Just the Girl Next Door

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