High Spirits
As La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits) has its world premiere in Berlin, Spanish star Nicole Wallace opens up about starring in this adaptation of Isabel Allende’s novel, the success of the Culpables feature films and her talent deal with Prime Video.
Following her breakout role in young-adult drama Skam España, Nicole Wallace became a worldwide star as the main character in a trio of Spanish-language Prime Video movies based on Mercedes Ron’s Culpables novel trilogy.
In 2023’s Culpa Mía (My Fault), she played 17-year-old Noah, who has to leave her home town, boyfriend and friends behind and move into the mansion of William Leister, her mother’s wealthy new husband. There she meets her new stepbrother, Nick (Gabriel Guevara), and the pair immediately clash as Nick hides a life of fighting, gambling and illegal car racing behind his appearance as a model son.
However, their rivalry soon draws them closer together, and what becomes a forbidden love is tested by Nick’s present and Noah’s past, as well as opposition from those around them.
Produced by Pokeepsie Films, Culpa Mía was followed by 2024’s Culpa Tuya (Your Fault) and then Culpa Nuestra (Our Fault) last year. The first two films became the most-watched Prime Video international originals in their respective release years.
Spanish star Wallace subsequently signed an exclusive talent deal with Prime Video, marking the beginning of a creative collaboration between the actor and the streamer. Under the pact, she is working with Amazon MGM Studios to find projects in which she can star across the company’s global television and film line-up.
The first such project, Postcards from Italy, marks Wallace’s first acting performance in English. She plays Mia, a young and spoiled New York heiress whose grandfather sends her to Palermo, without money or luxuries, to work as a real-estate agent in the family business. Will an Upper West Side girl survive in Sicily without even a credit card?
Shot in Palermo, it comes from creators Lisa Riccardi and Damiano Bruè, and is directed by Jessica Yu (Quiz Lady, Only Murders in the Building). Filming wrapped towards the end of last year.
Meanwhile, she also stars in La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits), which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Monday ahead of its launch on Prime Video later this year. An adaptation of Isabel Allende’s acclaimed novel, it’s a multi-generational saga that tells the tale of a proud and passionate family, secret loves and bloody revolution.
The Trueba family’s passions, struggles and secrets span a century of violent social change, culminating in a crisis that hurls the proud, tyrannical patriarch and his beloved granddaughter towards opposite sides of the fence.
The lavish Chilean series comes from FilmNation Entertainment, with Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) among the executive producers.
Wallace, a dual US/Spanish citizen, was among the guests at the inaugural Prime Video Presents: International Originals showcase earlier this month, where Culpa Nuestra was revealed to be the platform’s top non-English-language original in 2025. The streamer also used the event to announce that the Culpables trilogy has been watched by more than 100 million viewers worldwide.
During the showcase, DQ heard from the actor about signing her talent deal with Prime Video, the success of the Culpables films, and her roles in The House of the Spirits and Postcards from Italy.
Signing a talent deal with Prime Video proved to be a significant milestone for the young star.
For me, this exclusivity contract means an amazing opportunity and a lot of trust from a platform like Prime Video in me, and being able to just have the peace and calmness to have someone like them supporting me and being able to find amazing stories and amazing characters.
Her Prime Video journey began with the Culpables franchise, which has resonated with audiences around the world.
Obviously for any project to do so well and to be so successful, there has to be a mix of right moment, right time, and there’s this generation of young people who are so eager to find themselves in characters and to forget everything that’s going on in the world and be able to just disappear into this amazing story. Also, having such a badass powerful female character and her chemistry with all of the cast – every little thing makes it perfect.
But Wallace wouldn’t compare Noah in any way to her Postcards from Italy character Mia.
There really are none [similarities]. Mia is this very spoiled [woman], living in a bubble and extroverted and funny – just this idea we have of a New York girl who has a lot of money and can do whatever she wants with her life – and Noah is the opposite. She comes from a very humble home and it’s obviously a very different cultural context, and I think that’s what I really like about Postcards from Italy, having that clash between Italy and the US.
Wallace also takes the lead in The House of the Spirits, which is based on Allende’s magical realism novel that has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide and is considered one of the most important novels of the 20th century.
It’s an amazing adaptation. It’s very respectful, it holds so much admiration from everyone that’s been in it, and I think that really comes through in the work. Everyone was very conscious about the story we wanted to tell, the costumes, the makeup – everything is so beautiful. It’s one of the most amazing sets I’ve ever been on.
Between Culpables, Postcards from Italy and The House of the Spirits, Wallace has been able to take on a diverse range of roles.
That’s the reason I like acting and being able to go into different shoes and finding out how many similarities I have with them and differences I have with them, and which ones I can bring out more and which ones I can bring out less.
She’s now looking forward to “good things” to come from her deal with Prime Video.
Hopefully more work that I like and they [her fans] want to watch. I’m very focused on growing my partnership with Amazon in the States and being able to put my foot there in some way. [I’m] just trying to make the best out of this moment and make good decisions.
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tagged in: Amazon MGM Studios, Culpables, FilmNation Entertainment, La Casa de los Espíritus, Nicole Wallace, Postcards from Italy, Prime Video, The House of the Spirits