Home>Entertainment>Showbiz>Ariella enjoys unplanned career
Showbiz

Ariella enjoys unplanned career

Ariella Arida
Ariella Arida

– Ariella unplanned career

ARIELLA Arida won the Bb. Pilipinas Universe title in 2013 and represented our country in the Miss Universe pageant held that year in Moscow. She placed third runner up, the only Asian to make it among the top finalists. She has now made her first movie, “Coming Home”, where she plays an OFW in Qatar who becomes the other woman of Jinggoy Estrada, whose legal wife, Sylvia Sanchez, is in Manila with their children.

Ariella Arida
Ariella Arida

In the movie’s zoom presscon, Ariella says her joining the movies wasn’t planned. “It’s my manager, Arnold Vegafria, na nagsali sa akin sa project,” she adds. “Sa bagay, kahit ‘yung pagiging beauty queen ko, hindi rin planned, nangyari na lang. Things just happen kung talagang para sa iyo. But being a beauty titlist helped in opening a lot of opportunities for me. Una ‘yung hosting and now, acting.”

She was born in Alaminos, Laguna and got her name from her dad (Ariel, who passed last year) and her mom (Estrella). She was already a graduate of UP Los Banos, majoring in chemistry when she joined her first beauty pageants, Miss Laguna and Miss Philippines Earth. But it was in Bb. Pilipinas Universe that she got her title.

After her reign, she joined ABS-CBN and became a host in “Umagang Kay Ganda”. She also did two soaps, “Playhouse” with Angelica Panganiban and “Killer Bride” with Maja Salvador. So how is it working with Jinggoy and Sylvia in “Coming Home”?

“They’re both very nice,” she says. “They know na first movie ko lang ito, so they helped me a lot. Sobrang bait nila, inalalayan ako, so I was not intimidated. Excited nga ako doing this, pero kinakabahan din kasi nga first movie ko, dati puro TV lang, so bagong environment ito for me.”

She was also daunted by her role. “Kasi siyempre, baguhan lang ako, tapos mistress pa ang role ko. Kaya ko ba? Nagtanong-tanong ako how to play a mistress. Our director, Adolf Alix, also helped me interpret my role. Nag-enjoy ako sa shooting, I learned a lot at ang sarap pala nitong gawin. Now, I pray that sana, I’d be given more good projects in the future.”

Royce now with GMA, hopes to work with Dennis Trillo

Royce Cabrera
Royce Cabrera

ROYCE Cabrera had his first brush with fame when he became the grand winner of the search for Mr. Mapua Cardinals in 2017. That year, he tried acting and was introduced in the indie ToFarm Filmfest film, “Baklad”.

Last year, he made waves when he went daring in the Cinemalaya entry, “Fuccbois”, where he did full frontal nudity with Kokoy de Santos. His torrid and lengthy kissing scene with Yayo Aguila also went viral when its film clip was uploaded on social media. He says he auditioned for “Fuccbois” and doing was certainly not a walk in the park.

“Our director, Eduardo Roy, had us do a lot of research and immersions, also acting workshops for our roles as boys working in a gay bars na lumalabas with gay customers, like Ricky Davao, who played a mayor in the story na regular customer namin,” he says.

After that, Direk Roy also got him to play a supporting role in the award-winning indie film, “Lola Igna”. Then ABS-CBN got him and he became part of the soap “A Soldier’s Heart” with Gerald Anderson. He also did the movie “Alter Me” with Enchong Dee and the Boys Love series “Quaranthings”.

Now, he’s glad that GMA Network got him to sign an exclusive contract with them. “It’s an honor na mapabilang ako sa GMA Artist Center at maging Kapuso,” he says. “It’s a big, established network, kaya salamat sa tiwala na meron akong ibubuga. Nakaka-boost ng self esteem at na-confirm yung dream ko na ito ang larangang gusto ko.”

Who among current Kapuso stars would he like to work with? “Among the girls, si Sanya Lopez. Gaya ko, she’s relatively new but I can see na magaling siya. Swerte siya kasi ang lalaking projects ang ibinibigay ngayon sa kanya. Gusto ko talaga siyang makatrabaho.”

How about the actors of GMA? “Si Sir Dennis Trillo. Kasi napanood ko yung movies and TV shows niya, mahusay talaga siya. Parang ang sarap umarte with him.”

What for him is a dream role that he would like to portray? “Siguro ‘yung maging role na psychotic ‘yung character. Very challenging ‘yun for any actor para ma ma-explore ang range ng acting niya. I want to reach that level of acting na mapipiga talaga ako sa pag-arte.”