Maja: Braver to try new things

She’s been through some heartbreak  and that’s never easy to survive, especially when it happens in the public eye  but Maja Salvador seems to be managing it beautifully.

After the break-up of her relationship with Gerald Anderson, Maja chose wisely to keep quiet and focus on her work instead of talking about her heartbreak to the press. She completed her nationwide dance concert tour, did the primetime series Bridges of Love (which followed the equally-successful The Legal Wife) and after another short break, signed on to play the leading lady role opposite Coco Martin in the TV remake of Ang Probinsyano which piloted recently to high nationwide ratings. Coco was announced as her leading man way ahead of her joining the series, but Dreamscape Entertainment, which is producing the show, waited for Maja to finish before offering her the part, hence the slight delay.

Honestly, says Maja, she thought she wouldn’t be able to do it. After Bridges of Love ended, she started gearing up for her other projects, which — as everyone probably knows by now — include a movie and a forthcoming major solo concert, Majasty, at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena — when the new offer landed on her lap.

Ang Probinsyano is the latest in a series of big steps that Maja is taking, career-wise, this year. Lately that is what she has been about: Breaking new ground and finding new ways of challenging herself artistically.

The teleserye is especially significant, because for the first time in her career, Maja is playing a policewoman. A “babaeng Robin Padilla” is how she describes it.

This is one of the things that she is most grateful for: Through the years, she has been assigned a wide range of roles, and each project she does is different from the last. She thanks her home network and the business units she works with for consistently giving her projects meant to test new facets of her acting talent each and every time. This has enabled her to grow tremendously as an actor and made her braver about trying new things. She is grateful for the people she has worked with, that they know what she is all about at this point in her career.

“Alam nila kung paano alagaan ang mga artista nila at alam nilang bigyan ng tamang proyekto kaya ako masaya kasi wala akong nagawang hindi magandang teleserye, na di ko ikaka-proud. I’m super proud of every teleserye I’ve done. Maybe they know the type of roles or characters that I want to play, yung na-cha-challenge talaga ako. Kaya magaganda ang nabibigay sa akin.”

Maja’s roles are diverse, and she likes it that way. “Kaya kung susundan n’yo yung track ng mga teleserye na ginawa ko, wala pong parehas. They are all different. Rebelde ako, may star dancer, may teacher ako… sobrang blessed lang talaga ako, siguro nakikita ng management na sobra kong mahalin ang mga projects na binibigay nila sa akin. Importante talaga sa akin ang mga projects na ginagawa ko.”

Even online, her presence has been steadily growing. Her viral video in which she dances the popular Twerk it Like Miley craze, has notched more than 10 million views. It seems like right now, there’s no stopping Maja Salvador. “There are lot of big projects happening this year,” she says in grateful acknowledgment to her network, her management and the fans who have been waiting long for this return team-up with Coco Martin. It’s been some four or five years since the two of them worked together in Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin.

“To be honest, I’m also excited for the fans,” says Maja. “Mga apat o limang taon silang naghihintay, at yung mga taon na ‘yon, sobrang proud naman ako sa mga fans namin ni Coco, kasi todo-suporta sila, at talagang hindi sila bumitiw, kumapit lang sila at alam nila na isang araw, magbabalik tambalan kami at ito na yung pinaka-regalo namin, yung magbalik-tambalan kami ni Coco.”

That day has finally come. Even Maja herself is excited to be playing the role of Coco’s love interest in Ang Probinsyano. It was a long wait, but like all good things it will surely prove to be worth it in the end.