Dominic gets big break after 20 years

You can’t help but be glad for Dominic Ochoa, that he is finally getting what people would call his “big break” by being made to headline his own show — as in, yes, he plays the title role, the hero, the main guy — in Super D, which premiered recently on the Kapamilya Network.

Dominic recalls with a laugh that he felt like a kid receiving an unexpected Christmas present when he was offered the show. “Masayang Pasko sa akin nung binalita ito,” says Dominic, who has played countless supporting roles over the years, even at one time starring as Kathryn Bernardo’s adoptive father in Princess and I. He is one of those actors who never wanted for work; the network always kept him busy and found projects or roles they could cast him in, but they were never really lead roles, until now. That’s why, the morning after the press conference to announce Super D, almost all the write-ups that came out expressed their surprise over Dominic being given the title role.

To him, of course, it didn’t matter if it was a lead role or not. As an actor, Dominic has never been about that. He has learned how to content himself with whatever comes his way. He is a believer in that old saying that there are no small roles, only small actors — and he has always lived by the tenet that he gives his best every single time he is onscreen. “Siyempre kinagagalak ko na gampanan yung role,” he explains. “(At the time) it didn’t matter to me if it’s small or big or whatever; kahit anong role naman po na binibigay sa atin, ang akin lang, what I make sure is you give 200 percent ng kakayahan mo. Kung sa tingin ng iba hindi sapat, sa akin, basta I make sure na gagalingan at gagalingan ko.”

Dominic actually started out years ago as part of a group known as the Backroom Five. His contemporaries eventually moved on to other endeavors outside showbiz, but Dominic kept at it, even if what he was getting were, as people call them, small roles or bit parts. He was just content, he says, to be working.

His motivation for being in this business has always been clear to him. It’s not necessarily to chase fame and fortune (although those are good things), but to make a mark and a difference. The day that he finally decides to quit the business, he wants to leave behind a legacy of performances that people will remember as having changed their lives and taught them important lessons about living. “That’s why I’m here also, I’m not just here to act, to entertain, but also na, gaya ng ginawa namin sa May Bukas Pa, may aral din tayong makukuha, nag-i-input kami ng, ‘Huwag nating kakalimutan yung mga dasal.”

He says he “never had a lead role, honestly. In MMK, maybe but not really a teleserye; I was mostly the third party. When I started naman, parang (automatic) na eh … I was always a third party; never the lead.”

So this role in Super D (written and created by Dreamscape Entertainment, the same team that did May Bukas Pa, Honesto, Nathaniel and other feel-good series) is something outside Dominic’s comfort zone of playing minor parts and character roles, but his many silent fans and supporters are glad that at long last, it’s finally all coming together for him.

In Super D, Dominic plays a father. Thus, it is a very personal role for him, since he is a father in real life (his wife is celebrity makeup artist and businesswoman Denise Go). It also brings back memories of his own father.

Dominic shed a few tears during the Super D press conference when the subject of his father came up.

He describes his own dad as a “super dad” for several reasons. “Super si daddy kasi when he got sick, that’s when I got (to realize) that I never said ‘I love you’ to him. He’s very strict but he made sure that he taught us principles in life; hindi ‘yan mabibili ng pera, mahal siya ng maraming tao. When he died, doon ko na-realize na, tinatanong ko ‘yung daddy ko, kung siguro tinanggap niya lahat ng trabaho, ubod na kami ng yaman, pero nalaman ko lang when he died na ‘yung totoong kayamanan namin (which is) sa kaibigan.”

We’re sure that wherever Dominic’s dad is now, he is smiling down on Dominic. Everyone’s happy for him that he finally has this big moment. Indeed, it’s about time!