Donita Rose, the ‘serious comedienne’

She may be the ultimate "it" girl, the MTV Babe of many a man’s dreams. But there’s another side to Donita Rose few people know. It’s the side she wants to develop to the max because it’s one of the most unexplored.

Donita is talking about her kooky, wacky side – the one that doesn’t mind, even enjoys poking fun at herself. Never mind if she shatters myths about herself as the Girl Who Has Everything.

All these tell us more about Donita than reams of publicity copy can.

It shows, for one, how someone recently named Best Light Entertainer at the Asian TV Awards in Singapore doesn’t go much for such vanities as image preservation. Go ahead, laugh at me all you want. I’m game. Donita is in effect, saying.

This is the side moviegoers will see when OctoArts Films’ and M-Zet Productions’ Lastikman is finally shown in time for the Metro Manila Film Festival. Vic Sotto’s leading lady plays Linda, our hero’s childhood sweetheart who figures in so many "bed scenes" Donita swears it’s the first time she’s had a movie like this in her career.

But lest you think this odds for someone who has turned down offers to do bold films when she hardly had food in her refrigerator, Donita’s "bed scenes" are literal ones.

They’re a far cry from the stuff the likes of Ara Mina, Maui Taylor and Rica Peralejo are known for.

In one scene, for instance, the bed will fall without warning on the unsuspecting Linda, making her wonder if that household fixture has magical powers (it does). In another scene, this time unscripted, Vic as Lastikman will steal a kiss from her.

The frequency of the stolen kisses has prompted Donita to comment, "This movie has so much kissing scenes!"

Not that she’s complaining. Donita says she had the time of her life on the set, precisely because "comedy is something I love doing." She adds she can do it forever.

It all started with the sitcom Ober Da Bakod which she enjoyed so much she decided right then and there that "comedy is my first love." So when she did Lastikman, Donita had so much fun she didn’t want to go home even after the cameras have stopped grinding. She lingered, horsing around with Vic and their co-stars, like Michael V, Oyo Boy Sotto, Anne Curtis and others.

Beats doing all those serious stuff, like hosting on the MTV Channel and endorsing this and that product, huh?

"I see myself as another Nova Villa (who plays Dolphy’s wife in Home Along da Riles) someday, when I’m already married (to Singapore-based boyfriend Eric Villarama). Look at her, she’s still very much around!" state Donita.

So passionate is she about comedy Donita wants to make a career out of being a "serious comedienne" who wants to make people laugh, especially when she’s in a relaxed mood.

It has even gotten to the point where she doesn’t feel like she’s working at all when she’s on the Lastikman set. It’s just like shooting the breeze and doing just what comes naturally.

"I’m a happy person who had a happy childhood," she explains where she got the lighter side of her personality.

Figures why doing spoofs on MTV is never beneath her, and announcing to the world that, contrary to what they think, she does hide a slight paunch under her dark-colored shirt. And while having a product endorser image is great, Donita knows that like all good things, it will not last forever. She’s prepared for the day when, happily settled with her Eric (although they have talked about marriage, they have yet to make clear-cuts plans, she stresses), Donita will write a book on "what I was before."

It is here where she plans to spill the beans on her life, warts and all. Let the public judge her, she doesn’t mind.

"My concern is for people to have faith in God," she says. And one way she can do this is to tell them her life story, of how she fell, and picked up the pieces, because God allowed her to.

She’s not inclined to talk about lean times when she only had two eggs in the refrigerator and had to borrow money from a neighbor to get by. Not that she was wanting in offers. In fact, Donita had a tempting offer to do a beer commercial, but her faith made her say no.

Few people, faced with her situation, would have found the strength to decline the job. But Donita did. And she’d like to think she’s now reaping the rewards of her convictions.

She cites 2002 as a case in point.

"This year has been a good one for me," she relates. "I had three movies: Hesus Rebolusyonaryo with Mark Anthony Fernandez, 9 Mornings and Lastikman. I am also an endorser of Fila, i2i Eyewear, Lux and Globe."

Donita’s smilling face also greets EDSA motorists who see her on giant MTV billboards along the major thoroughfare.

Her status has given her the privilege of knocking at her MTV bosses" door and talking to them when confronted with a music video that offends her morals, like those that demoralize women.

"I give the my two cents’ worth," says Donita.

And while she knows she has gone thus far, Donita the perfectionist wants to aim for more.

"I’m never satisfied with my performance," she states. "The minute I stop being critical of myself, I’ll get bored."

Donita knows one of the things she must work on is her Tagalog, even though it has improved a lot since the time she entered showbiz and spoke the language only in awkward monosyllables.

"I must also work on drama, on my ability to convey emotions," she humbly admits. And while she’s at it, Donita is also setting her sights on a career, not in Hollywood, as some of her fellow celebrities do, but in Asian movies. After all, she muses, "Hollywood is already saturated with artists. Why go there when I can go to a place where I already have leverage?"

She’s talking, of course, about her high visibility as a top MTV host for years now. But wait. Won’t her Caucasian looks get in the way?

Unfazed, Donita has a ready reply: "I don’t think so. It can even be an advantage. I look Asian when I have a tan."

Does this look like the words of someone who’s getting married soon, as other people want to believe?

Donita herself is aghast at how people have been pressuring her and her Filipino boyfriend to tie the knot.

"Everywhere, people are congratulating me. I’ve been reading about myself getting married in the papers. Someone even went as far as asking me when I’m leaving MTV because she’s interested in applying," complains Donita.

She knows such is the price she has to pay for celebrity. But this, for her, is getting too far.

"People," she sighs, are actually planning our lives for us!"

Luckily, her boyfriend understands. Eric, a friend of Donita’s brother, is a huge fan.

She’s known him since they were kids.

So convinced is Donita of his sincerity, she describes him in superlatives. "He’s the man of my dreams, one man who brings out the best in me. I’ve never had a boyfriend who loves me much!"

Happy just staying in the sidelights while letting her celebrity-girlfriend shine, Eric is one of the reasons why Donita looks forward to returning to Singapore weekdays as MTV babe.

Looks like it will take some time before Donita finally buckles down to her autobiography. She has her hands full with MTV, product endorsements and Lastikman, where, thanks to a music video, which sees her crooning Falling in Love, she has launched a ‘singing’ career to boot Vic jokes.

Yes, fans will have to wait for the coming of Donita, the writer unafraid to expose herself so others will learn and remember.