Christian not bothered about being typecast

MANILA, Philippines — Not many people know that even before Christian Bables gained public recognition and won three Best Supporting Actor awards for his portrayal as Barbs in Die Beautiful, he had been working hard to make his acting as convincing as possible. According to him, he would attend acting workshops to better hone his talent.

“Since 2011, I was eager to learn and so I studied acting through workshops under Star Magic,” Christian told The STAR during a pocket presscon organized by Asian Artists Agency (AAA) that is co-managing his career with his manager Jeff Ambrosio. “It was only when Die Beautiful came that I was given the chance to really showcase my passion in acting. That’s why, I’m thankful to IdeaFirst (of director Jun Lana and Perci Intalan) for the chance to show my acting talent.”

His career has started to pick up since then even while his parents were initially against the idea of him pursuing a showbiz career. Christian shared that they wanted him to follow in their footsteps of moving and breathing in the corporate world “because my mom, I must say namamayagpag s’ya kung saan-saang corporate companies and we have an advertising firm so what she wanted was for me to also focus on that direction. But I didn’t like the idea since my heart is really into the performing arts most especially acting. I’m also into singing, hosting and dancing.”

His parents eventually agreed with Christian continuously honing his craft. These days, his hands are full with acting projects for the big and small screens. In fact, he just came from a pictorial and dubbing sessions for Recipe For Love under Regal Entertainment when this interview was held. His taping days for Halik, the ABS-CBN upcoming drama series that he is starring in with Jericho Rosales, are scheduled Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He, too, worked on Signal Rock under director Chito Roño, which has been submitted to international film festivals. In the indie scene, Christian topbilled A Love Story In The Time of HIV, one of the three short films featured in A Trilogy of Love Stories. The two other films were Young Love and To Love and Not Be Loved.

Executive-produced by Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and AAA head Boy Abunda, A Trilogy of Love Stories had its premiere last May 17 that coincided with the celebration of International day Against Homophobias and Transphobia (IDAHOT). Its regular run in cinemas is still in the planning stage. 

“This time around, I’m portraying a character who has an HIV-infected partner,” shared Christian about his new gay role. “After I read the script, I found out that the role was very challenging for me kasi punong-puno s’ya ng puso. I asked myself how am I going to put myself in that kind of situation and that pushed me to accept the role. Kakaiba ito kay Barbs but I guess I will let the movie explain the difference of my character here from Barbs.” 

Asked if he is bothered about being typecast in gay roles, Christian answered in the negative but he is hoping to be given more opportunities to portray different characters in the future. “Although I’m not saying it’s a must but if I’m destined to be typecast in gay roles then why not as long as the stories are appealing.”

Christian believes being an actor allows him to express himself and touch other people’s lives. “I must admit there are lots of good actors – young and old – but still we differ in style and I can say that I take into heart whatever my role is and I guess, people will always notice what is unique in every actor.”

Given the number of equally-talented artists in showbiz, Christian has learned to wait for his turn to shine no matter what. Thankfully these days, he doesn’t have to wait for so long for projects to land on his lap and all of them are meaty roles. “But I’m still willing to wait if ever there will be a time for offers to come after a month or two. We have to consider also for projects that are not offensive to anyone.”

Christian shared that he once received an offer which after reading the script, he found too harsh for other people. “It felt to me that it meant to offend a friend of mine but I won’t tell anymore who. As an actor, I will accept whatever the role is as long as it is intended to educate people and showcase what I really have.”

Christian also stressed that talent fee will never be an issue. “I’m here because of my passion kahit pa-kape lang, pa-tinapay lang okey sa akin given the project is something that would quench my thirst for acting.”