Beauty jumpstarts acting career in GMA as Miss Bridgette

MANILA, Philippines — Beauty Gonzalez will officially commence her acting career in GMA via Stories from the Heart: Loving Miss Bridgette, which premieres today after Nagbabagang Luha.

In the Afternoon Prime series, she, as guidance counselor Bridgette, is paired with Kelvin Miranda, as medical student Marcus. Beauty and Kelvin’s tandem explores more the May-December affair theme.

“Yes, (siya) yung pinaka-baby boy ko na leading man (He’s the youngest leading man I’ve ever had),” said Beauty of The Lost Recipe star in a virtual media call. “Sobrang taas ng energy, alam mo naman ang mga bagets… it’s very nakakatuwa kasi (his energy was) very infectious. I admired him for he was very eager to work every day. Nakikita ko yung sarili ko dati sa kanya.”

Hands down, Beauty can give the role an impassioned and inspired interpretation with her acting credentials. Given her bubbly personality and youthful beauty, she looks good with Kelvin on camera.

“It makes me grounded na parang I have so much to learn pa rin kahit bata o kahit matanda yung partner mo,” said Beauty of working with Kelvin, “ang dami ko paring matututunan sa kanilang lahat, especially sa kanya. Na-surprise nga ako na we had a beautiful chemistry together onscreen.” That’s something viewers can look forward to, aside from the love journey, replete with travails and triumphs, the characters will enter into.

“Bridgette is very hopeful,” shared Beauty about her character’s quality that she can relate to. “She always sees the good in everyone, (the) good (side) in all the events that happen in her life, dun ako nakaka-relate sa kanya.” The actress added that she never experienced getting into an older-woman-young-man relationship. However, Beauty had younger suitors in the past. “Maraming nanligaw sa akin dati pero natatawa lang ako,” recalled she. “I mean kinikilig ako, pero di ko (ito) na-try.”

Asked what her and Kelvin’s take on this kind of relationship, Beauty answered, “In my real life, I’m in a May-December relationship. Actually, it’s not about the age for me. It’s more about the experience and the emotional maturity of the person. Ang dami namang bata dyan na matanda nang mag-isip like me, marami ding matanda dyan na bata din yung isip. It’s really about that, kung paano kayo nag-share ng experiences ninyo sa isa’t-isa.”

Beauty also tried to explain this by saying that “opposites attract, di ba?” and that one gets easily attracted to another person because of the latter’s personality, which is something beyond appearance. There’s another reality that an older woman and a younger man just click together.

“I agree with her, makikita ninyo kasi talaga kung saan kayo mag-co-connect,” said Kelvin, also touching on age difference as a factor in a couple’s misunderstanding. “For me, wala namang masamang magmahal, even magkaiba kayo ng edad. Kung maramdaman mo naman (ito) naturally at hindi ka napipilitan, or nagkakaintindihan kayo ng totoo, why not? (If you feel the love naturally, you’re not compelled to do it, or the couple understands each other truly, why not give it a try).”

In this affair, the older woman usually gets the flak and judged, because of social expectations, said Kelvin. Some, as others notice, are lenient to another May-December affair, where the man is older than the woman. The older woman is called cougar and cradle’s snatcher. She is being frowned upon. At the end of the day, love is love, regardless of class, race, gender and again age.

How did they prepare for their roles?

“I needed to imbibe my character Marcus,” said Kelvin, who simply trusted his fellow actors and director and the production team, and especially himself, to make things happen. “Kung wala kang tiwala sa sarili mo, kahit nagtitiwala ka sa iba, hindi rin siya mag-me-make sense,” added he. “Kailangan mong makuha yun lahat, bago mo planuhin yung pagtatrabaho mo… sa eksena (I had to work on all this before I could plan and perform my scenes).”

To look the part and be Miss Bridgette, Beauty said, “I did a lot of observing, I watched a lot of teenage movies to get that vibe, to get that energy, to get that feeling. That’s what I did. It’s basically like that.”

With her foray as a Kapuso actress, Beauty had this to say: “Feeling ko matagal na akong Kapuso kasi sobrang welcoming silang lahat, sobrang bait nila sa akin. I feel so privileged that there’s a good company that trusts me in my capacity, that believes in me. Nakaka-ganadong ibigay yung lahat at best ko para sa kanila. I feel so happy about it.”

The actress added that the script of Stories from the Heart: Loving Miss Bridgette was beautiful that it got her excited to work. Everyone on the set made her feel at home. “Actually, it was an easy, smooth one month of taping,” said Beauty. “Natapos namin yung show na buo, on time (We were able to complete the show and did it on time). I’m very proud of this group. And I hope to work with them again soon.”

That is a possibility and there are other up-and-coming and established Kapuso actors and actresses that Beauty can collaborate with either in a Primetime Afternoon or a Telebabad block show.