Camille Prats returns to her first love

Camille Prats is flexing her acting muscles again in the GMA Afternoon Prime family drama AraBella. It seems a natural career trajectory for her, whose mettle for essaying characters was discovered and developed at a young age, after Mars Pa More aired its finale in July of last year.

Immersed in hosting for a long time, Camille revisits the craft of acting, which is her first love, and commences her comeback on March 6, the premiere date of AraBella.

“To be honest, the five years that I wasn’t actively acting was also because of the seasons in my life,” the actress-TV host looked back on in a recent virtual media conference.

“That was also the time when I had a baby. So, siyempre kapag mas younger yung mga bagets, mas needy sila with time, mas grabe yung pangangailangan nila (When the kids were younger, they needed more time and attention). I was really very fortunate to have Mars, in that, you know, gap of not being able to do acting.”

She and Suzi Entrata-Abrera first headlined the talk show with the title Mars. Then, Camille shared the hosting chores with Iya Villania in Mars Pa More, which also later on featured Kuya Kim Atienza.

“I was able to enjoy hosting and I’ve really learned from that,” said Camille. “To be honest, napunta na rin yung puso ko sa pag-ho-host (I’ve learned to love it), I really love what I do in Mars. Since Mars ended last year, Sparkle (GMA Artist Center) asked me, ‘Cams, OK ka na bang mag-serye ulit (Are you OK to do a TV series)?’” In AraBella, she was tapped to play Roselle, an entrepreneur, who is looking for her missing daughter.

Her reply to the talent center’s inquiry was in the affirmative. Among Camille’s reasons for giving her nod is, “Definitely I miss acting,” shared she, who also initially welcomed the good offer with feelings of nervousness and excitement. Camille asked herself if she could still act and thought what’s the latest style in acting. All this was valid because, as she put it, “five years is quite a while, ‘di ba?”

But what also sealed the deal is the fact that working on a TV series these days does not require actors to be in a lock-in taping.

“I get to go home, we get to swab every week,” said Camille. “But what’s important is I am home. That’s the most important for me, hindi ko ata kayang mawalay ng matagal na panahon sa aking mga anak at pamilya (I think I can’t be separated from my children and family for a long time).

“But at the end of the day, I realized that this (acting) has always been my first love and ang sarap pala ng pakiramdam na babalik ka ulit na gawin yung isang bagay (it feels good that you get to do again something) that you’ve always loved to do. Even if you’ve not done it a long time, (I think) it will always feel like home.”

Since she had been accustomed to reading the script from the teleprompter and doing adlibs in her show, Camille said that memorizing lines of her character was the first struggle and adjusting to the acting approach for an afternoon soap was the second one. Yes, dramas lined up in this timeslot are associated with well-defined, big emotions and actions.

“On our first (taping) day, I remember we had heavy drama scenes and direk Adolf (Alix Jr.) would always remind me na parang itaas pa natin, itaas pa natin yung emotions (we needed to level up the emotions), like a couple of times he reminded me,” shared she, who, as expected, had found her way to do it. “It’s such a blessing that direk Adolf would really guide me and would tell me if he feels like ‘I think you need to give more in this scene.’”

And the reliable actress in her simply delivered.

Asked what it was like working with the young generation of stars like Shayne Sava and Althea Ablan, who play the title roles, Ara and Bella, in the TV series, Camille said: “I’m very happy to see that they are very, very smart and they are very, very professional and they really put their hearts into what they are doing, they are very humble, ang sa-sarap nilang kasama (being with them is fun).”

The Kapuso actress described their tent as one filled with “kape (coffee), tsika (talks) at tawa (and laughter)… that’s just how happy our set is every taping day. So, for me, it’s really a blessing to be able to work with these amazing talents that GMA has today and I honestly believe na malayong, malayo pa ang mararating nilang dalawa (they will go far)” for she found them very kind, humble and teachable.

“They listen and they just listen to, you know, how they can continue improve themselves,” added Camille, who had ample time to get to know the stars’ career plans, like their intention to stay long in showbiz industry, and thoughts about life. “They love their job.”

Also lending their talents are Alfred Vargas, Wendell Ramos, Nova Villa, Ronnie Lazaro, Klea Pineda, Abdul Raman, Luis Hontiveros, Mitzi Josh, Faye Lorenzo, Angel Leighton, Madelaine Nicolas, Julia Pascual, Saviour Ramos and Thia Thomalla.