The unsweetened Helen

MANILA, Philippines - She didn’t see it coming. Months after she almost turned down the role of Elizabeth/Mamita on ABS-CBN’s series Tayong Dalawa, Helen Gamboa surprised even herself at how easily she fit into the nasty character she plays — raised eyebrows and blazing eyes and all.

Just as important, she never thought the public would embrace her as Elizabeth the way a mother would her only child.

“People have been used to seeing me play the martyr, the underdog,” Helen muses. “I didn’t see how they could accept me as the wicked one.”

But boy, they did. When she went to the US to accompany daughter Ciara, Filipinos she met at the mall would stop her for photo-ops. A lady government official in Ilocos introduced herself to Helen just to tell her she turns down appointments at the time Tayong Dalawa is aired.

Another lady viewer told the shocked Helen that she feels heart palpitations whenever she gets carried away with the tension-filled scenes in the series.

ABS-CBN president Charo Santos-Concio, who offered Helen the role,  had every reason, ask her over the phone: “Do you believe me now?”

Helen is not the only one with a resounding yes to that question.  Even her husband, former senator Tito Sotto observed, “Marunong ka rin palang magtaray!”

He knows Helen just keeps quiet or cries when she’s angry.  No histrionics, no throwing of plates or saucers.

So what does a prim and proper lady do when she plays a downright meanie? Refuse to say some really scathing nasty lines, that’s what.  Helen just can’t bring herself to do it.

Her  Tayong Dalawa directors, Ruel Bayani and Trina Dayrit don’t argue with Helen anymore. They change her lines into something she’s more comfortable with.

But they do urge her to “become more nasty” and do away with pearls since they think those pristine white accessories make her look sweet.

Now, Helen has learned to cast her fears aside in choosing roles. She has learned to leave her saccharine roles — the one popularized in Bang Shang-A-Lang decades back for instance — behind.

Instead of the frumpy mom in duster, Helen is now glamor personified.  She wears as much as 18 clothes just for one taping day. Most of them come from a two-year old collection of clothes she accumulated from travels abroad.

“I never imagined I would use them someday,” Helen says. “The Lord had a purpose for them all along.”

Surprises keep coming, even for someone who should be used to them by now.

Years back, Helen turned down the role of Flor Contemplacion not one, but thrice. 

“When I learned Tikoy Aguiluz would direct me, I had to ask about his body of work first,” recalls Helen.

Back then, she didn’t see how she — with her fair skin and blemish-free complexion — can play a doomed domestic helper in Singapore. Bibeth Orteza assured Helen direk Tikoy knows what he’s doing. 

She was right. Helen won as Urian Best Actress in 1995 for The Flor Contemplacion Story.

Now, Helen feels it’s sky’s the limit where her roles are concerned.

“I can even play the other woman!” she beams. And she’s not afraid people will think less of her for doing so. Helen has proven it on Tayong Dalawa. She has yet to hear a mean word or get a nasty look when she’s out in public.

If she can be the arrogant mom, what’s stopping her from being the other woman — on screen?

“I see no problem with that,” Helen smiles. “It depends on how you deliver your lines anyway.”

In having the courage to take career risks, Helen Gamboa has gone far beyond her own, and other people’s expectations.  She is also proving that in showbiz, as it is in life, you must never be afraid to lose sight of the shore.