Cindy Kurleto: On screen, behind the scenes
June 14, 2003 | 12:00am
With a face that could launch a thousand billboards, a laugh that could score a nationwide giggle, and a body to make noontime steamier, will Cindy Kurleto hit higher notes or fall as another one-hit wonder?
That could perhaps be the question in everyone’s mind nowadays upon seeing that face in the deo ad, beer billboard, shampoo commercial, blockbuster flick, and more recently, the newly rehashed MTB. The episode is nothing new: a mix breed of Filipina standing inches lower than six feet to match the vitals that could put Barbie to shame, has Grade-A English skills with a twist of hard-tongued Euro accent… an import in one word. And we all know too well, they come and go, long before their roundtrip ticket to fame expires. And so I asked, what’s new with Cindy? The results proved to be unexpected.
Cindy is a natural born Austrian, and for those who can’t get their geography right, it is the tiny dot off the German border – birthplace of Hitler, Beethoven, The Sound of Music, and the everyday breakfast staple, Vienna sausage. So it may seem outrageous to have someone packing her bags and leaving the confines of the old-world allure of a Euro first world for the traffic, the bomb threats, and other third world charms of the Philippines. What anyone will do for success, one would assume. But don’t be too sure.
"I can say that I got a really good education back in Austria but everything about it is cold. We have 10 months of winter and it leads to big time depression. And they’re really not friendly with people of color. They don’t like anyone who’s not white! It’s weird because I was born there and I never expected it to be that way. That’s why I live it here: the weather, the warmth of the people, everything!" she says.
"I actually think I’m more Filipina. In Austria, people call me a freak I’m too warm with people. They have this thing with self-bubbles, they are very much reserved when it comes to meeting new people. But here, everyone’s too friendly! I couldn’t belong anywhere else."
So immigration issues aside, Cindy is a Filipina -- with a REALLY curious Tagalog accent.
And so her motherland welcomed her in true Pinoy fashion, and hospitality proves to be an understatement. With a modeling bio that spans EDSA’s billboard kingdom, and primetime TV’s hard sell ads, her first year on Philippine shores is what every girl’s lifetime dream would be. "My first big break ever was to dance, in front of 25,000 people at a South Border concert in 2001," she recalls as though it was her first day in school. Two years later, her five-digit fan base has grown to millions, and her once-in-a-lifetime dancing stint dragged on to a daily routine of high flying, fast-flipping, body-baring, body baring noontime calisthenics. "I did not realize that millions of people are watching because if I do, I’d definitely faint! I just enjoy it, like a cabaret every single day! I used to dream of working for MTV but I realize that I would’ve been bored. Because, you see, I’m really the active type, so when I talk my hands go all over the place, and boy, I could really pull a good laugh. So I guess, MTB is really where I fit in!"
That could perhaps be the question in everyone’s mind nowadays upon seeing that face in the deo ad, beer billboard, shampoo commercial, blockbuster flick, and more recently, the newly rehashed MTB. The episode is nothing new: a mix breed of Filipina standing inches lower than six feet to match the vitals that could put Barbie to shame, has Grade-A English skills with a twist of hard-tongued Euro accent… an import in one word. And we all know too well, they come and go, long before their roundtrip ticket to fame expires. And so I asked, what’s new with Cindy? The results proved to be unexpected.
Cindy is a natural born Austrian, and for those who can’t get their geography right, it is the tiny dot off the German border – birthplace of Hitler, Beethoven, The Sound of Music, and the everyday breakfast staple, Vienna sausage. So it may seem outrageous to have someone packing her bags and leaving the confines of the old-world allure of a Euro first world for the traffic, the bomb threats, and other third world charms of the Philippines. What anyone will do for success, one would assume. But don’t be too sure.
"I can say that I got a really good education back in Austria but everything about it is cold. We have 10 months of winter and it leads to big time depression. And they’re really not friendly with people of color. They don’t like anyone who’s not white! It’s weird because I was born there and I never expected it to be that way. That’s why I live it here: the weather, the warmth of the people, everything!" she says.
"I actually think I’m more Filipina. In Austria, people call me a freak I’m too warm with people. They have this thing with self-bubbles, they are very much reserved when it comes to meeting new people. But here, everyone’s too friendly! I couldn’t belong anywhere else."
So immigration issues aside, Cindy is a Filipina -- with a REALLY curious Tagalog accent.
And so her motherland welcomed her in true Pinoy fashion, and hospitality proves to be an understatement. With a modeling bio that spans EDSA’s billboard kingdom, and primetime TV’s hard sell ads, her first year on Philippine shores is what every girl’s lifetime dream would be. "My first big break ever was to dance, in front of 25,000 people at a South Border concert in 2001," she recalls as though it was her first day in school. Two years later, her five-digit fan base has grown to millions, and her once-in-a-lifetime dancing stint dragged on to a daily routine of high flying, fast-flipping, body-baring, body baring noontime calisthenics. "I did not realize that millions of people are watching because if I do, I’d definitely faint! I just enjoy it, like a cabaret every single day! I used to dream of working for MTV but I realize that I would’ve been bored. Because, you see, I’m really the active type, so when I talk my hands go all over the place, and boy, I could really pull a good laugh. So I guess, MTB is really where I fit in!"
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