Iza Calzado wants a Best Actress win come awards season

It’s the dream of every actress to win an acting award and be recognized for a job well done. And for Iza Calzado, she wishes to win a best actress award this awards season.

Iza, who plays Maria Makiling in the new GMA telefantasya “Panday Kids” which premieres on February 22 at the telebabad block of the Kapuso network, has two acting plums to date.

Iza won the Breakthrough Performance of an Actress plum at the Golden Screen Awards in 2004 for the Star Cinema movie “Milan” and was named Best Supporting Actress by the Urian Awards that same year for “Sigaw.”

This year, Iza is sure to be in the running in the coming awards season for her performance in the Joel Lamangan film “Dukot,” which gave lead actor Allen Dizon the best actor trophy from Gawad Tanglaw.

“I leave my fate to God,” says the beauteous Iza of her chances in the coming awards season. “I don’t have control anymore with regards to winning awards. True, I won as Breakthrough Actress pero parang hindi naman best actress award ang dating noon, di ba? I won’t lie and say I am not hoping to win a best actress trophy. Who wouldn’t want to win a best actress award? I am excited to win a best actress award.”

She continues, “I am not saying I am a very, very good actress, but I do my best in every job that I have. But as they say, you are only as good as your last movie. I think I also did right in Kaya Kong Abutin ang Langit, I did my best. I tried to.”

“Of course, there were scenes where I look tired, walang mapiga kasi pagod ako. Pero ganoon talaga. eh. Welcome to the teleserye world, Philippines, Mabuhay!” jokes Iza.

The beautiful actress makes her return to the telefantasya genre in “Panday Kids.” The last telefantasya series she did was “Atlantika” where she played a non-mortal character. She was also in “Joaquin Bordado” which had shades of fantasy, but she portrayed a mortal character in that Robin Padilla starrer.

In “Panday Kids,” Iza reprises the role of Maria Makiling, which she also played in the movie version of “Panday,” which topped the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival. But the movie wasn’t able to explain in full nor expand her role as Maria Makiling.

“I said yes to this role in ‘Panday Kids’ kasi it makes perfect sense that I do the role in the TV series kasi iyon ang role ko sa pelikula. Pero ang maganda lang dito sa Panday Kids, mayroon kakaibang twist ang role ko na ginawa ni Direk Mike Tuviera. Mas may human side sa role ko. Pag nagalit siya, talagang magagalit siya,” relates Iza about her role.

How vital is her role as Maria Makiling? “Very important since it is my role that is responsible why Lizardo (played by Marvin Agustin) came alive. I possess a lot of powers that could help the Panday Kids. But what happened was, accidentally, it was my powers which gave life to Lizardo, who is the nemesis of Panday.”

Aside from this new telefantasya, Iza shared that she’s also doing a new drama series for GMA 7 very soon. She also has a hosting job with “Healthy Cravings” being shown on QTV 11, the sister channel of GMA. “I still don’t know what my new show is going to be in GMA but what they told is that it’s going to be a show on primetime. They said they gave me “Panday Kids” as some sort of filler for now since I will be doing a primetime show in the coming months but they haven’t told me what it is,” says the actress.

Iza is excited in doing her new show “Healthy Cravings”. “I am really happy to do that show because I have been trying to immerse myself in gaining knowledge and living healthy, trying to be healthier and learning about the things that are around us.”

“It’s a vegetarian cooking show. Well, I am not a vegetarian although I eat a lot of vegetables. I was a pesco-vegetarian before (for about five years) but I started eating chicken again last year. If there’s a buffet table before me, you’d see me get the healthier food. But there are days that I also eat cakes but it’s not always,” she said.

Is it hard to be a vegetarian of some sorts? “At the start, yes, and I have a long battle with that. At times, I can’t control myself so I take some cakes kaya tumataba pa rin ako. But I don’t like it also when I eat something bland because I am on diet. Now, I really just choose what I eat.”

Iza was also told that she will be doing another version of the hit movie “Ouija,” where she co-starred with Judy Ann Santos, Jolina Magdangal and Rhian Ramos. But the delay had been due to the conflicting schedules of the stars themselves. Although Iza is not a contract star of GMA Films, her loyalty is with GMA and whatever project that the network gives her, she will prioritize it whether it be a TV series or a movie.

Iza is likewise looking forward in joining the delegation of “Dukot” when it participates in several inter-national film festivals.

When told that she stands a good chance of winning as best actress for her work in “Dukot,” Iza enthuses, “Sana nga magdilang anghel ka. Pero bahala na ang Diyos sa bagay na iyan.”

Iza is also a part of the Starstruck Council, together with director Floy Quintos and talent manager cum Startalk host Lolit Solis.

She has a personal bet among the Starstruck hopefuls who are now down to five. “May pinagkakasunduan naman kaming tatlo with regards our choices,” she says.

But when asked about her lovelife, Iza demures. “Basta masaya lang ako, period,” she concludes with a smile.