'Empress of Drama' hopes for butt-kicking roles

CEBU, Philippines - When it comes to heart-rending portrayals, 18-year-old Empress has long proven her mastery of the genre. After all, her network had not given her the billing “A royalty not by birth, but by worth” and christened her Empress of Drama for nothing. Now that the pretty teen has cemented her place among the drama actresses to vouch for after a decades’ worth of rich television and film credits, there’s another acting field she’d like to be known for next.

“I really want to tackle action, ala Angelina Jolie. Roles that are astig but sexy. I used to do karate when I was a kid. I also did a movie with Bong Revilla before titled Resiklo where I had one fight scene, and they liked my performance. So it’s one of those things I’d like to try again,” says the Guns and Roses mainstay, who picks Wanted as her favorite Angelina Jolie action starrer.

Although the Filipina-German is currently cast in a primetime series dubbed as an action-serye with no less than action superstar Robin Padilla headlining it, Empress’ assigned character does not get any gun-toting or sparring scenes in the script. As she herself described it, while Robin takes care of the action and lead actress Bea Alonzo supplies the drama, it is her and young co-star Ejay Falcon who provide the light moments with their puppy love bickerings.

Empress here plays a sassy, fashionable, rich but down-to-earth and soulmate-searching obsessed Joni Dela Rocha who is relentlessly hounding Ejay’s character.

“She meets Ejay, whose character’s name is Onat. Joni believes in signs about her love life. My yaya told me that the guy destined for me is the one who will grab and hold my hand. Then, I was driving my car when Onat, who is a policeman here, will apprehend me, grab my hands and handcuff me. So I felt he was my soulmate or my destiny. That’s how my character will start chasing him, but the boy doesn’t like me. Sinusungitan niya ako, tapos ako naman yung crush na crush siya. That’s what viewers should continue watching out for — how I will chase him and if he will also end up liking me.”

Empress says Joni is her polar opposite. For one, she’ll never chase after a boy in real life no matter how much she likes him. And she adds, she isn’t as girly nor as aggressive as her soap alter ego.

The Star Magic talent, whose management decided to drop her last name for better recall, considers Guns and Roses as her lightest project so far, considering the heavy scenes required of her numerous and varied characters before.

She entered the scene as a child star back in 2001 and her repeat Maalala Mo Kaya performances had her essaying roles of a child prostitute, an orphaned Muslim, a girl living a double life and a provincial lass whose dreams are shattered by World War II, to name just a few. She won her first acting award at the age of nine for a movie role as a child on the brink of death. Then last year, Empress got her first big break via the lead in the afternoon fantasy-drama Rosalka, in which she played a kindhearted hunchback with a dark secret. (FREEMAN)