No time for love: Rhian focused on acting & racing

MANILA, Philippines - Rhian Ramos has no qualms about getting deglamorized to make her portrayal of her role in the latest GMA 7 primetime series My Destiny as real as real can be.

In My Destiny, the Kapuso actress plays Joy dela Rosa, the bubbly, younger sister of Grace (played by Carla Abellana) whose dreams of becoming a beauty queen are cut short when she is diagnosed with leukemia. Grace is willing to give Joy whatever it is that will make her comfortable and happy. They meet Lucas (Tom Rodriguez) in two separate occasions and both excitedly confide in each other about the guy who makes their hearts beat faster, not knowing that they are talking about the same man.

“It’s not even a question of accepting (the project),” says Rhian on portraying a terminally-ill character. “I’ve been asking for a role where I would have to be deglamorized and look different, which will happen in the middle of the show.”

Right after her last acting appearance in Genesis last December, Rhian recalls asking for a role whose storyline doesn’t mainly revolve around a guy. “We love our love stories, yes…but this one (in My Destiny), I’m really taking my role seriously because I’ve noticed, every time I see a show, the way it’s being done here, everything is glamorous, no matter what.”

She cites as an example the glaring mistake of being “all made-up” even if it’s uncalled for in a scene. “Parang, oh nasagasaan ng kotse si ganyan…tapos pag-tingin mo, naka-(eye)lashes.”

That’s why upon accepting the project, the first thing she requested was her character’s look because, “I want it to look the way Hollywood does it, you know, when they have the role, they become the person — ‘yung tipong nagpapapayat or nag-iiba talaga depending on the role. And I think this country needs that, too. We deserve that kind of effort put into our own entertainment.”

As part of her preparation for her role, Rhian took time out to know more about the illness through her best friend who got leukemia. “We talked about it, basically I asked him things, the thoughts that had gone through his mind, how he felt at certain times and at certain stages. And whenever I am with direk Joyce (Bernal) and my acting coach Jay, we do nothing but talk about my character and really dig deep.”

This is the third time for direk Joyce and Rhian to be working together after doing Stairway to Heaven and Genesis. The latter shares that they have a harmonious working relationship on the set, especially with her “family” in the story. Lorna Tolentino and Al Tantay play her and Carla’s parents.

“We get along together so well that whenever we eat on the dinner table, it ends up like being effortless dahil kulitan lang kami. The conflict starts when I get sick. It affects everyone which is really how it is when a member of the family gets sick; it’s not just one person but the whole family feels it, too.”

Asked how similar she is to her character, Rhian answers, “Joy is really makulit and I’m like that, sobrang pilya and I’m like that, too. She always wants everyone around her to be happy so every time there’s something happening, she wants to solve it right away. That’s the kind of person she is and that’s also how I tend to handle conflict like I’ll swoop in and make light of the situation.”

The theme of My Destiny may come across heavy but Rhian insists it is not completely a tear-jerker “because the treatment is light, nakakakilig. The characters are so makulit despite what’s happening in their lives. ”

But this doesn’t give Rhian any reason to be complacent. Truth is, she is bent on focusing on her acting more than her lovelife. After calling it quits with KC Montero last October, Rhian (who also denies rumors linking her to Marc Nelson) has set her eyes on things that will make her a better person. She has discovered a new hobby in car racing where she spent her five-month break from doing TV soaps. She has already blocked off all Tuesdays from her work schedule in preparation for another race next month.

“I am not dating anyone right now like I’m giving myself two years maybe before getting into a new relationship or maybe longer than that because I kinda want to just focus on racing, my family, career and especially with the show. I have to focus and I plan on really killing my social life for three months — the duration of the show. I have to be in isolation for me to focus on this role because it’s so complex and I’m planning to change what I look like.”