The break Iza is waiting for

GMA 7 is launching a new soap opera star in Iza Calzado, the lead actress in the telenovela, Te Amo, who is paired with Latino actor Segundo Cernadas.

Iza surely has the looks of someone who can win in any beauty pageant. She stands 5’6.5" and carries herself regally. Born on August 12, 1982, she is the second of three kids of veteran choreographer Lito Calzado. "My eldest brother, Dash, is 10 years older and he’s a DJ with 89.9 while my younger brother died in infancy," she says. "My mom passed away five years ago. Her name is Marianne Asher and she is of Irish-Spanish descent."

She was taking up fine arts, major in advertising at UST when she did a shampoo commercial that was shot in Kuala Lumpur and was well-received by the public. "When I visited my dad at GMA 7, some production people asked me if I would like to try acting. As I was growing up, it never crossed my mind that I can be a star because I was so chubby. At 15, I weighed 200 lbs! I was the teddy bear of our barkada. But later when I was in high school at Miriam College, I became more conscious of my looks when friends would say ‘Ang ganda mo sana pero ang taba mo,’ so I started dieting and exercising. Now, I’m constantly on a strict diet to make sure hindi na ako tumaba uli."

As her audition, she was made to appear in an episode of Click as the older sister of one of its regulars. The results pleased GMA management enough so she was quickly assigned to play villain to Sunshine Dizon in Kung Mawawala Ka Pa.

"My role was supposed to be short but it was extended because direk Joel Lamangan like my acting as Cogie Domingo’s wife who stole him from Sunshine. After that, GMA made me guest in all their drama and comedy shows. When management later told me I’d star in my own soap with a foreign actor as leading man, I couldn’t believe it. It took sometime before it sunk in me. Later, I cried to my dad. Tears of joy because I was given a good break early in my career. I was thankful but also apprehensive. Kaya ko ba ito? Te Amo can actually set a trend kasi aside from having a foreign leading man, we taped the entire show that will run for three seasons before starting to air it on Feb. 2. Usually, a soap is taped on a weekly basis and the writers try to feel what the viewers like to happen to the characters and they incorporate the feedback into the script. This one, we shot continuously on location at a beach town in Ternate, Cavite where we stayed for four months, taping four days a week. We only stopped during the Christmas break when Segundo had to go home to his native Argentina for the holidays."

In Te Amo, she plays Rosela, a modern day Cinderella with Elizabeth Oropesa as her drunken stepmom and Jennifer Sevilla as her wicked stepsister. She dreams of someday meeting her Prince Charming who will take her away from her impoverished life in their fishing village. Prince Charming turns out to be the handsome stranger washed away into their shore, Segundo. Also in the cast are Jomari Yllana and Wilma Doesnt as her best friends, Angelu de Leon as the villainous mayor’s daughter, Tonton Gutierrez, Jaclyn Jose, Perla Bautista, Ryan Eigenmann, Mel Kimura, Princess Punzalan, and Johnny Delgado.

Iza wants to thank all her co-stars for the warm reception they gave to her. "Ako ang pinakabago sa buong cast but they never made me feel na, ‘Hoy, baguhan ka lang.’ They were all pleasant and very supportive. We had great bonding on the set, lalo magkakasama kami roon four days a week. We were billeted at the Algo Beach Resort, about two hours away from Manila, and Wilma Doesnt was my roommate. It was a great experience for me."

How about her leading man? "GMA told me before he accepted the project, he requested to see the work of his future leading lady so they sent videotapes of the shows I did. Ako naman, I watched his soap shown on GMA, Monica Brava, and I find him really cute and macho. When he arrived, the management asked me to welcome him personally at the airport. I was so thrilled when I saw him in person. I have garlands of sampaguita I am supposed to put on him but I forgot to do so because of my excitement. He turned out to be very pleasant and easy to get along with, kaya nag-click kami agad. Everyone likes him because he is very friendly and we’re all amazed that he was able to learn all his Tagalog lines well. You’d be surprised because he’d memorize them even if he does not exactly understand every word he’s supposed to say and he has very good timing in delivering them. Alam niya kung kailan siya papasok."

Iza admits she used to have a non-showbiz boyfriend named Pepo. "We were on for more than a year. But we broke up four months ago when I had to stay most of the time in Cavite for the taping. He’s still studying and I felt it’s time for me to focus on my work, what with this good opportunity coming my way. But we parted as friends, without discounting the possibility that we can still reconcile in the future, if we’re really meant for each other."

Aside from Te Amo, Iza is also in the cast of two new films. She plays Piolo Pascual’s missing wife in Star Cinema’s Milan and the rival of Jolina Magdangal over Dingdong Dantes in Annie B., Reyna ng Ukay-Ukay.

A writer quipped at the presscon of Te Amo that the show might not make it to number one in the ratings because the Argentinian actor starring in it is named Segundo Cernadas. "Hanggang segundo lang sila," he says.

But another scribe counters that the leading lady will balance this off since her name is Iza Calzado. "Iza stands for one, kaya puede pa rin silang mag-number one," he adds.

"Sana nga," Iza laughs. "If we’d hit the number one spot in the surveys, then GMA has set a new trend in pairing off a local actress with a foreign leading man."