Stardom is within Mariel Rodriguez’s reach

Filipino model-actress Mariel Rodriguez is moving up. Stardom in the Asia-Pacific region is within reach for the perky and pretty young miss, as her new TV series Rouge debuts on MTV Asia this October.

Signing up as one of the four lead stars of the spy-girl action series meant relocating to Singapore for six months. Fortunately for Manila girl Mariel, there was a compatriot in the Rouge quartet — Denise Laurel, who is crossing borders and playing a Thai girl in the series. Mariel, for her part, is playing a full-blooded Pinay on the show. "I’m playing Pam," she explains. "She’s the language expert in the group. We’re a gang of international spies whose cover is a rock ‘n roll band called Rouge. I’m the girl from the Philippines. Denise is supposed to be from Thailand. And the two other girls are from Vietnam (Veronica Ngo and S). The four girls topped an international search from among 400 hopefuls all over Asia.

Fun, she describes the shoot for the series. It was like playing dress-up for Mariel, who first made waves locally as Luis Manzano’s partner in the popular Close-Up Eucalyptus commercial. "We have lots of disguises on the show. We wear lots of wigs. I have a red one, and one with full bangs. I wore a nurse costume once. But my favorite is the episode where we were dressed as chambermaids. That was cool."

Mariel also hit it beautifully with the three other girls in the band. "We had great chemistry," she pipes in. "We got along great. In fact, throughout our six-month stay in Singapore, I shared an apartment with Denise and the Vietnamese actress, Veronica Ngo."

It was Mariel’s first time to be away from her family, to live on her own. And independence afforded her countless precious lessons.

"I made a lot of good friends in Singapore," she elaborates. "I made a certain connection with them. The usual fear is that when you’re on your own, you have a tendency to go crazy, go out every night, and party all the time."

Not Mariel. The homebody part of her personality became more pronounced in Singapore. "I hardly went out," she affirms. "Whenever we had a break from shooting, I stayed home. I learned so many things about myself."

One prized realization was that she was a closet bookworm. "Because in the beginning, we didn’t have cable in our apartment, so I learned to love reading," she relates. "In the Philippines, I would never pick up a book. But there, I started reading all sorts of books. I finished about 10 books while there." She juggled bestsellers like Tuesdays with Morrie and Five People You Meet in Heaven. "It made me cry," he chimes in.

Upon her Manila homecoming, she made a beeline to the nearest mall to buy more books, of course. "I just got the novel, The Da Vinci Code. That’s my next target."

Aside from love of books, she also renewed her fascination with all things culinary. "I can now cook sinigang and adobo with my eyes closed," she asserts. "I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but now I was doing it with fresh vegetables and ingredients I bought from the grocery myself."

Keeping house and doing chores, she treated as one grand adventure, in fact. "Sometimes I would cook for Denise because she’s also Filipino," she roars. "But our Vietnamese roommate didn’t like eating garlic and didn’t cook anything without garlic!"

Singapore lived up to its reputation as a "Fun City," in Mariel’s book. "The food is amazing," the self-confessed gourmet speaks. "Especially since I’m not afraid to try out all sorts of dishes. I am very adventurous in that way. Like after martial-arts training, we would all troop to the Hawkers’ Center and savor bowls of noodles!"

Once, she even tried the very expensive oysters in an upscale Singaporean restaurant. "I could finish three kilos of oysters," she roars. "Here, one kilo costs P60, but in Singapore an oyster costs $3 or P90 per piece!"

Still, she indulged her carving and went home with a bum stomach. Would that stop her from going back for more? Not a chance! "I went back because it was so good!" Mariel enthuses: "Oysters are my all-time favorite pig-out food!"

Indeed, Mariel relished her independence in Singapore. "We were always riding the MRT there," she points out. "In Singapore, it’s super safe and it’s the most convenient way to go around the city. And an MRT station was also near our apartment complex."

Mariel had a blast working with the cast and crew from Mega Media and MTV Asia. So much so that she is raring to go back for a return engagement. "We finished 14 episodes for the first season," she confirms. "I’m looking forward to go back for another season if only for the chance to work with the same team. They were great! I really learned a lot from them. They’re the best people a newcomer like me can ever hope to work with."

The Rouge team is especially close to Mariel’s heart, especially since they threw a surprise birthday party for her last Aug. 10. "I was about to go home after a day of working, when the assistant director told me that I still had one more take and took me back to the set," she recalls. "When I opened the door, the whole cast and crew were there. With a cake! And they were all singing Happy Birthday for me."

After that impromptu on-set party, her colleagues feted her all over town. "They took me to the Night Safari," she remembers fondly. "The bats were flying above us. Then my Vietnamese roommate Veronica treated me with her country’s cuisine. Since that day, I’ve become addicted to Vietnamese Spring Rolls. I was eating it every day!"

For Mariel, Singapore was a feast for the senses.