A crack at full stardom

I never got the chance to get close to beauty queen-turned-actress Jean Saburit. But every time we’d bump into each other casually, she’d always be warm and pleasant to me.

Actually, it is so easy to like Jean – especially from my end because I’ve always respected her as a person and as an artist, an underrated actress if you ask me.

I first met Jean in person when I was still with Showbiz Lingo (she came to plug a movie and it was a very pleasant meeting between the two of us). At the ABS-CBN studios, we’d see each other in the hallway and always tagging with her was her cute little daughter Nicole Anderson who by then was already starting out in show business – in Ang TV.

Through the years, I’d keep bumping into Jean and – as always – she’d be with Nicole. But while Jean remained ageless (you have to give it to her for still looking good all these years), Nicole was shooting up fast.

Last week, Nicole Anderson was presented to me by her manager, Annabelle Rama, and I was surprised to find out that she’s already 16 and almost as tall as I am. How time really flies.

In 1992, Jean was invited to appear as guest performer in Aga Muhlach’s Oki Doki Dok and the inseparable duo that they’ve always been (especially back then because Nicole was only three), the young daughter tagged along during the taping.

Since the set was a playground, Nicole gleefully ran to it and refused to leave even when the floor director was already hoarse shouting "Clear the set!"

The director, Johnny Manahan, instead of getting annoyed was amused – impressed even because Nicole at three was lista and biba. In the end, the cast and crew went on with their taping – with Nicole playing to her heart’s content in the background. That was just the beginning of the little girl’s showbiz career.

Soon after that, she was already in Ang TV – the only one who didn’t have to audition because she came in highly recommended by no less than the director, Johnny Manahan.

Nicole was the youngest in that batch – the original one – and she was with the group led then by Jolina Magdangal.

From Ang TV, her next regular program was Cable, also on ABS-CBN. Of course, she had to slow down with her career around this time because she was enrolled at the International Montessori School in Forbes Park.

Today, she’s in eighth year at the British School (the equivalent of third year high school in the Philippine educational system). Although she goes to school every day – from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. – she still finds time to attend to her showbiz commitments. At the moment, she’s doing Mulawin, the Movie and is a regular of SOP Gigster.

Recently there was even talk that she got suspended from the show and she dismisses this as fabrication that stems from a misunderstanding now best forgotten because she never really got into trouble with the program and was never suspended. She skipped an episode once, but this was to go to Thailand as part of a school activity. But now she’s back with the show.

When she goes to college the year after next, she’s still unsure what course to pursue for her tertiary education. The truth is, she wants a one-year break from school before going to college to be able to give time to her showbiz career. That is how strong her determination is to make it big in show business.

This early, she already knows that being in the entertainment profession isn’t all that easy – and that she has to confront issues that are part of the business. Take for example the fact that people always compare her to her mother. Oh, she’s aware of that. This is the reason why she’d never join a beauty contest (Jean Saburit was Miss Young Philippines). "Can you imagine the pressure for me to win?" Nicole cries out.

Actually, she is the first to admit that she’ll lose to her mother in any beauty contest and says that her mother is shapelier and had a tinier waistline.

In preparation for a full showbiz career, she has completely opened to the public her not-so-conventional family life. "My parents were never married," she tells me casually. Father is Peter Anderson, a Swedish businessman based here in the Philippines.

Nicole may not be living with her father, but they do stay in touch every day on the phone and see each other once a week.

A boyfriend she has none. But suitors do abound, except that she has no time for them either because she has her heart set on making it big in the business.

The list of her showbiz ambitions is long: She wants to have her own soap, be a TV host, a singer and a big movie star – whew!

If she gets to fulfill just half of the list, surely she’ll be a major star in this industry. When that happens, remember I knew Nicole Anderson when she was this high.