Cherry Pie prays before a take

Cherry Pie Picache let out a big laugh when I asked her if she had made love to a woman. She was very real, very raw in her intimate scenes with Criselda Volks in the movie Kaleldo where she played Susan, a lesbian. For this outstanding portrayal, Pie was honored with the Best Actress Award in the Durban International Filmfest in South Africa. The movie was directed by Brillante Mendoza.

Pie’s fourth international recognition as Best Actress comes from the Osians Cinefan Film Festival in New Delhi for Foster Child (also by Mendoza). The Asian Television Awards has honored her twice with Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress Awards for Joel Lamangan’s Melinda and a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode titled Aklat respectively.

Pie has just come from the Cinemalaya awards night where she handed out the Best Actress trophy to Ina Feleo when her manager Ed Instrella informed her that she won the Best Actress at the Osians Filmfest. “I was ecstatic,” Pie exclaims.

The awards are well deserved by one of the most brilliant actresses in Philippine cinema. She has been called underrated but not anymore. Thirteen acting awards to her name, Pie can no longer be ignored. After all, she has not just won international recognition for herself but for the country as well.

Pie had always known that she wanted to be an actress. But her conservative businessman-father was against the idea. She enrolled in Dentistry to keep peace with her father but her extra curricular activities in school led her way to a career in commercials and eventually showbiz. “My father did not understand my passion for the arts. He had this idea that being an actor is the lowest job you can get. And my objective when I entered the industry was to prove to my father that this is what I’m good at.”

Pie is proud to be an actor. “I always believe that if you have it, you have it. Acting is a gift.”

She talks about her work with Brillante Mendoza in Foster child, where she immersed herself in a foster care community. She realized that many families even though how impoverished they are, allow themselves to be foster parents. “Makikita mo talaga ang pagmamahal nila. Maliit lang ang sustento ng gobyerno for foster care but the amount of love is outpouring.”

Brillante employed “real time” while doing Foster Child. “All the things that I have learned in my 17 years as an actor itinapon ko. During the first three shooting days, I did not quite understand what we were up to. Dante wanted it like a documentary. It was my first time to do real time.”

Does she use some kind of a technique when acting? “I concentrate on my role and everything follows,” explains Pie. “I am always sincere in my portrayal. Acting is not an easy job. It is emotionally, physically draining. And you also have to think.”

There are times though when an “artistic” argument with a director ensues. And when this happens, “Instinct ang sinusunod ko. But I like it best when my directors give me a free hand. I also don’t like it when technical matters get in the way of my performance.” She prays before a take. “I always pray for humility.” An actress who has never been branded a diva, she knows how to make “pakisama” and she is definitely one of the most friendly actors we have. But while working on the set, she only asks for one thing, “give me my space.”

And what does she have to say about young actors today? “I don’t think young actors realize that acting is a tough job. Some (not everybody) think that it is just a source of income or an excuse for fame.” Thus, when doing scenes with young actors, Pie would take them aside and talk to them about how to do a scene. “I would tell them, halika, timplahin natin.”

She is the kind of actor who would bring her character home, “but I rewind before I sleep.” She also admits that there are actors and directors who make her nervous. Laurice Guillen is one of them. “She is brilliant. She knows what she wants. You cannot fake acting with her as director.”

Despite the accolades, Pie still dreams of so many things. For one, she dreams of working with Lolita Rodriguez. She also has that dream restaurant which she is carefully preparing for. “It’s already in the drawing board. I love to cook, it is my other passion.”

In the meantime, she has the biggest blessing of her life in her son Anton, who is now five years old. “I want him to be a lawyer” she beams.

Pie will visit me on Private Conversations (ANC Saturday and Sunday 9 p.m.) soon.