Victor fast-tracks his career

MANILA, Philippines - Among the young cast of GMA 7’s SRO Cinemaserye Presents Suspetsa, Victor Aliwalas has the least acting credentials. And that puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders as he will be pitted against today’s acting talents like Ryan Eigenmann, Paolo Contis and Baron Geisler.

“I’m the newest in the cast and that makes me nervous. But I feel I can live up to the acting challenge posed on me,“ Victor says. “I am more focused now since I have learned the process of acting during my Marimar and Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan days. Mas sanay na ako.”

An acting workshop under direk Joel Lamangan has also prepared the model-turned-actor for whatever the role requires of him. The intensive training has taught him a different approach in portraying his character unlike before when Victor felt he was just thrown out to showbiz and did whatever he knew fit to the task. He now feels at ease in front of the cameras.

“Direk Joel is really intense. He was a professor in UP. That‘s why working with him is different, very educational parang galing sa book,” Victor shares. “Of course, there were times direk Joel asked me to repeat some things but that’s part of learning and I’m happy I passed his standard.”

On the second season of SRO Cinemaserye Presents Suspetsa which airs Thursday nights beginning tomorrow, May 28, Victor plays corporate guy Matt, the boyfriend of Nina (Jennylyn Mercado) and officemate of Leonor (Yasmien Kurdi), who gets involved in a series of twists and turns in the suspense-thriller written by Jun Lana and directed by Mark Reyes. It also stars Nadine Samonte as Abigail.

And while he can act with confidence, Victor is bent on polishing his Tagalog to deliver his lines as naturally Pinoy as possible. The US-born and bred Victor’s American accent still crops up now and then. Victor insists he is pure Pinoy, contrary to reports which claim that he’s Fil-Am.

 ”My dad is Kapampangan and my mom is Bicolana. They talk to us in Tagalog back in the States but my sister and I always speak in English, matigas ang ulo ko. Looking back, I wish I learned but everything happens for a reason,” Victor shares. “Right now puro Tagalog conversations, scripts pero bulol pa din. Maybe in six months to a year, malapit na.”

He once had a tutor but his schedule didn’t permit him to take Filipino lessons until this day. “Maybe after this (show) I should really take some time for my Tagalog so in my next project, diretso na.”

 How does he feel getting breaks alongside today’s actors?

“Grabe. It seems surreal. Everything happens so fast like last week I shot a scene with Robin (Padilla) for Totoy Bato. Imagine he’s a legendary actor,” Victor replies.

He has also worked with Marian Rivera, Dingdong Dantes, Marvin Agustin, Camille Prats and Regine Velasquez.

“I’m so lucky that the list of actors I’ve been blessed to work with is unbelievable. That’s why I’m doing my best to be on a certain level as they do,” he adds.

This time, let’s see how Victor fare with younger stars.