Showbiz is where it's at

MANILA, Philippines - Call her the odd one out, but Kaye Abad does not want stardom and all its trappings of fleeting fame. Figures why she quietly left showbiz in 2005 and slipped back to normal life.

“It felt great to plan your day; have time for your family and go out with friends when you feel like it,” she beams.

It helps that her well-off family (they own a school in Cavite) can provide for Kaye. She can come and go when she feels like it; choose roles because she loves to do it, not because she has to do it.

That’s why she’d rather be an actress than a star.

“I’d like to follow in the footsteps of Cherry Pie Picache (her co-star in the upcoming soap Ruby), Jean Garcia and Eula Valdez. They’re respected actresses,” Kaye gushes.

Her track record in the defunct soap Tabing Ilog (where she teamed up with John Lloyd Cruz) shows Kaye has every reason to say those words.

After seeing her move televiewers to tears in the soap, Susan Roces asked husband Fernando Poe Jr. to cast Kaye as his daughter in his comeback movie, Batas ng Lansangan.

Kaye’s compelling scenes in the movie, and in TV soaps linger, long after some of her co- stars have gone, either to the next life, or to some non-showbiz world. Her mother studio ABS-CBN tapped her to play Guji Lorenzana’s leading lady in the romantic series Precious Hearts Romances Somewhere in My Heart, which airs daily at 5:15 p.m.

Kaye and Guji’s first team-up in the Bud Brothers series proved to be so effective, ABS-CBN cast them again as two people who are polar opposites of each other in Somewhere in My Heart. Kaye is a typical office worker who strives hard for her family while Guji plays a rich loner who wants to be an artist. She pines for him, but he notices her not.

Kaye may not be the first choice for the role, first intended for Roxanne Guinoo. But Kaye doesn’t mind at all. What’s important, she says, is that the role landed on her lap.

“I’m thankful to be back,” says Kaye during a lunch break on the set. ABS-CBN, Kaye adds, is taking care of her so much, she doesn’t even have to ask network bosses for a project.

In fact, Kaye has not one, but two projects for the Star Network. The other one Ruby, casts Kaye as Cherry Pie’s sister. Now, Kaye is so busy she has to put some of her scheduled gimmicks with friends on hold.

Working in Kaye’s favor (aside from talent, of course) is her loyalty to the station that made her love team with John Lloyd a household name in Tabing Ilog. Yes, Kaye admits, ABS-CBN’s arch rival station sent feelers for her to jump ship. But Kaye remained a Kapamilya.

“Patience is a virtue,” she explains. Now, Kaye can’t ask for more in her career.

“I’m happy my career is going steady,” she muses.

If she were to be asked though, Kaye wants a comeback project with John Lloyd.

“I miss working with him. It’s been years since we last worked together. So I asked MMK (Maalaala Mo Kaya) executives if they can cast me in a project that would pair us again,” Kaye reveals.

Now that would be the day.