Jessy opens up

MANILA, Philippines - Jessy Mendiola was asked to put her guard down and open up during her first-ever solo presscon recently. And open up the 20-year-old did, talking about the highs and even the lows of her young life.

After keeping the good news to herself for some months now, the mestiza beauty was finally allowed to announce that she has nabbed the title role of ABS-CBN’s Maria Mercedes, the latest remake of a series topbilled by Mexican superstar Thalia, who was responsible for turning the telenovela a national craze among Filipinos in the ’90s.  

Jessy said that she is a big fan of Thalia, having watched all her telenovelas that reached the country. “I’m a huge fan. When I learned about it, I became very emotional. I’m very happy to be entrusted with this project. Pangarap ko talaga maging tulad niya.”

As other popular Thalia telenovelas have already inspired local versions (such as Marimar by rival network GMA starring Marian Rivera, and Maria La Del Barrio, also by ABS-CBN, with Erich Gonzales in the lead), the articulate Jessy said, “I can’t avoid the comparisons. I guess I’ll just have to accept the opinions of people.” 

According to business unit head Ruel Bayani, the rights to adapt the telenovela were acquired a long time ago by the network, but it took them sometime to assign it to a talent of theirs. Nevertheless, having witnessed Jessy transformed from a reserved teenager to a young woman oozing with “inner sensuality and at the same time vulnerability,” management deemed Jessy as most deserving of the lead role.

The natural vulnerability must have emanated from her personal experiences, as similar to what Thalia’s “rags-to-riches” characters have underwent, Jessy has her own sob story growing up, although better days are obviously ahead (if not here already) with her biggest TV break to date.

She can relate to her character Maria Mercedes because “she’s a fighter, she’s spirited and even if she has nothing, she loves her family so much, she’s willing to fight their battles, and I’m like that.”

When it came to the subject of family, the Jessy couldn’t help but turn emotional. She was born in Dubai to a British-Lebanese father and a Filipina mother. She and her two siblings moved back to the Philippines when her mother wanted to start their life anew. The last time she saw her father was 14 years ago.  

Jessy, who has plans to reconnect with her father this year, shared, “I grew up without a dad. My mom had to take a lot of jobs just to support the three of us. She became both my mom and my dad. When it comes to my mother, I’m very sensitive about it. I never really talked about her. Sorry if I’m crying because I’ve kept this to myself for the longest time, and now that I’ve been given the chance to tell you (my background), I’m overflowing with emotions.”

She recalled, “I think I was 12 or 13, when my mom began to take up nursing because my family and relatives from my mother’s side thought that she can go abroad and find work to better support us. Incidentally, at that time, I resumed my modeling. I started modeling when I was three years old but I stopped. When my mom was studying nursing, we were also studying. Lahat ng mga tuition fees, binabayaran namin ng sabay-sabay. So, we really can’t afford to buy too much. We ate simple food like cup noodles.”

Amidst these difficult times, the showbiz opportunity came knocking. She was asked to join an ABS-CBN summer workshop on acting. From that batch of aspiring talents, she was the only one who caught the eye of Star Magic boss Johnny “Mr. M” Manahan.

But entering showbiz wasn’t a simple decision to make.

Looking back, Jessy said that “I didn’t want to be an actress. As a child, I was the type who didn’t talk too much or open up. I was very private. I was very reluctant (to join showbiz).”

When Mr. M asked her if she wanted to act, Jessy boldly asked back the founder of the Kapamilya’s talent management arm for time to contemplate on it. “I asked Mr. M, ‘Can you give me three days to think about it?’ I really thought it was just a summer thing.”

Jessy was honest to admit that it was the monetary compensation more than anything else that persuaded her to finally enter showbiz. “I realized, doesn’t acting pay well? Di naman sa pagmumukhang pera, but let’s be honest here, it does pay well. I thought that maybe I could help (support) my family, my mother. So, I accepted it.”

Now, many thanks to her acting career, she’s become the breadwinner of the family, and she carries this responsibility like a badge of honor.

It may not have been an instant attraction, but Jessy has visibly grown to love and embrace acting. â€œNung tumagal na, nung marami na akong natanggap na projects, there were times when I wanted to give up because it’s so tough.”

There’s so much competition, she said, that it’s hard to stand out. So when the good breaks began pouring in (such as the soap operas Sabel, Budoy and Paraiso), she learned to treasure them.

“When I was given good roles…ang sarap ng feeling. I am working not only to provide for my family, but because I have actually started to enjoy acting. I really want to become a good actress,” said Jessy, who’s also set to do a Star Cinema film with John Lloyd Cruz, Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta.

Showbiz, she declared, “has changed me so much, I don’t know where to start.” From building her confidence to defining her priorities to handling her first controversy — her two-year relationship with “problematic” actor JM de Guzman. (“It was tough, but I learned a lot from it. I kept mum about the relationship because my mom was against it. I was only 18, and going through a rebellious stage. They thought he was a bad influence, but he was not. Yes, my mother was a big factor why we broke up, but it was also because of me. As you try to make someone complete, to build someone up, you don’t realize or you don’t see that you’re slowly breaking. I chose to love myself more and chose to focus on my career. But whatever is happening to him, I wish him all the best because he’s a great actor and person.” See related story in Funfare.)

Jessy added that acting has helped in her ongoing process of self-discovery and with her charming new candor (to hopefully offset impressions of her being “boring and bland” with nothing interesting to share, she said), many a fan would surely appreciate to be let in on her journey.