Coney: Kontrabida with a heart

In recent years, Coney Reyes has made a name for herself as one of the industry’s best kontrabidas.

?Off-cam, she’s prayerful and warm. However, the last three ABS-CBN teleseryes Coney did in which she had a featured or leading role — 100 Days to Heaven, Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala and Nathaniel — saw her play avaricious, manipulative, selfish women. But while she may have been playing against type, Coney’s stints as Anna Manalastas, Helena Diomedes and Angela Villanueva-Laxamana (“AVL”), respectively, were praised by critics and fans alike.

?That’s partly why the network saw it fit to cast her in another kontrabida role in the teleserye My Dear Heart. This time, Coney plays a brilliant heart surgeon named Margaret Divinagracia, who is described as a “cold-hearted, greedy and money hungry” woman whose sole purpose in life is to restore her family’s good name in the medical industry — at all costs.

?When asked how she feels about being tapped to play a kontrabida yet again, Coney laughed uproariously and said, “Palagi kong sinasabi, ‘Give me a sitcom!’ But they explained to me why they gave me this role. Because when they did research, they found that audiences think it’s believable if I play a kontrabida who has a change of heart eventually. If they get someone else, viewers will accept her as a kontrabida but not as someone who can change for the better. According to their focus groups, I’m the only actress viewers will accept in a role like that.”

Coney said she made her peace with playing kontrabida roles and is fine with continuing to do so in the future — on one condition.

“If I were to portray a kontrabida, she has to have a change of heart. I don’t accept a kontrabida role if there’s no redeeming value. And for me, there has to be a strong kontrabida for real values to come out. So I feel very blessed and honored to always be chosen by ABS-CBN to do kontrabida roles, and to be working with brilliant directors who always bring out the best in me.”

She added that she does her best to make sure each kontrabida role is different from the last. “It’s a conscious effort. I really look into the role, I study it and I pray that God will give me a fresh treatment of the character. I hope people will watch it so they can see where the role will go, and how different it is from my previous kontrabida roles.”

?Coney’s first time to step into a kontrabida’s shoes was when she did the teleserye Ysabella with Judy Ann Santos back in 2007. Coney did remarkably well as the show’s main antagonist Victoria Amarillo, but she almost turned down the role. She had many reservations about playing a kontrabida — which were dispelled when her then-director Rory Quintos explained the character of Victoria to her in greater detail.

“I really didn’t want to play a kontrabida at first, because I share the gospel with other people. But when direk Rory talked to me about it, I realized that playing a kontrabida who will eventually have a change of heart is challenging, but in a good way. As an actor, you have more room to play around with your character. Because even the change itself, from bad to good, it should be nuanced. It should have depth. It has to come from deep within you. As an actor, you need to work closely with your co-stars and director. You have to really understand your character as well as everyone else’s, and you also need a good grasp of the plot and where it’s going,” she explained. “Once you have that, it will be easy.”

Coney said one of the best things about being in My Dear Heart is getting to work with talented up-and-comers like Bela Padilla, whom she first watched in FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano. However, some of her younger co-stars have said they’re intimidated by her, which has prompted Coney to reach out to them.

“I don’t like them to get intimidated. So I just try to help them. I give them advice. I tell them their talents were given to them by God so they could use them in a way that will glorify Him.”