By this time, the GMA Afternoon Prime viewers have already acquainted themselves with the new characters that reliable actresses Beauty Gonzalez and Denise Laurel portray in “Prinsesa Ng City Jail.”
Beauty and Denise pull out all the stops to show the similar fates of Sharlene and Divina as pregnant women and persons deprived of liberty with forgiving and vengeful personalities, respectively.
The rivalry between Sharlene and Divina is about to intensify once the characters “restart” their lives.
Watch “Prinsesa Ng City Jail” weekdays at 3:20 p.m.
“Ang ganda ng storya (the story is beautiful and compelling),” said Beauty about one of the reasons for saying yes to the project, which also stars Allen Ansay and Sofia Pablo and is directed by Jerry Lopez Sineneng, in a recent press conference. “Tama yung sinabi ni direk Jerry (director Jerry is right with what he has said). Each character here will shine. It’s not only because of Princess, or because of Sharlene, or because of Divina, but lahat kami dito may purpose sa story (all the characters have a purpose and contributions to the story) and (as an actress), I wanna be part of that.” The character Princess, who was raised by her jail guard adoptive father, is portrayed by Sofia.
For Denise, she said that hearing the names of the director and the cast members made her feel thrilled “to onboard” the afternoon drama.
“I was like, ‘Yes, I’m so excited.’ So, why not? I was so honored that they thought of me,” shared Denise. “I’ve been on vacation for the past year and a half or two years, so I was touched that GMA and the whole production thought of me for this outrageous, out-of-this-world character and that they trust that I can portray Divina.”
Beauty is also thankful for the continued support and trust GMA has given her since 2021 when she joined the network.
“Patuloy, tuloy yung binibigay na projects nila sa akin at iba-iba talaga yung projects na binibigay (they continuously give me projects that are really diverse),” said she.
Any project is an avenue for artists like Beauty and Denise to further understand their craft and share their thoughts about it.
“As an artist, I wanna learn from my co-actors. I wanna learn something new,” said Beauty, adding that “it’s not always about me, it’s about the story (of the afternoon show), and the story itself is very timely and I’m happy to work. Sa totoo lang, I love working. It’s the only time I get to see my co-actors. I get to talk about art, I get to talk about our work.”
Being part of “Prinsesa Ng City Jail” allows Beauty to see the different generations of actors and to collaborate with young artists like Allen and Sofia.
“I’m happy to get to know them more, kaso lang nung last taping namin, very konti lang yung eksena namin (but in our last and recent taping, we only had a few scenes). So, I was more with Lauren (King). This (time) na ‘pag bukas ng taping namin (once new taping days begin), I can’t wait to get to know them better and hang out with them more.”
Lauren is a Sparkle GMA artist who takes on the role of Liberty, the entitled daughter of Sharlene.
As for working again in a Kapuso project, “Prinsesa Ng City Jail,” after two decades, Denise reflected that “what I love about this new era of Philippine entertainment is that, everything is about the art, collaboration, working together, and really uplifting the quality of Philippine TV and cinema. So, I felt like, why not.”
Having a landscape that is conducive to that kind of work, stars are inspired to be on their toes and to deliver.
“It all depends on them (the people behind the show) probably, and the audience if they like my performance on the show,” answered Denise if the character Divina signals the start for the actress to do more roles for GMA. “If they miss me, they miss seeing me, if they love Divina and… I mean why not? They just gave me such a warm welcome.”
“Working is so easy,” added she. “They take care of us really, really well. So, I’m very happy.”
With the portrayals of Beauty and Denise thus far, viewers will be glad to see where they will take the tales of struggles and triumphs of Sharlene and Divina.