It was an acceptance speech worthy of the first acting award of her career.
A tearful Diana Zubiri accepted her Young Critics Circle award for Best Performance by Male or Female, Adult or Child, Individual or Ensemble in Leading or Supporting Role to raucous applause and loud belly laughs at the award ceremonies held Wednesday afternoon at the University of the Philippines.
The 27-year-old actress, who was honored for her role as a stressed-out nurse in Eduardo Roy, Jr.’s 2011 Cinemalaya entry “Bahay Bata”, recalled her humble beginnings in show business.
“Bago po ako makapag-artista, ang nasa isip ko lang po kasi ay makatulong ako sa pamilya ko, ang magtrabaho, saka po ang motivation ko dati ay makabili lang ako ng cellphone na may camera, masaya na po ako,” she confessed to a crowd composed mostly of students and faculty members at the Claro Recto Hall of the UP Faculty Center.
Diana, who displayed her flair for comedy during her six-year stint on the popular gag show “Bubble Gang”, had the audience in stitches several times as she thanked the YCC, her family, friends, producer Robbie Tan, and her manager, showbiz scribe Jojo Gabinete who, she said, still could not believe she won the award.
But what really brought the house down was Diana’s recollection of the controversy that made her a household name 10 years ago.
“Noong nasa showbiz na po ako, naalala ko na ang award lang na nakuha ko noon eh noong na-award ako ni Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos noong nagkaroon po ako ng kaso. Kung naaalala nyo po yung kasong kinasangkutan ko noon dahil sa indecent exposure noong nag-pictorial po ako para po sa FHM,” she recalled to a roar of laughter and wild applause.
She added that she was shocked to win the award that saw her defeat a formidable field composed of Arthur Acuña, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio and Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino for Loy Arcenas’ “Niño”, Tirso Cruz III, Raquel Villavicencio, Jennifer Sevilla and Edgar Allan Guzman for Jeffrey Jeturian’s “Bisperas,” Vincent Sandoval in his film, “Señorita” and Alfred Vargas for Zurich Chan’s “Teoriya.”
“Kasi po nakita n’yo naman sa pelikula wala po akong ginawa kung hindi maglakad ng maglakad tapos ako pa ang nanalo. Hindi po ba nakakapagod din naman ang maglakad ng maglakad?” she wisecracked.
She pointed out that facial expression is not the only way to convey a good performance.
“Pati po yung body language. Yun po yung isang bagay na nakita at inobserbahan sa pelikula at sa aking pagganap,” she surmised.
Diana is currently a third year Theater Arts student at Miriam College. Her studies have kept her out of the limelight for a while until she resurfaced in “Bahay Bata” last year.
After the ceremonies, Diana told Interaksyon that it was easy for her to accept “Bahay Bata” because she fell in love with the script and thought that women might be able to relate not just to her character but also to the other women depicted in the movie produced by Cinemalaya and Found Films.
In “Bahay Bata”, which also won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival in France this year, the actress plays Sarah, a nurse at an understaffed public maternity hospital who is forced to do a double shift on Christmas Day as she attends to expectant mothers in varying stages of labor.
With her YCC victory, Diana, who still possesses the knockout figure that continues to rank her among FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women for the last 10 years, hopes to be more visible again.
She revealed that GMA is lining up several projects for her but won’t confirm or deny the possibility of returning to “Bubble Gang”.
Despite their limited budgets, she is also looking forward to do more indie films. “Hindi naman po ako namimili ng role. Basta maganda lang ang istorya, gagawin ko,” she said.
“Libre naman po ang mangarap. Dahil po sa inspirasyong ibinigay ninyo sa akin nangangako po ako na hindi po ito ang una at huling award na matatanggap ko,” she vowed as she concluded her speech.
Other winners were Adolf Alix, Jr. for “Haruo” (Best Film), Rodolfo Vera for “Niño” (Best Screenplay), Dexter Dela Peña and Paul Marquez for “Teoriya” (Best Cinematography and Visual Design), Arnold Reodica, Christine Muyco and Jema Pamintuan for “Ang Sayaw Ng Daliwang Kaliwang Paa” (Best Sound and Aural Orchestration) and Charliebebs Gohetia for “Señorita” (Best Film Editing).
article source: interaksyon.com