LIST: Pinay Thalia

Jessy Mendiola. Erich Gonzales. Carla Abellana. Marian Rivera.

Mid 90s, (I mean 1990s not 2090s), when Mexican sensation Thalia was a phenomenon in the Philippines. She hit the Filipino fans via Marimar. It is a timeless rags to riches telenovela with high speed pacing, which is something new to the Philippines where drama series run for years.

Marimar, Maria Mercedes, Maria la del Barrio and Rosalinda peaked their ratings at their times. This prompted Philippine Networks to have those telenovelas as launching and relaunching vehicles for the groomed next-prime stars.

1. Carla Abellana. Right straight from commercial modelling, Carla played title lead Rosalinda. Her popularity did quite take off from there. She went on to appear with lead and shared lead roles to forgettable projects. She does not have super hit movies but got the approval of critics an actress in her performances in My Neighbor's Wife and a Shake Rattle en Roll edition. She got nominated for that latter's one episode for her role as tutor at a funeraria, instead of Jennylyn Mercado in her full length epic drama vehicle, Rosario.

Most people may not likely remember her now as Rosalinda because she'll be most recognized as Lally in her most successful teleserye My Husband's Lover.

2. Erich Gonzales. Already a established loveteam from Katorse, Tanging Yaman and small films, Maria La Del Barrio was assigned to Enchong and Erich as adult project. This also ruled on their signature early primetime slot.

 

3. Jessy Mendiola. After appearing in string of lead roles, her network wished to put her on the next level to skyrocket her as one of the network's queens. They thought Maria Mercedes would. The series was cut short, quite unexpected because of the low ratings. She was also an upset in league of good actresses in the network.

4. Marian Rivera. Wherever the Filipinos put Thalia at Marimar's craze, that's where Marian Rivera's stature was elevated - only longer or even higher. And the rest is history.

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As the next Thalia, lead actresses were required to perform her mexican vibe in dancing.

Jessy's Story

I hardly catch the "ikaw na" segment of Bandila which is the entertainment portion of the news program. Every night, Boy Abunda does a one on one interview with a showbusiness personality. He had Jessy Mendiola as his guest, promoting for the film the reunion.

I know that it's a few-minute interview but they were able to deal with how Jessy gets to be discovered. What she had shared was an concise version of the story. It was simply Mr. M seeing him in the ABS CBN area by chance. The offer to be part of Star Magic was that easy and she even asked for days to respond.

I'm sure that there are also difficulties which were not mentioned due to time constraints. Definitely, it was not as hard as what others have to go through. It is to be observed most reality searches have mostly same contestants, where aspirants have to find where their luck would be.

Two of the most difficult journeys to star stature that I read were of Bea Alonzo's and Coco Martin. Their stories were featured in Star Studio Magazine on different issues. Bea's climb to success was very interesting. She had to join barangay beauty contest, take up workshops class for months. She underwent those despite hard life that she had. 

Learning about Coco Martin's story was equally noteworthy. He had his first try with showbiz. He finished school and went back afterwards through independent films. There was also a time he had to migrate as undocumented worker in a country where he attended a film festival. Finally, he made it to stardom. One great factor in his journey was having his previous manager on his side. 

Today, Jessy is one of the upcoming princess taking strings of major roles in Kapamilya telesryes and now in star Cinema movie. The Reunion is quite interesting. It even pays tribute to Eraserheads music. The director must be of my age to appreciate the band. With diverse personalities that make up the cast - Xian Lim, Kean Cipriano, Enchong Dee and Enrique Gil, I understand that the intention was to come up with different barkada movie and not to have another Bagets film.

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Neutral. Let see Jessy if she can stay longer in the industry. People are yet to see the Reunion movie to decide whether it meets the promise. From there, we'll see it's an upgrade or downgrade.