Ex-TV child star picks music

FROM left: Lara Maigue, Isabelle de Leon and Katrina Velarde

Former child star Isabelle de Leon is perhaps best known as Duday, Vic Sotto’s precocious daughter in the defunct sitcom “Daddy Di Do Du.”

Now a fledgling singer-songwriter, she is distancing herself from her

famous role, to be known simply as Isabelle. “I’m happy that more people are calling me by my [real] name,” she told the Inquirer at a press con for her coming TV5 show, “Trenderas” (Saturdays, 9 p.m.).

The 19-year-old said that as she matures, it’s but natural to want a clear vision of her artistic options.

“I’m indebted to that character [Duday], and that show was my launching pad,” said Isabelle, who also starred in the acclaimed 2003 film “Magnifico”—as a child with cerebral palsy. She won five Best Child Actress awards the next year.

Reunion with ‘dad’

She was reunited with her TV screen father, Vic, via a recent

appearance in the noontime variety show “Eat Bulaga!” “He was happy that I’m singing and writing songs,” she said.

Last seen in the ABS-CBN soap opera “Maria Mercedes,” Isabelle made her debut as a recording artist in 2013, with her first album, “LoveZone” (PolyEast Records).

Music lovers

The love for music was nurtured by her family, she said. “My father was in a band, my mother sings in church and my brother writes songs, too.”

She is serious about the craft: “I started writing at 16, and now I take voice lessons. I can play a little bit of drums, bass… and I plan to take up the piano.”

Still, acting will always be a part of her. She figured that “Trenderas” would be a great vehicle for her because it fuses comedy, drama and music. “I play a trinket vendor who hopes of becoming a singer one day.”

Also in the main cast are classically trained singer and composer Lara Maigue and “X Factor Philippines” alum Katrina Velarde. The three girls got to work with Superstar Nora Aunor in the show. “We were so nervous and starstruck!”

Isabelle said. “Good thing the scene required us to be… starstruck!”