Young star learns to cry on cue–the hard way

YEN SANTOS almost quit the biz.

Young star Yen Santos, whose character Ysabel Espiritu in the soap “Pure Love” made her a household name, said she was once scolded by superiors for not being able to cry on cue.

Yen recalled how the production team of a previous drama show waited two hours for her to cry for one scene. “I did it eventually, but there were other crying scenes that I had more difficulty with,” she told the Inquirer. “To motivate me, they screamed at me using a lot of cuss words. I felt it was unnecessary.”

The 21-year-old said she almost quit acting because of that. “I thought maybe this profession wasn’t for me. Fortunately, I changed my mind; otherwise, I wouldn’t have landed the role of Ysabel.”

Yen first appeared in the reality program “Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Clash 2010.” In 2011, she was seen in the Kapamilya shows “Mutya” and “Growing Up.” She was also in the cast of “Pintada” (2012) and “Dugong Buhay” (2013). “I got to do several episodes of ‘Maalaala Mo Kaya.’ When I was told about the first one, I couldn’t believe it. I gladly accepted—I was finally given the chance to show what I can do as an actress.”

In “Pure Love,” Yen played Ysabel, a girl who was so affected by her boyfriend’s death that she tried to commit suicide.

She recently said of crying on cue: “There’s no technique to it. All you need is to understand what the character is going through. It helped that I attended an acting workshop.”

“Pure Love” ended on Friday. Yen will be in the cast of the coming soap, “Dream Dad,” also on ABS-CBN.