Rhian Ramos lets her guard down

There’s something about the informality of chance meetings or spontaneous interviews that makes it easier for celebrities to lower their guard. Away from the corporate or studio-arranged setups, actors are more straightforward and less guarded with their answers—as our recent quick chat with Rhian Ramos demonstrates.

Two weeks ago, our flight to Davao was delayed by boarding and takeoff problems—but, the inconvenience quickly became a stellar window of opportunity when we bumped into the then similarly Mindanao-bound Rhian Ramos, who shot the breeze with us as we waited for our plane to take off.

At interviews, the lovely actress often appears too “cool and collected” for her own good, cleverly eluding sensitive questions with carefully articulated answers.

At the airport, however, Rhian was relaxed and bracingly less guarded, occasionally volunteering potentially social media-fodder information, like telling us in confidence whom she’s supporting for the upcoming presidential race next year, or allowing her refreshing sense of humor to come through as she talked about her pet peeves—among them, fans who want their picture taken with her, then ask her who she is! With a grin, she has a ready answer: Rhian Agoncillo. —Get it?

Nerve-wracking scene

What was significant about her first team-up with Piolo Pascual in Jeffrey Hidalgo and Roy Ho’s suspense-thriller, “Silong” (opening on Wednesday, Sept. 16), which capped off last month’s Cinemalaya festival? She shares, “I coproduced it with Piolo and some other friends. We shot it for nine days, on and off. It was more challenging than my other dramas because I did my first love scene in it—it was nerve-wracking!”

These days, Rhian cohosts the racing and motoring show, “Full Throttle,” with DJ Sam YG on the History channel. She also has another indie in the can, “Saving Sally,” an inventive fusion of live action and animation about a woman (Ramos) “whose boyfriend is a louse (TJ Trinidad).” She has also diversified as a restaurateur—she coowns the Bank Bar at the RCBC building in the BGC area.

If she weren’t an actress, what would the 24-year-old star be doing now? Is she extravagant? Ramos muses, “I’d be designing furniture. I’m smart with money—when I buy something, I pay for it the same day through online banking.”

Six years ago, Rhian recorded the single, “You.” Does she like singing? Her eyes twinkled as she began to laugh: “I talk as little as possible about it—but, my fans always use that recording to poke fun at me!”