Don’t go the ‘kontrabida’ route

ONCE in a while, promising talents request our assistance in planning their moves to more successfully achieve their dream of stardom.

Our response? First off, we urge them to honestly and objectively evaluate their plus and minus points relative to “the competition” (existing stars already loved by the viewing public). In other words, what do the new talents have that’s different from what current faves already offer?

Eighty percent of the time, successful new stars are exceptionally good-looking. If you aren’t beautiful or handsome enough to excite and delight viewers, don’t force the issue—and more realistically think about developing your performing skills in the alternative areas of singing, dancing, comedy and “character” acting.

A major caveat for long-running stellar careers: Don’t agree to play kontrabida roles early in the game, because that’s going to typecast you in a big way—especially if you turn out to be good at it!

A few stars are accepted by viewers in occasional villain roles later in their careers, but for relative newcomers, don’t go there!

Another major decision early in a starlet’s career is his evaluation of how badly he wants or needs to perform.

This is called hilig, and it has to be there to an intense degree, so that the newbie can “take” all of the many disappointments, frustrations and low blows that “the industry” loves to dish out (walang personalan).

With intense hilig, you could succeed—without it, no way that it’s going to happen, so don’t go there, either. There are many less daunting fields you could be happier in, so—go for that, instead!

However, if you insist that you’re happiest only when you’re sharing your talent with other people, you should realize that there’s a big difference between being a good performer and becoming a star.

Stardom doesn’t just require exceptional beauty and/or talent, but also the undefinable charisma that makes viewers “fall in love” with a chosen star.

PIA WURTZBACH

Yes, looks have a lot to do with it, but many beautiful starlets fall short of stardom because that’s all they have!

Real stars captivate, mystify and excite viewers because they are personally affected by them. For a talent to have this special effect on many people, he or she has to be unique and true to him or herself.

The prospective star doesn’t need to fully understand how he or she is able to effect that magical bond with many others, he or she just has to be true to his or her personal essence.

Yes, performing is a world of make-believe and artifice, but those technical gambits work only up to a point.

What clinches a talent’s stellar “contract” with the audience is this personal commitment that the star effects in the deeply felt portrayals he or she comes up with.

Finally, prospective stellar comers should accept the fact that, even after planning and doing everything “right,” stardom can still turn out to be an elusive dream. What to do in that discouraging instance?

They should take their cue from Pia Wurtzbach’s “retroactive” success story—and, like her, never quit, never say die, and never say never!

Pia first tried to become a star via the usual show biz route, but didn’t quite make it there. She then went the beauty pageant route, and failed twice, before she finally became Miss Universe.

If she had lost heart at any point, her story’s happy ending would never have happened!