Theater’s Carla Guevara-Laforteza wants to cross over to TV

CARLA Guevara-Laforteza

While theater is her bread and butter, singer-actress Carla Guevara-Laforteza said she is eyeing other avenues of acting—television, most especially.

Given the opportunity, she would love to take on a regular role in a teleserye, which she believes will pose a good challenge to her.

“I have great respect for skilled television and movie actors who can cry or do heavy scenes on the spot. And this despite doing the sequences in random order,” Carla told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

“In theater, we get the benefit of having emotional buildup because things unfold chronologically,” explained Carla, who had a recurring role in the hit soap, “Be Careful with My Heart.”

Carla, an ensemble member, as well as an understudy for the roles of Kim and Gigi, in the West End staging of “Miss Saigon” from 1995 to 1997, pointed out that although she does occasionally land television gigs, she tends to play the same characters—doctors, lawyers, professionals—because of her fluency in English.

“I’m open to doing any kind of role, but of course it would be a plus if I get something different, to expand my range further. For some reason, some people think I can’t speak in Filipino!” quipped the artist, whose first foray into a musical in the vernacular was Peta’s “Three Stars and a Sun” early this year.

What’s stopping her from appearing more regularly on television, Carla said, is her schedule. Not one to do things half-baked, she makes it a point to devote her time and effort on three projects at most.

Carla is in the ongoing run of Peta’s “Rak of Aegis,” as Kapitana Mary Jane, and in Repertory Philippines’ “Hansel and Gretel,” in which she will play Rosina the Witch, beginning on Aug. 13 at the OnStage in Greenbelt 1.

Is there any particular actor she wants to work with, if ever? “Piolo Pascual!” Carla blurted out, without skipping a beat. “He’s a friend. I was actually supposed to do the 2000 film, ‘Lagarista,’ with him. But it was too sexy for me. Plus, I got pregnant. The role went to Janna Victoria,” she related.

Carla admitted that television is the more lucrative endeavor; offers pour in whenever she does mainstream projects. And if it were money and fame she was truly after, she would’ve probably gone on that path. But her heart is firmly in theater. “It’s my passion,” she said.

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