MANILA, Philippines — Angeli Gonzales traded her life in the limelight to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor.
Best known for her stint in teen comedy series “Luv U,” Gonzales marked a milestone after graduating medical school at De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute.
“Bakit nag-doctor ka pa, e artista ka na?”
This is what Gonzales gets asked every day, she said in a Facebook post Thursday. She said people always pointed out how tough medical school is, making her want to say: “Hoy! Mahirap din magartista ha!”
Her parents placed utmost importance on her education over her career as an actress, Gonzales said.
“I didn’t have a lot of teleseryes or movies because they only scheduled tapings and shoots during the weekends. May weekdays man, after school pa,” Gonzales recalled.
Apart from “Luv U,” Gonzales also played a handful of roles in “Maalaala Mo Kaya” and “Wansapanataym.” She was also part of comedy series “Home Along Da Riles” and romantic-comedy series “Got To Believe.”
“The cast and the production of every show I worked with understood that I had dreams outside of showbiz at lahat talaga sila inintindi kapag kailangan late call time ko kasi may pasok ako or kapag kailangan early pack-up ako kasi may exams ako the next day,” she said.
Apart from bringing a lot of lessons from her showbiz career, she said her stint as an actress also helped her finance her studies in medical school.
“My stint in showbiz taught me how to be confident, to be strong, and to be independent. All the experiences I had as an actress made me strong — strong enough to hold back tears, smile, and be the rock when my patients need me to be,” she said. “Thank you din kasi afford ko mag-Med dahil sa pinasweldo niyo sakin. Hahaha.”
While the journey to becoming a doctor and showbiz were both “draining,” Gonzales said what made her want to pursue this path was the happiness from the little things the job gave her.
“From getting called ‘doctora’ by my patients kahit di pa naman talaga, the kilig of holding an instrument for the first time, the yabang of being able to do something right multiple times, to being commended by my seniors, to the ‘med school wouldn’t be the same without you’ lines of my classmates and to the gratitude and smiles of my patients — all these moments made it all worth it,” she explained.
“The harder the experience, the more it humbled me. This is my “why”. Cliché, pero yun ang totoo. Kaya ako nag-doctor para sa mga pasyente ko. I wanted to become a doctor for my future patients,” she added.
Gonzales’ Facebook post has gone viral with over 87,000 likes and 18,000 shares, as of this posting. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)