For ‘grateful’ Nadine, triple triumph is for ‘all the dreamers like me’

Nadine Lustre won best actress awards at the 67th Famas Awards and the 42nd Gawad Urian Awards.

They say good things come in threes.

Until this year, Nadine Lustre had never won an acting trophy from an award-giving body. But in a span of three months, the 25-year-old star has managed to pick up three major recognitions: best performance at the 29th Young Critics Circle in March; best actress at the 67th Famas Awards in April; and another best actress award at the just concluded 42nd Gawad Urian Awards this week.

“I’m truly humbled,” Nadine, who collected the said awards for her performance in the 2018 romantic drama film “Never Not Love You,” told the Inquirer through an audio message.

She thanked her director Antoinette Jadaone and producer Dan Villegas, the staff behind the movie, and the people who “have been a big part of my life.” “I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of you,” she said.

Nadine likewise dedicated her recent string of achievements to her loyal supporters. “This goes out to all the dreamers like me who never stopped believing, no matter how impossible things appear,” said the actress, who already has a slew of music-related and popularity-based awards to her name.

“Keep moving forward,” stressed the actress, who portrayed a resolute management trainee, whose love for her “bratty” boyfriend (James Reid) gets tested by their diverging dreams and priorities in life.

Nadine Lustre won best actress awards at the 67th Famas Awards and the 42nd Gawad Urian Awards.

But her journey to success wasn’t easy, she related in a lengthy and rather poetically written post—which read like a confessional—in her Instagram account.

“For years, it felt like I was mindlessly walking on a dark, misty road, with my heart full of doubt and hopelessness,” wrote Nadine, who admitted that the prospect of failure scared her and that she has always wrestled with self-doubt. “Big dreams, I almost abandoned because of fear. We, people, are naturally allergic to the negatives that might occur in our lives.”

Eventually, she learned an indelible lesson that helped her cope with her niggling insecurities: success and failure go hand in hand.

“How do you know what good days are like if you have never had bad days? One can’t identify happiness without knowing sadness. If you haven’t failed your whole life, you wouldn’t know the feeling of sweet success,” she pointed out.

The actress continued: “And so, I have learned to conquer the bad and celebrate the good, keeping in mind that everything in life happens the way the universe orchestrates it.”

And the universe sure works mysteriously, Nadine mused. As someone who has questioned herself most of her life, her purpose could never be any clearer today.

“I swear, I gave up so many times. But for some reason, no matter how risky and impossible the road may seem, I needed to continue walking,” she said.