One good role deserves another

Need the artistic elbow room to show what more he can do.

WHEN “My Binondo Girl” started telecasting last year, we were struck by the strong Chinoy component of its supporting cast, which acquitted itself well in key roles and thus made the drama series’ China and Chinatown contexts winningly believable.

We were particularly impressed with the performance of the then unknown actor who played the plum role of Kim Chiu’s Taipan father. We learned that he was Richard Yap, a businessman who was relatively new at the acting game. Despite his lack of experience, however, he was completely credible in his role. In fact, he did even better than Ai Ai delas Alas, who played his wife.

We wrote about Richard’s fine portrayal several times and he expressed his gratitude for the positive reviews. We said he should do more acting because one good role clearly deserves another, and he intimated that he was being prepped for another teleserye appearance, but couldn’t give any specifics just yet.

Recently, we watched “Walang Hanggan” and were pleased to see Richard make his follow-up appearance on it. This time, he’s cast in the smaller, but still potentially pivotal role of the “avenging” Dawn Zulueta’s collaborator and close associate. We trust that the new role will give the actor the artistic elbow room he needs to show what more he can do.

The good thing about Richard’s new role is the fact that he plays a character surnamed De Dios—a Pinoy, not a Chinoy. If he does well in the role, it could enable him to escape the onus of typecasting that has limited the casting and career prospects of some otherwise credible actors in the biz. So, that’s all to the good.

We like it when mature, “new” talents like Richard make it, because many veteran character actors who are cast as wealthy and powerful men don’t look believable and often resort to stereotypical “Don Agaton” acting, complete with pencil-thin mustache, cigarette-holder, paisley smoking jacket, and fake hacendero accent.

Now that the likes of Richard Yap have come into the picture, those key characters’ wealth and power have become palpable and acutely true, no longer just the shallow, hollow products of ritualized pose and pretense.

Young acting find

Need the artistic elbow room to show what more he can do.

Another young acting find who should be given another challenging and potentially star-making role soonest is Martin del Rosario. He played the teen lead in “E-Boy” and made a really good impression with his textured and insightful portrayal. Unfortunately, his character grew up and was taken over in maturity by Ariel Rivera, so we couldn’t continue to enjoy Martin’s portrayal as much as we wanted to.

So, we’re hoping that ABS-CBN is aware of the unusual talent it has in Martin, and will soon be casting him in a new thespic showcase that will enable him to come into his own as one of the most genuinely promising actors of his generation.

Why use up much effort and time to build up this or that less-than-outstanding bet when a proven talent is just waiting to be properly showcased?