Valdes in “Huwag Kang Mangamba”
What’s best about these young actors is that they’re humble enough to listen to advice,” said veteran actress Eula Valdes when asked to describe what it’s like to work with The Gold Squad members Andrea Brillantes, Seth Fedelin, Francine Diaz and Kyle Echarri in the fantasy-drama series “Huwag Kang Mangamba.”
“I’m glad that ABS-CBN trained them well. You will see this in how they behave on the set. They really show respect to coactors who are older than them,” Eula told reporters during a recent virtual media gathering to promote the program that is currently streaming on the Kapamilya Channel.
Wisdom
“Unlike others their age, who wouldn’t bother to mingle with the more senior cast members, these four seem to enjoy talking with us,” Eula observed. “I noticed that whenever they would catch us chatting, they would join and listen. They seem to know that wisdom can be found in these conversations. They’re aware that this is what they need in order to successfully hurdle the challenges that would come their way in this business.”
Eula described the quartet as a group of “old souls.” She said they would listen to and appreciate songs that were popular even before they were born. “Some of these are songs of my generation, too,” she said. “Also, Blythe (Andrea’s nickname) is so cute when she uses her tiny voice, which turns out to be her natural speaking voice. Generally, I just love being around them. They’re not only talented but are also very professional.”
Eula Valdes
Turning serious, Eula then recalled that it had been a year since she experienced anxiety attacks after she got exposed to “Love Thy Woman” costar Christopher de Leon, who tested positive for COVID-19 but later recovered.
Anxiety
“Our last taping day for the show was March 14 (2020). The government imposed the lockdown the following day. Feeling the uncertainty, that’s when I began experiencing anxiety attacks. I worried about how long the pandemic would last and what would happen to us,” Eula recalled. “These days, we all just learned to adapt to it. We have resumed work and would simply take care of ourselves to ensure that we don’t get infected.
“We resumed work for ‘Love Thy Woman’ last July. While I’m happy that I haven’t stopped working since, I’m also sad that we’re experiencing this crisis. Going to work helped so much when it came to dealing with my anxiety,” she shared. INQ