Shaina Magdayao: I’m not the type who plays around

Shaina Magdayao

“I’ve long stopped looking for the perfect guy, just the perfect timing,” declared Shaina Magdayao, who has been “loveless” for six years now.

Work has kept the 28-year-old actress from getting back on the dating scene—but she’s not complaining.

“I’m always offered something I can’t say no to; so maybe there’s a reason why I’m still single,” she said.

Shortly after the seven-month run of “The Better Half,” Shaina is again seen on TV as one of the lead characters in the afternoon series “Asintado.” She is also part of two new films: Lav Diaz’s “Ang Panahon ng Halimaw” and Pepe Diokno’s “Single/Single, The Movie.”

“There’s a perfect timing for everything. Apparently, now is not the time for love [for me], because I still need to prioritize work,” Shaina stressed. “Besides, I’m used to being alone now. I’m enjoying the freedom of not having to answer to any partner.”

Shaina dated fellow Kapamilya artist John Lloyd Cruz for two years before calling it quits in April 2012.

“I told myself that the next time I enter a relationship, I have to be whole. Only then can I share myself with that person because I’d be overflowing,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been working on the past few years. It’s something that I pray for, as well.”

The actress added: “I’m not the type who would play around. I don’t want to waste my time. I’ll just wait patiently for love to come to me as I focus on doing more meaningful things. When I was younger, I used to look for specific qualities in a guy. Now, I just want somebody who will love me and my family, someone who is decent and God-fearing. I don’t go for looks anymore.”

Now that she’s older, Shaina said she had also stopped being picky with the roles she portrayed. In fact, she doesn’t mind playing a villainess to Julia Montes’ character in “Asintado.”

“I have now come to a point in my life when I no longer care, as long as I have work. I’ve never played a role that’s darker than this,” she said of her character Samantha del Mundo. “It took me a month to
develop the character.”

Shaina said there were times in the beginning when she had to retake several scenes because her director, Onat Diaz, felt that she “still looked too nice to be a kontrabida.”

“Playing Samantha is difficult. I had to increase the level of my acting 10 times,” she recalled. “I’m now enjoying being her. I get to release pent-up emotions, something that I didn’t get to do with my previous roles. It took time and effort, but they were all worth it.”

“Asintado,” which Diaz codirects with Lino Cayetano, also features Paulo Avelino, Aljur Abrenica, Lorna Tolentino, Agot Isidro and Nonie Buencamino.