Julie Anne San Jose bares ‘more confident, stronger, braver’ side

Julie Anne San Jose/ARMIN P. ADINA

Kapuso sweetheart Julie Anne San Jose has so brilliantly portrayed the fictional character Maria Clara in the phenomenal hit television series “Maria Clara at Ibarra.” But she is shedding the sweet and demure persona for a new endeavor that has bared a new side of her.

The 30-year-old singer-actor-host, who rose to prominence as a child contestant in the “Popstar Kids” singing competition on TV in 2005, has been unveiled as the newest calendar girl for a popular Filipino liquor brand recently.

“I haven’t done anything like this before, so I wanna try something different. I wanna show a different side of me. I wanna show a more confident, a stronger, braver Julie Anne,” San Jose said at the event, a mini-concert for her where she entertained the crowd with several song numbers.

“This is the start of something new [for me]. It feels like a rebirth as a woman,” continued the Kapuso star, who essayed the role of “The Queen of Filipino Jazz” Katy de la Cruz in the period TV drama “Pulang Araw.”

“I’m proud that [they] chose me, along with past Ginebra Calendar Girls. Of course, we have Anne Curtis, Marian Rivera. [These women], they’re very exceptional in their own right. And I’m very, very honored to be part of this family,” continued San Jose.

San Jose further told INQUIRER.net that her recent endeavor is part of her life-long quest for personal development. “As an artist, I really like to portray different roles. I like to do different things. I like to innovate. I like to improve myself when it comes to my craft,” San Jose shared.

To be in the ranks of Rivera, Curtis, 2015 Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, among others, is “such a huge honor” for San Jose, she said. And her career milestone would not have been possible if it were not for those “who pushed me to do my best, who supported me, and made me feel comfortable and confident throughout the process.”

In the calendar layouts, San Jose appeared in depictions of popular works from some of the most well-renowned Filipino visual artists. And when asked how Maria Claria would have reacted to the calendars, San Jose quipped: “Diosmio!”