Even he is surprised. "Nakakabigla talaga," acknowledges Arnold, who played the lead roles of two major musicals: St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos, and Ryan Cayabyab’s Noli, where he played Crisostomo Ibarra. Frankly, confesses Arnold, he is surprised that after all this time, he is finally nailing the lead roles that always seemed to elude him before, and not only that, he is earning rave reviews for them, and from legitimate theater critics to boot!
But Arnold is no stranger to theater. He was introduced to it in 1991 when a certain Mr. Ang, his college professor at Centro Escolar University (where Arnold was then pursuing a degree in Mass Communications), invited him to audition for a production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at the Metropolitan Theater.
And so, with absolutely no theater training at all, Arnold decided to show up at the auditions. Surprisingly, he made it. That initial success touched off his love affair with the stage. After The Glass Menagerie, he appeared in several plays, including the original run of Once On This Island and plays mounted by Harlequin, the theater group of De La Salle University.
But what Arnold thought was a promising start in theater quickly fizzled out. He got stuck playing minor roles, and it took a while before he finally realized what the problem was. The whole time, he had been relying on something other than talent, specifically, his looks to carry him through. As they like to say in Tagalog, "dinaan sa gandang lalaki".
The turning point came when Arnold auditioned for an ensemble part in Miss Saigon and was rejected for it. Painful though it was, it helped him realize what was bugging him. "I wasn’t that serious with my craft then, that’s why I wasn’t growing as an actor. When I auditioned for Miss Saigon in 1993, that’s when I realized looks are not enough. You really need talent to last long in the business."
In 1994, the pop group BoyzVoyz came along and temporarily halted Arnold’s budding theater career. But the group didn’t last long, since Arnold Guico and RJ Marcaida left for personal reasons (one to migrate to the US, the other, to help out in their family business). Although Arnold was sad that the group had to break up, he welcomed the opportunity, because it gave him a chance to finally become more serious about improving his craft as an actor.
He started taking up singing lessons with Raymond Roldan of the UP College of Music. As for the acting, he began watching as many movies and theater plays as he could, paying careful attention to the nuances of acting. "I observed how they attacked their roles," he explains.
For Arnold, it’s been a pleasant surprise to discover he can act. The moral of the story is that you can do and be anything, as long as you set your mind to it. "My problem then was that that I only relied on my looks. Di ako nag-seryoso, at saka hindi ako naging consistent sa theater. Back then, I really thought I will be a matinee idol. I even tried to audition on That’s Entertainment," laughs Arnold. "Maybe, had I taken theater seriously back then, I would have gone far."
But of course, like they say, better late than never. Now, Arnold is clear on what he wants to do and where he wants to go. He even has a clear-cut idea of his goal. He’d like to use the training he’s gotten in theater to cross over and establish a career as movie actor. In this, he hopes to become like Pen Medina or Irma Adlawan, both theater actors who are also in the mainstream entertainment scene, appearing on movies and television.
"That’s my dream, to be able to cross over from theater to movies and TV," says Arnold. "I also want to stay long in the business and be respected as an actor. I’m willing to work hard. Ready akong pagtrabahuhan ang gusto kong ma-achieve."