Uma gets over a sad past

To know Uma Khouny is to accept him for what he is: candid and no-holds-barred. Others, like Big Brother or Kuya of ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother, may find the half-Filipino, half-Israeli’s ways abrasive at times. Thus, the reprimind on the air.

But still others take Uma’s frankness for sincerity and like him for that.

Uma knows this. And he realizes the Israeli culture for forthrightness doesn’t fit well in the Pinoy setup. So he’s learning to do as the Romans do.

"I’m learning to adjust," he says.

Uma is learning to tone down that commanding tone of his. In the liberal Israeli society where he grew up, people called a spade a spade. They didn’t resort to niceties the way Filipinos do in getting things done.

Uma now realizes the big difference. And he’s starting to relax and enjoy himself.

Uma arrived early at the presscon of his new horror-comedy movie with Rufa Mae Quinto, Marvin Agustin and others, Oh My Ghost!. The casually-dressed former PBB housemate warmed up to the press just as easily. He cracks jokes and is not as guarded about his private life as before.

He tells the press about how much he loves his half-sister Rose (she stays with him in the country).

Rose, Uma’s sister by his Filipina mom, is responsible for bringing him back to the Philippines for the first time since he was born. She even has a bit role in Oh My Ghost!

The siblings are the best of friends. But Uma, in his patented no-holds-barred stance, admits his relationship with his mother is distant. The Leyte-born mom left Uma a day he was born and has practically cut his ties from her.

"I call her Tita. We have not communicated yet," he says matter-of-factly. But this doesn’t mean he holds a grudge against his mom for abandoning him soon after he was born.

Even then, Uma has outgrown whatever ill feelings he has over his mom.

"I have no resentment towards her," he relates.

After all, you have no reason to sulk when luck is on your side.

Less than a year since PBB, Uma has chalked up quite a list of TV credits on ABS-CBN. He has appeared with friend and fellow PBB housemate Cass Ponti in Pinoy Big Brother Drama Special, Komiks (in the episode Blusang Itim), Your Song, the weekly gag show Gudtaym, PBB Reunion, guest stints on Game KNB, Homeboy and others.

Uma is also working on other Agent X-44, a humorous take on the career of Tony Ferrer. Vhong Navarro and Camille Prats headline the comedy spoof.

And with his underdog role in Oh My Ghost! Uma is challenged to play a role totally different from who he is in real life.

In terms of product endorsements, Uma feels equally blessed. He is pitching for Penshoppe and Executive Optical.

So why dwell over a sad past? Uma himself says he gets along well with his Israeli stepmom . He’s getting all the breaks he needs. It’s time Uma moves on. And thank goodness, he’s doing just that.