Will Vhong commit marriage again?

Vhong Navarro is smiling from ear to ear these days because after a three-year wait his wish to be single again has been finally granted.

The Court of Appeals recently affirmed the decision of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 102 annulling Vhong’s marriage to Bianca Lapuz due to her incapacity to perform marital obligations and duties. Bianca, in a testimony given by the former couple’s psychiatrist Dr. Noel Reyes, has a Mixed Type Personality Disorder. They were married in civil rights on Jan. 20, 1998 in Pampanga.

Another reason why Vhong feels happy, too, is that he is playing Nicolas for the upcoming ABS-CBN teleserye titled I Love Betty La Fea starring Bea Alonzo.  With belly-aching roles he has portrayed in the past, one can’t take him too seriously. But the goofy mannerisms, the knack for injecting funny lines in perfect timing and the physical appearance of every character he portrays on the big and small screens are  serious undertakings for Vhong. He prepares long and hard without complaining a bit, always keeping in mind what the audience must see — the character, not the actor.

In the local version of Betty La Fea, Vhong plays best friend Nicolas to Bea’s Betty. It makes the comedian  feel excited and tense at the same time. And it’s not because Nicolas is not as cool as Mr. Suave, as witty as Lastikman or as quick and alert as Agent X-44. It’s just that Vhong’s nerdy Nicolas is known worldwide.

“I am happy to be part of this (teleserye). It is also my first time to be working with Bea and some of the cast. I am really preparing for this,” Vhong offers. “All are excited and look forward to seeing the Pinoy version. I just hope my portrayal as Nicolas will be as endearing as the ones who played it in other countries,” Vhong continues.

A copy of the original Betty La Fea from Colombia, Vhong shares, is one essential tool for him to get Nicolas in his system. From head to foot, Vhong must  emulate the character well. This way, he can display a striking resemblance to the character. “But I will still be adding my own style to get that Pinoy flavor,” Vhong adds.

What initially bothers Vhong are the braces he should wear and the heavy gel he has to put on his hair.

“Isn’t it hard  to have something on your teeth? My hair there (pointing at the poster) is harder than I had in Lastikman. But I now slowly get used to them with matching suspenders and that unusual attire that completes my nerdy look.”

Taping for the series has not yet started but the cast is done with the pictorials, without him revealing who shall play Betty’s boss Armando.

Vhong doesn’t mind what other people say about his looks, whether he is in a formal or outlandish get-up. That, he says, helped him get more comedic roles when he started acting in front of the cameras.

“It really doesn’t matter. I started out in gay, funny roles and it was just lately that I did matinee idol or agent roles. I think the audience misses me in my witty roles so I’m just bringing back what I used to do before,” he stresses.

He, too, won’t mind if one of his two children, Frederick Vhong, 12, and Isaiah Vhong, 10, shows signs of following in his footsteps. But what Vhong really wants for now is for his children to finish school, something he never did when he decided to try his luck in the local entertainment scene. Vhong started as one of the members of Streetboys, an all-male dance group in the ’90s. Yet the love for dancing still shows whenever he performs every Sunday on ASAP ’08.

“We still get in touch until now and talk about our plans. We wish to perform once again in a major show the way we did in Japan and Guam. Music Museum is a good venue to do it,” Vhong relates.

Vhong also looks forward to reprising his role as Lastikman on the Kapamilya network and doing a new movie with direk Chito Roño titled Spirit Warriors. Vhong will also star in a comedy movie under Malaysian director to be shot in Taiwan in August.

“But before that, I’ll be in London end of July for TFC fiesta,” Vhong says.

Does Vhong plan to reinvent himself as a dramatic actor?

“I dream of playing bida-kontrabida roles like that of Nicolas Cage in Face-off or starring in something like Psycho. Yes, I’m willing and ready but the question is, are people ready for my reinvention?” Vhong replies.