At home in Eat, Bulaga!

In Philippine show business, the staying power of artists relies not only on their talent but also on their ability to reinvent themselves to suit the audience’s evolving taste. Julia Clarete is one such artist.

As co-host of Eat, Bulaga!, Julia admits she is now at a point in her life where she is most contented. With a supportive husband and an adorable one-year-old son to top her flourishing career as a TV host, Julia just couldn’t ask for anything more. “Being chosen as an Eat, Bulaga! co-host is the best thing that happened in my showbiz career. I felt like I won the jackpot prize in one of the program’s game segments. Eat, Bulaga! has really done wonders for me. It is here that I was able to unleash my other potentials. Before, my humor was just in my mind because I was basically a shy person. But being around these seasoned comedians really helped me become a TV host and a comedienne,” Julia shares.

Julia adds that she was naturally intimidated when she first joined the noontime show, but the good rapport and air of familiarity exuded by everybody in the studio quickly put her at ease. “At first I really was feeling my way around. I kept thinking that I was surrounded by veterans who are the smartest and most brilliant of their kind in the industry and that it was no joke to be around them. But eventually, I was able to absorb their brilliance through osmosis. I mean, their sense of humor is really contagious and I just found myself naturally absorbing their wit and hilarity. Now, I’ve really blended in and this show and everybody in it is already part of my system. Before I joined Eat, Bulaga!, I had 10 years of prior showbiz experience, but I never had the kind of confidantes that I have here in my Eat, Bulaga! family in all my previous years in the business. Here, I open up my life and my thoughts with my colleagues and with Tita Malou (Choa-Fagar), and they’re always willing to listen and give advice.”

Aside from being a TV host, Julia further satisfies her passion for performing in various singing gigs at night. She also writes her own songs, and when time allows and the opportunity comes she might start working on her next album. She is also a painter who has had several art exhibits in the past.