Pretty Little Liars’ Troian Bellisario keeps it real

MANILA, Philippines - Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario had no idea that she has a loyal following in the Philippines until she tweeted that she was coming over and suddenly, she was swamped with greetings from her excited Pinoy fans.

“I found out that I really have awesome fans in the Philippines the moment I mentioned that I’ll be going over and Twitter like exploded. People were like ‘We can’t wait to have you here, we’re so excited.’ Filipinos have been tweeting me a lot about great things here. I know that the fans here are awesome,”Bellisario, who plays smart girl Spencer Hastings in the series, told the The STAR in an interview on Wednesday.

Bellisario and her boyfriend Patrick Adams of TV series Suits breezed in town last Tuesday for a meet and greet with fans and a little R&R.

Pretty Little Liars, which airs on etc every Saturday at 8 p.m (match aired with the US), premiered on ABC Family in June 2010 and has since gained a massive following both in the US and countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Now on its fourth season, Pretty Little Liars has captured viewers in Asia and even in Malaysia, a conservative Muslim country.

In the Philippines, the teen mystery thriller drama is one of etc’s most watched series that has consistently topped primetime ratings since it aired last year.

Bellisario said she’s not baffled that a lot of Filipinos and Singaporeans like Pretty Little Liars but what surprised her was the positive reception of Malaysian Muslims to the show.

“We were just in Kuala Lumpur the other day and it’s interesting how they like the show. I mean it’s entertaining and all but they are conservative. Then I learned that they edit a lot of the show to suit them but still I find that very interesting. The show is representing the Americans but I think it represents only a small amount of Americans. I also found out that the show is very popular here, so thank you. I also enjoy the show much as you enjoy Pretty Little Liars,” Bellisario said.

Pretty Little Liars is based on a series of young-adult novels of the same title, written by Sara Shepard, about a group of popular girls — Hanna (Ashley Benson), Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell) and Spencer (Belissario) — whose best friend and image-maker, Alison, goes mysteriously missing.

The series then follows the adventure of the four buddies as they investigate the disappearance of Alison. As they probe what really happened to her and the secrets she left behind, they start receiving cryptic threats from a mysterious tormentor named “A” who knows all their personal secrets. At first, they thought it was Alison herself, but after she was found dead, the girls realized that someone else knows their secrets.

Fans note that Pretty Little Liars has undertones of Gossip Girl on it — with the existence of a BlackBerry observer that seems to know the girls’ every move, still, they like Pretty Little Liars because it is a welcome respite from vampire-themed teen drama series in the US today.

Asked how much of herself is Spencer in real life, Bellisario said they do have similarities and differences but she’d rather discourage young girls from emulating Spencer because she makes a lot of bad decisions in the series. Spencer is a straight-A student and overachiever from a family that expects the best.

Bellisario said playing Spencer is indeed very challenging.

“Spencer and I, we’re pretty similar in that we’ve been both through a lot of pressure. We’re both intellectual people and we want to control a lot of situations but I know that I have a lot more life experience than Spencer. The challenge of playing her is to remember how’s it like living with your parents under one roof and how’s it like when you were in high school because that phase in your life is just so confusing, it’s a time when you’re still trying to figure yourself out when you’ve already thought you’ve figured yourself out,” Bellisario said.

She said she didn’t expect to land the role of Spencer when she auditioned three years ago.

“It’s funny because after I finished college, I moved to New York to do film and theater. I got a call from my agent for the audition and I was hesitant because I know what kind of girls they want, I know what they’re looking for. I said, ‘No way, they’re not gonna choose me.’ But I got a callback and they told me just to put more make-up and so I did that, I did my hair for an hour and put makeup than I ever wore. When I walked in, the show’s producer Marlene King totally wrote me off, and told me, you’re not our girl, but after I auditioned and showed them my acting. Marlene said, “Ok, she’s Spencer, I was shocked but glad that I got the role,” Bellisario recounted.

No stranger to acting, Bellisario has been doing bit parts when she was four years old and both her parents are veteran showbiz executives.

Although Bellisario’s parents did not forbid her to act, they wanted her to finish her studies first. In fact, they were very supportive, she said, allowing her to take up acting in college.

After getting a degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Theatre, Bellisario immediately moved to New York to try out in Broadway.

“In college, that was when I felt that acting is the one I really wanted because I got to be my true self, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Bellisario said.

Before Pretty Little Liars, she had a recurring role in the television series NCIS and guest starring parts in First Monday, JAG and Quantum Leap, among others. She was seen in the theatrical motion picture Last Rites, as well as independent films Peep World, Consent and Billboard Dad.

On theater, she appeared in Farragut North and Equivocation at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

Then came Pretty Little Liars and there’s no turning back since then. Bellisario even received a Teen Choice Award in 2012 for Choice Summer TV Star for her role as Spencer.

Bellisario said filming takes a lot of her time but she makes it a point to do the things that makes her happy.

“We film for nine months, Monday to Friday from sun up to sun down but on the free time I get, I hang out with friends, hike and do some nature tripping, and most especially, I write,” she said.

She also likes to spend time with her boyfriend Patrick and while in the Philippines, she said they would visit a very beautiful beach.

Despite the glitz and the dizzying fast-paced life in Hollywood, Bellisario said she wants to keep things “real.”

The Hollywood machine can make the most talented actor jaded and disillusioned to the point that some who can’t handle the fame monster become train wrecks. Bellisario is aware of the Hollywood machine and what it can do to an artist.

“Hollywood is a challenging place, it’s very easy for people to lose their heads. Fortunately, I grew up on it and I think I have a little bit of a headstart.  I can tell if I’m being lied to or manipulated, a little better than most. It’s definitely an advantage for me. It’s very difficult, because it’s a quick industry. It’s based on the first time they see you, they categorize you into something and then they sell you into something. Some people get caught up in that and it’s difficult to get out. It’s difficult to hold on to who you really are and you don’t want to become what they want you to become,” Bellisario explained.

And yet for all of Hollywood’s flaws, she said it is still a place that allows people to be themselves — it gives actors opportunities to muster the courage to break from the mold and show their true talent.

“What Hollywood truly wants is for people to be themselves. I think what it’s designed for is to kind of turn people into something and just make them saleable. But what it really stands for, what it really loves, are people who are unafraid to be themselves and as you can see these are people who are excelling in their careers,” she shared.

Bellisario feels fortunate that her show Pretty Little Liars is popular and successful but she said she will never let the show’s popularity get into her head, much less, withhold her from the things that she likes to do.

“I think, I’m really fortunate that my show is popular but I definitely want to hold on to what I want to do in this world — what is me, in the midst of this wild rollercoaster that is Pretty Little Liars,” Bellisario said.