The treasures of Rhian

The primetime drama Genesis marks several firsts for Rhian Ramos. In her second soap opera this year after the epic-serye Indio, Rhian plays opposite Dingdong Dantes as they try to survive in a dystopian world that’s about to meet its demise. Genesis is an original and groundbreaking series that takes the audience on an emotional and inspiring journey towards a new beginning, and the weight of this project is not lost on Rhian.

“It’s the first sci-fi that we’re having in this country. I’m also happy to be part of it. But because it’s the first, it’s also difficult to pull off. Kasi, being Filipinos, we need our drama,” she said.

Genesis also marks her first mother role. It’s an unusual role for the young actress, who is only 23 years old and Rhian sees this project as an opportunity to do something new.

“In fact, if you asked me to play a mother role four years ago, I would have said yes. Because it was offered now, I said, ‘Finally, something new!’,” Rhian enthused.

“I think, when you’re acting, you’re looking for what’s new kasi may tendency to be typecast. So I’m very happy to do this,” she added.

Perhaps Rhian gets her enthusiasm from her newfound optimism. As her fans know, the Kapuso star has a number of personal trials a few years ago. Her life’s most treasured moment now, Rhian shared, is when she had a shift from being pessimistic to being optimistic around two years ago or so.

“I can’t really tell which moment it was when everything changed. But there was just a time when I began to feel free,” she said.  “It’s like one day I saw the world completely different. But it changed everything for me.”

“I just feel different. And every day I get better and better at being happy. I’ve perfected it,”Rhian shared.

Here are the other treasures of Rhian’s life:

Most treasured person: “Everyone else is gonna kill me and make selos,” Rhian said before saying her life’s most treasured person is her sister, Nadine.

Rhian explained, “I feel like she’s my big sister and my little sister at the same time. I’m very protective over her, pero I learn so much from her. She’s more mature than me!”

They don’t really get a lot of opportunities to spend time with each other, although the Genesis star wants “everything to be perfect” for her sister. Rhian was picked by Nadine to be her maid-of-honor in her wedding, and the actress made sure their bachelorette party in Thailand was a blast.

Most treasured thing: The actress could not pinpoint a specific material thing she considers as her most treasured, but there’s one thing she currently values the most.

“I really, really appreciate my privacy,” Rhian said. “I love being alone in my room and not doing anything and just being MIA (missing in action) or AWOL.”

It’s not that she’s a recluse or anti-social. Rather, Rhian merely wants to enjoy the one thing she rarely gets as a public figure.

“Because so much of my time is spent in front of people, it feels good to be alone sometimes,” she explained.

Most treasured place: It’s been “years and years and years ago” since she’s been there, but Rhian considers New York City as her most treasured travel destination.

“It’s somewhere na I always thought I wanted to live,” she said. Rhian described New York as “busy and full of life.”

Again, she can’t think of particular places she loves the most in New York, saying she loves how the whole city is diverse and colorful. For instance, she said Times Square is “busy and dirty and bright” while Central Park is “quiet and peaceful.”

“New York is full of dreamers and go-getters — people who work hard to get what they need or to get what they want. I just want to be around those people,” she said.

Most treasured advice: Her life’s most valued advice she recently got from Genesis co-director, Bb. Joyce Bernal.

The advice: “‘I have to accept people for who they are so that they don’t hurt me.”

It’s an advice that Rhian heeds in order to avoid further disappointments in life. “Sometimes kasi, it’s wrong to expect people to be a certain way. So when you figure it out for yourself na, they’re not that way, you won’t be disappointed,” she said.

Most treasured Kapuso moment: Rhian admitted it was during a specific scene in her 2008 soap opera La Lola wherein she felt she was a real actress, prior to that, she was just “faking it.”

“I was working on this one scene and I understood what it was like to be acting. Kasi everything before that, I was faking it — I mean, honestly, I’ll admit to it,” she shared.

Rhian narrated: “I remember the scene: The guy was gonna leave me.  I was listening to Creep by Radiohead before that. And when the director said ‘Action,’ I really bawled.  After that, I felt like I was an actress working in GMA!”

That was around two to three years into her show business career, and several soap operas came later. Rhian was launched in the 2006 superhero drama Captain Barbell, which was followed by Sine Novela: My Only Love and Codename: Asero.

Most treasured show and role: So it’s not surprising that La Lola, wherein she played opposite JC de Vera, is her career’s most treasured show. Rhian said the show was a “transitioning phase” for her as an actress. “I was happy to do comedy and happy at once,” she said.

Her most treasured role, meanwhile, is Jodi Reyes in the 2009 local adaptation of the Korean drama Stairway to Heaven, which also starred her Genesis co-star Dingdong Dantes.

“I learned a lot in that show in terms of dealing with people, in acting. I was growing up in that show,” she said.

Why is she a loyal Kapuso: Aside from giving her prime roles in topnotch shows such as Genesis and Indio and movies such as My Kontrabida Girl and Sosy Problems, Rhian is a loyal Kapuso because she feels the network is also loyal to her.

“They love me even though sometimes they don’t have a reason to. They believe in me when I sometimes I don’t believe in myself,” Rhian ended.

Genesis airs its finale on Dec. 27) on GMA Telebabad.