What newcomers can learn from Angel

MANILA, Philippines - Before she dons the Darna suit once again in the planned big-screen reincarnation of the iconic Mars Ravelo komiks character, Angel Locsin will wear the mentor’s hat in iShine Talent Camp 3, the collaborative reality-TV talent search from ABS-CBN and Promil Pre-School.

Angel is the acting teacher/facilitator, while her co-mentors Zsa Zsa Padilla and Georcelle Dapat handle the singing and dancing sessions, respectively, in the show participated in by four to seven-year-old pre-schoolers.

Being with kids is a welcome change for the Kapamilya actress after her emotionally-charged primetime soap The Legal Wife. After all, to “experience new things and travel so you can meet new people,” is Angel’s idea of a break after months of being consumed with teleserye work.

“This is my first time to mentor kids, and I’ve already assessed and studied their strengths and weaknesses — which ones needed to be enhanced — but what I really want to do is to build their confidence first. I don’t want them to be afraid in bringing out what they feel and who they really are. (More importantly,) I want them to enjoy and be happy with the whole experience,” says Angel, who made room for leisure time during her recent trips to Japan and Canada to headline shows for The Filipino Channel. 

One of the life skills Angel has gained from her years in the industry that she wants to pass on to the kids is nonstop openness to learning. She explains, “Acting is continuous learning. You should not be contented with your last performance even if it was good. In your every performance you should evolve, you should be able to give something new. So, dapat sensitive ka sa paligid mo kasi dun mo makukuha yung experience mo.”

For her, it’s an advantage if the kid has zero to minimal exposure to acting or related activities. “Mas maganda yung raw talent.”

iShine Talent Camp has also served as a stepping-stone for kiddie participants (a.k.a. iShiners) to venture into showbiz. But the actress advises aspiring artistas: “Pag-pumasok ka dito dapat gusto mo talaga at hindi gusto ng mga parents.”

Because iShine is a talent contest, wherein there’s a winner (who will bring home up to P1M  worth of prizes and talent contracts from ABS-CBN and Promil Pre-School) and a non-winner, a child psychologist is on hand to make the kids and parents understand the things that go on in the show. 

Angel has no kids of her own (at least not yet) but should she become a mom herself, she laughingly admits that she has a tendency to become a stage mother. “I think I have the tendency to be a stage mother. (So, I have to put in mind) that my child is my priority, and not my contentment, wants and ambitions for them or yung gusto kong mangyari sa buhay ko ang ipapagawa ko sa mga anak ko.”

She has seen herself parents who are interested in showbiz more than their kids. “Kung magkaka-anak ako soon (laughs), parang gusto ko lang suportahan (yung dreams niya) kasi I’m so blessed to have very supportive parents while I was growing up.”

Long before showbiz beckoned, the 29-year-old Angel was in her younger years a rising star athlete, who was part of the national swimming team and once held the national breast-stroke record in her age group. She fondly recalls that even though her coach/father is blind, “everyday nasa tabi ko lang siya sa may pool at alam niya kung nangdadaya ako ng laps ko. So, I want to be like my father, who has always been supportive of the dreams of his daughter.”  

(Promil Pre-School iShine Talent Camp 3, which is hosted again by Dimples Romana, Matteo Guidicelli and Xian Lim, premieres today at 10 a.m. on ABS-CBN.)