Denise back to being kontrabida

She is an actress cut in the classic kontrabida mold: Sexy, glamorous, with fair skin, perfectly arched eyebrows and an expression that, if she chooses to flash it, could strike fear in the hearts of those who see it.

Denise Laurel, star of the currently-running Kapamilya Gold drama Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita who has played different characters before, has gone back to playing a kontrabida role. She knew it was a challenging prospect, especially since people don’t really like kontrabidas the way they do the lead stars, but Denise — who is actually one of the nicest people in the business — considers that a compliment because it means she’s effective in her work. Being hated is part of the territory.

Getting that kind of reaction from the public comes with the job, says Denise, who knew going in that she would end up being hated by some of the show’s viewers. But because it was a meaty role that would test her mettle as an actress, she took it on without hesitation or second thoughts. “For me, it was expected when I came to this project, that I would be playing kontrabida for the first time in a long time, so I wanna take it wholeheartedly and give all of myself, and since bigay todo ako, there’s bound to be somebody that’s going to hate me, there’s a lot of them, not just one person. Sometimes, you can’t help but get affected by what they say, but then, I remind myself, that only means I’m doing my job.”

In Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita, Denise has several confrontation scenes with the character of Vina Morales. “That was a genuine slap in the face,” says the actress. “Totoo naman talaga ang sampal, well kung hindi, makikita naman talaga yung emosyon.”

Vina shares that it has happened to her, too. A fan unfollowed her on social media because of how she was portraying the character. Says Vina: “As an actress, I get shocked at the things Cecilia (her character) goes through, hindi ko alam kung saan pa siya pupunta, pero I know she has a good heart, although minsan totoo ‘yan. The fans get affected by what they see us do onscreen. I’m also affected as an actress, minsan may nag-unfollow sa akin sa Instagram sa sobrang inis niya.”

Although they were made to — and did — look real for purposes of the show, both Denise and Vina knew that they were acting in their intense confrontation scenes together. “Yung mga eksena namin, mukha silang totoo, but kami, we never take them personally. In fact, instead of personalan na sakitan, in between takes, maraming tawanan,” she says.

Denise enjoys working with her fellow cast members who, aside from Vina, include Christian Vasquez and young stars Jerome Ponce, Jane Oineza, Joshua Garcia and Loisa Andalio. Despite their being young, Denise — who grew up in a family of renowned screen and stage actors that includes her grandmother Celia Diaz-Laurel and uncle Victor, or Cocoy — says the four have a lot of promise.

“From the beginning, you could see that they were ready to work, they were there to get better, they’re ready to learn, to be molded and they don’t compete with each other, they compete with themselves because they want to be better, so it’s exciting to watch them grow and evolve. If you watched the first episode, and you watch an episode now, it’s like, aside from the fact that they’ve physically grown taller since we started, they’ve matured, and their presence is felt even more. “Yung charisma nila, nandoon din, at yung meron na silang alam na nakikita sa mata, yung iniisip at nararamdaman nila, and it’s so nice and exciting to see how far they’re gonna grow after that.”