Getting to know Hasmine Killip

MANILA, Philippines - When Hasmine Killip, 24, or Hasmine Bulaong Formalejo as baptized, won as Best Actress for the indie film Pamilya Ordinaryo in this year’s Urian Awards, she honestly did not expect to win, eventhough she had already won international and local accolades for the said movie.

“I am indeed happy to be included as one of the nominees for the acting award and it is a great privilege to be (nominated) alongside those I have truly admired,” she said.

At that time, Hasmine was busy breastfeeding her newly born child in the United Kingdom where she is now based (since she is married to Anthony Killip, a business consultant who studied biological sciences at the University of North London) when a friend called her up. “A friend told me that I just won the award and I told her ‘Crazy! I did not win and maybe you misread it, but I am a nominee.’ But she told me to check my Facebook account, so I checked it and I was really surprised.”

She then recalled to this writer on how she got the challenging role in that movie: “Director Carlo Manatad called me up at 11 p.m. to audition (for the role) and I told him I didn’t have any money. At that time, I just finished playing bingo where I lost.”

The kind director spent for her transportation fare. She was the last one to audition.

“Since director Carlo Manatad had trust in my acting, I tried my best not to fail him. The title of the film Pamilya Ordinaryo is intended for me. I felt the excitement, especially that of the story. I promised myself that I would give my very best to the film because it had a good story. If you watch Pamilya Ordinaryo, you will feel the tension and romantic excitement. And it teaches lessons, especially geared for teenagers... I am hoping they will continue supporting Filipino-made films. I am also hoping that young people will gain insight from our movie to be able to trek the right path in life.”

Before Pamilya Ordinaryo, she appeared in the film Junilyn, which was also directed by Manatad. 

“The story is about a dancer in a nightclub. Junilyn has to learn new moves to attract more customers during the Pope’s visit to the Philippines. But while she rehearses, she is also preparing to free herself,” related Hasmine, who grew up in Sagrada Pamilya Don Bosco in Parañaque City but her maternal ancestor is from Malolos, Bulacan.

She once worked as a seller support at tech giant Amazon.com, Inc., an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company, which is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world.

She studied high school in Jesu Mariae International School in Parañaque City and took up a B.S. Office Administration course in Taguig City University.

She said she misses her family and friends in the Philippines and she hopes to visit the country this year. 

As for her future film projects, there is none as of this writing. “As of now, there is none and I am looking forward to working on a film. My husband is very supportive, so I can do a movie if there is an offer.” 

Interestingly, she learned how to cook in London. “I really learned how to cook in the UK for I need to survive here. I don’t like their food which is either rare or medium rare. I don’t like mashed potatoes, salad with vegetables. I am not a vegetarian.”