The blossoming of Nadine Lustre

It is often said in local showbusiness circles that singers make for good actresses. I would say that as history can so easily prove, singers make for very good actresses who also command a huge following at the box-office. This was so during the time of Carmen Rosales and Elsa Oria and down to Nora Aunor, Sharon Cuneta, Regine Velasquez and Sarah Geronimo.  

It has already been a long 16 years since Sarah was launched to stardom in the talent show Star for a Night. It is now time to welcome the newest addition to this illustrious line-up, somebody who combines hitmaking prowess, a strong draw at the box-office and extraordinary talent as an actress. She is no other but Nadine Lustre.

Admittedly, Nadine did not seem like a likely candidate for singing and acting stardom when she started out as part of the girl group Pop Girls. Her TV outings, Bagets and P.S. I Love You, aired and then faded out quietly. Nadine herself said that she almost gave up on show business during that time. “I was mindlessly walking on a dark misty road, with a heart full of doubt and hopelessness,” was how she described it.

But then she decided to give her career one more go and that turned out to be the role of Eya in Diary ng Panget. And magic happened, crowds welcomed her team-up with James Reid. The movie was a blast at the box-office hit. She returned to singing for the soundtrack, ditched her bubble gum Pop Girl sound in favor of pop hip-hop and scored hits, solo like Paligoy-ligoy and Mr. Antipatiko and with James, No Erase, Para-Paraan. Soon, she was also back on television in the ratings blockbuster On The Wings of Love.

What everybody was unaware of at that time was that Nadine was also growing as an actress with every movie and TV role that came along. And last year, she came into full bloom in the movie Never Not Love You again with now real-life boyfriend James. 

A year later and everything about Nadine is just amazing. Her efforts are now ripe for the reaping and her harvest of awards in recognition of her work in Never Not Love You, can only be described as prodigious.

As of this writing, Nadine has already counted five wins for her performance as a girl torn between her love for her boyfriend played by James and her promising career in the office which will greatly benefit her family in the romantic drama. 

Nadine has already received recognition from the following organizations: 

Favorite Movie Actress in the online poll of Inside Showbiz. She also won as Social Media Star while Never Not Love You was named Favorite Movie with James as Favorite Movie Actor, Antoinette Jadaonne as Favorite Director and the song Prom that she performed with James as Favorite Movie Soundtrack.

Best Actress from the Guild of Educators, Mentors and Students the GEMS Hiyas Ng Sining Award.

Best Performance of the Year from the Young Critics Circle. Best Performance means hers is the best of the year over the work of all the other actors and actresses from last year.

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts & Sciences (FAMAS).

Pinakamahusay na Pagganap ng Pangunahing Aktres at the 42nd Gawad Urian of the esteemed critics’ group, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. 

And please do not think that because she is so happy being an actress that she has now forgotten her music. In fact, she was the biggest winner at this year’s 14th MYX Music Award. She won the MYX Award for Video of the Year for her song St4y Up. She was also named winner as Female Artist of the Year and of the biggest plum of all, the MYX Artist of the Year Award.

The year is only half-way over. There are still more exciting things in store for Nadine. Come July 14, she is again one of the nominees for Best Actress at the EDDYS, the award-giving organization made up of entertainment editors. Will they see it fit to join the Nadine Best Actress bandwagon? 

Then come August, we will get to see Nadine singing and dancing on the big screen in her new film, the musical Indak. And then, I am sure there will be more, songs, films, trophies, etc., etc.