'Pay it forward': Mylene Dizon on playing mother roles, mentoring

MANILA, Philippines — From one of the most followed love teams with Bojo Molina in the 90s teenage show "Gimik" to today's most feared mother figure in TV shows, Mylene Dizon does not mind the shift in the roles she's getting. In fact, she thinks she is paying it forward.

For the versatile actress who is known to shift effortlessly from bida and/or kontrabida, Mylene is looking forward to mentoring the young actors that she works with.

"It's one of the things that I enjoy doing on the set. I think that's also one of the reasons why I am laging nanay ni ganito, ni ganyan," said Mylene.

She is playing the role of Charlie Dizon's mother in the mini-series "My Sunset Girl" that will premiere on July 14.

She has played mother to today's hottest young stars like Kathryn Bernardo in "Mara Clara" (2011), Joshua Garcia in "The Good Son" (2018), Bianca Umali in "Sahaya" (2019).

"I remember when I was starting out, you know sina (the late) Ray Ventura, Pen Medina. All of them, they were helping us out. Sila yung mga gumaganap na magulang namin so I think it's just natural for us to pay it forward," she said.

Mylene continued that when she was on the set of her show, she would be on standby, observe and give advice if needed.

"Bukod sa mapapabilis ang trabaho at magtutulungan tayo, when you see that the person is receptive, nakakaenganyo. Lalo na pag binulong ng direktor sa'yo na tama yung sinasabi mo. Minsan kasi di na sinasabi sa akin ng director. I'll still be there to support my co-actor. Hangga't di ako pinagbabawalan ng director, I suppose tama yung ginagawa ko," she said.