Bea Alonzo: Beyond Beauty

Discover what lies beneath her physical charm as Bea Alonzo shares her early beginnings in show business that lead to her not-so-easy road to stardom in Jeepney TV’s Let’s Go Linggo Special, “Bea Alonzo: Beyond Beauty” airing at 9:00 p.m.on Sunday (August 25).

“I really wanted to be an actress. This was my strength”, Bea reveals after sharing her learnings from past experiences, one of which was how she started out as an extra on the set of OKA TOKAT, wherein she waited more than 24 hours for her scene, only to be edited out on air.

Also in the interview, Bea openly shares how she felt awkward in an audition when she was asked to stand beside a picture of who would’ve soon become her future leading man, John Lloyd Cruz.

Apart from these personal challenges as an actress, Bea also recalls the friendships that were forged throughout her career, from meeting her best friend, Shaina Magdayao in the set of K2BU to being completely overwhelmed by the acting prowess of veteran actress Lorna Tolentino whom she worked with in “Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay”.

All these plus how she honed her craft with the help of Johnny Manahan and Lauren Dyogi, whom she readily refers to as her mentors.

Bea has definitely bloomed into a well-respected actress on Philippine cinema and television. Follow her story on Jeepney TV on August. 25, Sunday at 9 pm.

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Senator Grace Poe met some members of the entertainment press last week in a thanksgiving lunch. She said her life has changed since she became a senator. If before she can go to Greenhills without being noticed, now she gets requests from people to have a picture with her. She also gets to spend less time with her family since she got busy with her work in the senate. It’s a good thing that her husband Neil Llamanzares is very supportive and her kids are already grown ups.

While the pork barrel issue is a hot topic now, Sen. Grace she intends to use her allocation for projects that will benefit the people. One of her advocacies is to provide free lunch in public schools since a great number of school children are malnourished. She already proposed a bill on this but since it is yet to be approve, Grace is thinking of her starting the program in selected schools on her own, with the help and coordination with the right government agencies.

“If ever people in the provinces will ask for help like for new roads, I will monitor the projects properly to make sure the money is not being pocketed and it is really used for the construction of the road project. I don’t have any intention of cheating the public of the money that they pay for their taxes,” she said.

She also said she wants to promote film tourism, that is to make the Philippines an ideal place where a foreign film company can shoot their movies or tv shows on location. She is  also hoping that our film industry will be subsidized by the government just like what is being done in Korea and Hong Kong.

Sen. Grace said she did not expect to be number one in the senatorial race. Just to be among the list of winners is enough for her. The fact that she emerged number one says a lot about what the voters felt for her dad (Fernando Poe, Jr. who ran for the presidency in 2004 but lost). Many people believed he was the true winner but was cheated. She intends to work hard as a senator and live up to the good name of her parents who are respected and held in high esteem by the public.

Sen. Grace Poe also visited two barangays in Cainta, Rizal that served as evacuation centers for families affected by Typhoon Maring. Joining her in repacking of goods is her husband, Neil, and their children Brian, Hannah and Nikka along with the volunteer staff from her office, supporters and members of the PNP. They were able to distribute re-packed goods to over a thousand families.

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“Otso,” the comeback film of Direk Elwood Perez had an special preview at the Director’s Club at the SM Mall of Asia on Monday, August 19. Despite the rain, Direk Elwood decided to push through with the event, hoping that the traffic won’t be that terrible since most of the people opted to stay home because of the typhoon.

“Otso” is Direk Elwood’s entry to the Sineng Pambansa All-Master’s Edition that will be shown in SM Cinemas from September 11 to 17.

It’s been ten years since Direk Elwood made a movie. One of his last movies was Lupe, the controversial  first solo starrer of  Andrea del Rosario for Viva Films.

For Otso, the lead actor is Vince Tanada, an multi-award-winning stage actor who is also a lawyer. He is the man behind the Philippine Stagers Foundation, a theater group which he founded.  He writes the scripts and directs most of the stage productions of Philippine Stagers Foundation.

“Otso” is Vince’s first movie. He plays the role of an aspiring screenwriter who returns to Manila when he is attempt at a film career in Los Angeles fizzles. His intention is to write a script for an independent film by Director Jim (Jun Urbano). In the process, he hopes to reconnect with his roots and wit the city of his birth.

Also in the movie are Ms. Anita Linda, Vangie Labalan, Jordan Ladra, Cyndi Liper, Gabby Bautista, Kevin Posadas at Monique Azerreda.