For our first piece this New Year, we name the 10 artists who have taken wonderful leaps in their respective fields, and who we feel will continue to create bigger ripples in the coming months.
We hope that bigger doors will open for them and they will learn to seize the many wonderful opportunities that will come their way. We also pray that they will keep their feet firmly planted on the ground, and not allow themselves to be corrupted by the negative forces of the industry.
In no particular order, here are the 10 whose star will most likely shine brighter this year:
Liza Soberano
There’s not a single doubt that Liza will reach teen-superstar status this year. Touted as one of the most beautiful faces to have joined the entertainment industry in recent years, Liza is certainly playing her cards well. Her daily romantic soap Forevermore on ABS-CBN is just one proof that this girl will go very, very far.
Sandino Martin
Sandino did three films in 2014 and he definitely made more than just ripples. His debut film Unfriend had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. His role in the Cinemalaya entry Dagitab made film aficionados and hard-nosed critics take notice of his promise as an actor. And his performance in Esprit de Corps gave Sandino his first-ever Best Actor award at the CinemaOne Originals Film Festival. We’re quite sure he will figure prominently in the coming awards season.
Sandino is one young actor who can act, sing, dance and host, and hopefully the decision-makers in the big studios will see the gem in him. He will be seen next at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the superhero-inspired musical Manhid of Ballet Philippines, after he comes back from his two-week stint at the Berlinale Talents program in Germany this February.
Jana Agoncillo
Child actors are a dime a dozen these days but when we saw Jana Agoncillo in the first few episodes of ABS-CBN’s hit soap Dream Dad, we knew right away that she is a child star to watch out for.
Jana is a natural actor and does not put in any effort to seek attention, unlike other child stars that try very hard to call attention to them.
Antoinette Jadaone
This promising lady writer-filmmaker is on a winning streak. Last year she directed two well-made movies, That Thing Called Tadhana and Relax, It’s Just Pag-ibig, and also wrote the screenplay for English Only, Please, the underdog film that upset the big entries in the just-concluded Metro Manila Film Festival.
From the time we saw her film Six Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay, we reckoned that this filmmaker will make a big mark in the film industry, and she has continuously proven us right with every material that she touches.
Jim Ferrer
He just finished the 100th performance of the much talked-about Imelda Marcos-inspired musical Here Lies Love in London and young theater actor Jim Ferrer still can’t believe that his life has been forever changed because of this wonderful opportunity.
Jim is one of only three Filipinos who passed the tough auditions in Manila and was flown to London to be part of musical. We feel that he will get more offers to do shows abroad.
Jennylyn Mercado
We were elated when Jennylyn bagged the Best Actress award at the Metro Manila Film Festival for her performance in Dan Villegas’s English Only, Please. We thought she deserved it hands down.
There’s no doubt that her big win will open bigger doors for the former StarStruck winner in the rat-race film market, but we sincerely hope that GMA, her mother studio, will give her outstanding roles for television, by way of assigning only brilliant writers, creative and no-nonsense directors and really take care of a prized talent like Jennylyn.
Darren Espanto
If not for the sentimental votes, and if judging were just based on vocal quality and consistency of performances, Darren Espanto should have won The Voice of the Philippines Kids Edition last year. But what is done is done. What is wonderful with Darren is that he did not let the loss overcome his dreams of becoming a singer. He continues to seize every opportunity to sing and he shines with every performance. Darren has conquered many concert venues—from those in far-flung provinces to the concert halls in New York City—winning many hearts with his gift of voice.
Enzo Williams
Rarely anyone in the industry knew his name until he took on the director’s chair in the historical film Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo, which starred Robin Padilla and bagged many awards at the just-concluded year-end all-Filipino film festival.
Enzo Williams is a Filipino-American filmmaker whose heart is more Filipino than most of us if we base it on the beautiful film he directed. We hope he makes more films that educate, inspire and touch our hearts.
Ruru Madrid
We hope that GMA is aware that this contract artist of theirs is a diamond in the rough. It has been almost three years since the promising teenager rose to fame in the media company’s talent search Protégé: The Big Artista Break, but there seems to be not much being done to maximize his potential.
It had to take an independent filmmaker named Pepe Diokno to bet on Ruru’s promise as an actor. He takes on one of the two lead roles in Diokno’s film Above the Clouds that just had its world premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival. The film will do the rounds of the film festival circuit and we are most certain that Ruru will be noticed.
Coco Martin
His was one of the brightest stars in 2014, and we are just confident that Coco Martin’s star will shine brighter in 2015. We heard that Coco will make time to do two films this year and at the moment, his camp is already making sure that these films will catapult him to becoming a bigger, better actor.
Coco still has a film that’s already in the can, Adolfo Alix’s Padre de Familia, which also stars the legendary Nora Aunor.
At this point in his career, Coco has nothing more to prove. His success story continues to inspire those who are starting from nothing. While Coco has arrived as a celebrity, but he continues to work hard to evolve as an A-list actor.