IN an ideal entertainment industry, TJ Trinidad would be the prototype of a male star worthy of admiration and emulation. There is an air of reticence about the guy, but don’t mistake that for aloofness. He’s an actor who works hard and delivers, and he’s not one to engage in the trivial trappings of the business.
Trinidad can actually be voluble when asked sensible questions. We’re glad to discover that besides having a high level of sincerity, he also possesses a unique sense of humor, one that is more genteel and gracious. Our first few encounters were mostly at the gym and he’d be the first to come up and give a firm handshake. We would engage in short conversations and he’d update us on both his private and professional life.
Sometime last year, we were happy to find out that Trinidad was one of the every first actors to be cast in Jerrold Tarog’s latest film, Bliss, which is showing in select cinemas nationwide. The mild-mannered actor said that, while he was reading this particular script, he already had an idea the psychological thriller would create a buzz. “It’s a brave, bold, crazy script and I was instantly glued to it. With Jerrold calling the shots, I was confident it would turn out to be an important film, perhaps even a landmark film in contemporary Philippine cinema.”
If the actor and the director seem to be in very comfortable terms, it’s because they’ve worked together previously on another film, Sana Dati, a 2013 Cinemalaya entry, which gave Trinidad a Best Supporting Actor award for his spot-on performance as a restless groom. It was Trinidad’s first acting award. Trinidad is pleased to work with competent actors, like Shamaine Buencamino, Ian Veneracion, Michael de Mesa and lead actress Iza Calzado.
“This helps because every one pulls every one up and we’re very comfortable working with each other,” he explained.
In Bliss, where they play a married couple (she’s a famous actress desperate for critical validation and he, her bum of a husband), the astute Trinidad chooses to go for a very nuanced performance.
“It’s fun to play the bad guy,” said Trinidad, who is no stranger to antiheroes (The Road, Buy Now, Die Later). “I don’t know what they see, but with every role, I just get into my character and play him as naturally as I can.” He said his ultimate goal is to be a “top-of-mind” actor, someone whose name easily comes to up when production goes into the casting stage. For him, the story is always the thing and he doesn’t mind if he has to play a winged character, like the one he’s preparing for in GMA’s newest offering Mulawin vs. Ravena; or when he plays gay characters, like the one he did onstage to acclaim in The Normal Heart. We also adored him in the live animation film Saving Sally.
“You come across great scripts and you hope you’ll get picked by the director to play the part. You want to try and challenge yourself and try things that you haven’t done before,” he said.
It’s a good thing Trinidad gets to work with people who are similarly more concerned with creating stuff that are brave, realistic, out-of-the-box and challenging. Trinidad also doesn’t waste his time on matters beyond his control. Like how his character was unceremoniously eased out of ABS-CBN’s A Love to Last after making him wait for months without work. A man of few words, he simply remarked, “Some things shouldn’t take too much of our energies, and be left alone just as they are.”
The fortysomething actor may strike some as reserved, the type who didn’t build a career out of being tabloid fodder, but that is his charm, a trait only exquisite actors possess.
Off screen, Trinidad is a very private family man and a sports enthusiast. He cracks jokes, does improvisation, but generally shies away from anything that can spell controversy.
One of the rare few who just happens to be a fine, intelligent working actor.