Not just a pretty face

It cannot be denied that Bianca King is a stunner. The curse of being too pretty, however, is getting stereotyped by the media as the tisay kontrabida both onscreen and off. Bianca is headstrong and outspoken in her views, which more often than not overshadows quite a congenial personality. Once one gets over this fact, which is the easy part, the actress is still left with antagonistic roles onscreen. This is the reason why her role in Marimar is such a refreshing change. Lowly probinsyana As Natalia in Marimar, Bianca is initially introduced as someone in love with Choi (Mike Tan). But as the story progresses, there will be a change in focus. “There’s a twist that I can’t really say now, but I start off as a good girl na probinsyana, and magta-transform talaga 'yung character later on,” explains Bianca. “I actually haven’t started taping yet. I’m gonna start pa lang on Thursday (August 9), but it’s a welcome change. And I feel kind of honored, actually, that now, the management is entrusting me with roles other than the rich kontrabida! I guess it’s also their way of challenging me to see if I could also work with doing other roles.” Bianca has worked with most of her Marimar family in the past, except for a few, such as Direk Joyce Bernal, Buboy Garovillo (Padre Porres), and Manilyn Reynes (Corazon). “Si Marian (Rivera) kasi, we were in Super Twins together, but I didn’t really have any scenes with her. Si Dingdong (Dantes) naman, I worked with him in Atlantika -- it’s fun, actually. Kami magkausap lagi in between takes, nagkukwentuhan kami palagi kasi we have a lot of things in common, (and) we have common friends.” Natalia is a new character in the series, because according to Bianca, the writers tweaked the story a bit. “Aside from pinabata silang lahat, 'yung pinka-obvious difference right now is kababata ni Angelika (Katrina Halili) si MariMar. They grew up together, and Angelika was in love first with Sergio, and married his father to get back at him. That’s not part of the original story.” Was Bianca a fan of the 1996 original? “Yeah! Super! I really would watch everyday! I remember when I was in grade school, sa mga autograph books, pag may part doon na favorite show, favorite actress, I would write, ‘Thalia, Marimar!’” Bianca was around nine to 11 years old at that time. “It’s surreal in a way, na it’s being done here now in the Philippines,” she imparts. “But even just the fact that they gave you the opportunity to audition kasi, it was by invitation lang, it felt kind of surreal na.” Bianca was among the few GMA artists who were invited to audition for the prestigious role, something which she’s very thankful for. “I was portraying one of my idols growing up. And the fact that they gave me a role pa, in the soap, considering there were a lot of us who auditioned, and there were a lot of actresses in GMA whom they could put in my role but they gave it to me, it’s…I’m happy. For me, what matters more is that hindi ako mawawalan ng work, one after the other. So, ‘yun. Feeling ko lang, alaga ako kahit papano!” A career behind-the-scenes Bianca proudly reveals, “I recently started interning for a film outfit, and I’m editing a magazine now!” She says it’s an old magazine that’s being revamped, and that she’ll be doing more than just editing it. “The magazine you’ll see when it comes out; it’s an old magazine that’s being overhauled. I’m gonna be the cover, and apart from that, I’m gonna be writing for it, and editing the magazine. So I helped the magazine shift directions. I’m planning to promote it also on Showbiz Central and Startalk. Is this a career path she’d like to take in the future? “It is. Even that intern job at the film outfit, nahihiya kasi ako, wala lang. It’s with GMA Films, actually. I was asked if I wanted to intern, to help develop the story of one of the next big films of GMA Films.” “We’re still developing the story. We just met last night (August 6). But apart from developing the story, I’m also brainstorming all throughout the movie, and I’m going to be a consultant as the movie is being shot. So I’m really thankful for that opportunity also. It’s just handed to me din naman, it’s not something I applied for.” Given all these events that transpired, Bianca figured she might as well shift courses at the College of St. Benilde, where she’s currently in her sophomore year. “I’m taking Arts Management, but I’m shifting to Film Making,” she says. “When all of these things came in, like 'yung magazine editorial, and the internship, parang that pushed me more to look for a new course in my school, and I was just browsing the web site, and they just opened a filmmaking course. so I’m gonna be shifting there, so I can focus more on scriptwriting, TV and film production.” After a shift both onscreen and off, Bianca’s headed towards a new, exciting start. Don’t miss out on the latest developments, so keep tuned in to iGMA for more updates in the future! Visit Bianca’s thread in the iGMA Forum! Text BIANCA to 4627 to Feel the Fun with Fanatxt! Each Fanatxt message costs PhP2.50 for GLOBE, SMART, and TALK 'N TEXT, while it costs PhP2.00 for Sun subscribers.