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Ariel has given life to many villain roles that give spice to the various shows of GMA. What made him turn from good to bad?
In the early ‘90s Ariel Rivera was known as the Kilabot ng mga Kolehiyala, making teeners swoon with his smooth singing voice. Several years later, he is a dad and a husband, but his charm nor his charisma has not faded. He has given life to many villain roles that give spice to the various shows of GMA. What made him turn from good to bad? Fantastically Evil Before the phenomenal primetime hit, Sugo, Ariel played good guy roles. He said it was fun, for a while. “I’ve always done boy next door, good husband roles. And, it kinda gets tiring. So, when I was given the role of bad guy with Sugo, I really fell in love with the character, you get to play around with the character. (There’s) more freedom and more challenges,” he says. Was it a difficult transition for a guy who is used to being the hero? In Sugo and Atlantika, the challenges include action scenes which Ariel found an interesting change of pace. He notes with a hint of pride, “Sugo was really challenging for me because we have a lot of action, a lot of honest action, hand combat so it was more challenging for me. Sa Atlantika we did a lot of training before (taping).” The actor continued his villanous streak in Fantastic Man where he was the main antagonist of the lead character portrayed by Mark Herras. Ariel enjoys sharing the stage with the younger set, such as like Richard Gutierrez (Sugo), Dingdong Dantes (Atlantika) and most recently, Mark. “I like working with the kids now. I enjoyed working with them, I give them advice and (they ask) me for advice din.” Basically Good But even as an anti-hero, Ariel looks good. Does this hinder his portrayal of various evil characters? “I guess people say that despite playing a villain sometime I have a ‘maamo face’ or vulnerable nga, parang ganoon,” he answers, but adds that takes on a different persona when he’s in front of the camera. What the audience sees on television is not the same Ariel so looks don’t matter. Even the devil can look like a tame sheep. He vehemently clarifies, “totally opposite ako (with my characters). I’m soft-hearted. Yeah, I’m totally opposite!” Ariel as a good person is a fact that his fans will absolutely agree on. -- Text by KC M. Abalos. Photos courtesy of GMA Network. Can’t get enough of Fantastic Man? Join the iGMA forum!