Around GMA

Article Inside Page

Sparkle artist AZ Martinez is still coming off the high of winning an international beauty pageant crown, but even then the bright young actress is already planning for her future entertainment career.

During an interview with GMANetwork.com, the young talent shared her interest in pursuing an acting and hosting career after clinching the Miss Summit International 2023 crown, besting 20 other candidates.

“I want to focus on my acting career, which is with Sparkle. What I really want to do is to act and be in the entertainment industry,” she shared. “I've (also) always wanted to be a host and it's something I've always wanted to try. I've been waiting for the opportunity to come and I've been practicing my hosting skills.”

AZ has previously played minor characters in shows like The Missing Husband and Lilet Matias: Attorney-at-Law, but she is hoping that the attention being paid to her because of her Miss Summit International win lead to more opportunities.

The Miss Summit International pageant aims to connect, empower, and bring peace to all women around the world, with AZ's predecessor being Filipina Nica Zosa as well. But her road to the crown was an unexpected one, as she was initially not even expected to compete in this pageant at all.

AZ had initially won the Miss Elite Philippines crown at the Hiyas ng Pilipinas pageant last year, but circumstances prevented her from competing. Because of that, she shared that competing in another international pageant, much less winning one, seemed impossible.

Even when Hiyas ng Pilipinas decided to send her to Miss Summit International, AZ had to deal with acquiring a US visa and then only having two weeks to train for the competition. Her nerves were with her until the day of the pageant's closed-door interviews,

“For me, the most difficult part was closed door kasi I didn't know what I would be asked. Thankfully, pagpasok ko nung closed door they were very calm and welcoming and 'yung questions nila focused on me and my opinions in life,” she shared.

Now that she's actually won the crown, AZ believes it was her performance in the closed-door interviews that actually gave her the edge to win.

“I believe it was me being genuine. The first thing I really put inside my head when I went to the closed-door interview was, to be honest,” she recalled. “Whatever the questions, I was always honest in whatever answer I gave them. They wanted to see my personality and what I was there for and I showed that by being genuine and honest.”

Now that she's back in the country, AZ is raring to go into workshops - both acting and hosting - to further hone her talents. She's also looking to her fellow Sparkle colleagues like Janeena Chan for inspiration.

“I am inspired by Janeena Chan. She's a host and she's a really good host. I've seen her host during our events and workshops. I've seen her Instagram full of hosting gigs and I wanted to do that as well,” she said.