Monday April 6, 2009
Miss Congeniality
By VIVIENNE PAL
Carmen Soo has been off the Malaysian radar for quite a while. StarTwo finds out what the highly likeable actress has been up to.
IT’S always a pleasantly disconcerting experience meeting Carmen Soo. And that’s because it’s so easy to be around her.
For one thing, Carmen does not affect a “celebrity” air. She’s beautiful, eloquent and successful, yet never intimidating, nor does she give the impression of occupying a higher tier in life just because she’s famous – which, sadly, is an affliction with many Malaysian celebrities.
After 14 years in the strenuous glare of the modelling and showbiz industry, Carmen still looks as fresh-faced as when she started out.
Carmen Soo is now focused on acting, with modelling assignments squeezed in between shooting schedules. – RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/ THE STAR “I remember you,” she says, recalling our first interview four years ago with a smile as she shakes my hand.
It may come across as the clichéd PR sound bite to gain good publicity, but coming from Carmen, it didn’t sound anything but sincere.
Her level-headedness largely due to a pragmatic view of the industry, and sound work ethic.
“It was and still is just a job,” she shrugs, referring to modelling.
A Time For Us, shot in Malaysia and the Philippines, stars Carmen and popular Philippine actor Jericho Rosales. The soap opera is now showing on TV2. “We had it tough, and back then, the celebrity dome in Malaysia was not so big. Now, just one commercial, and the talent is suddenly a star!”
Carmen’s road to fame began at the age of 17 when she joined a modelling competition organised by Verve, a now-defunct magazine that was looking for new talents. Three years later, after numerous appearances in various commercials, Carmen went to Hong Kong to pursue a modelling career with Starz People at the persuasion of Andrew Tan, of Andrews Models. The targeted three-month modelling stint has stretched to this day. She is also a well-known model in Singapore.
Incidentally, Carmen, a business management graduate, was among the early few locals who gave modelling a try in Hong Kong, together with Irene Santiago, Danielle Graham and Raeleen Redzuan.
Carmen in a scene from 1413, one of the four stories in Visits: Hungry Ghost Anthology. Big in the Philippines
For a celebrity, Carmen is surprisingly unobtrusive, quietly segueing in and out of social events, yet there is never a need to announce her presence; you always know she’s there.
Admittedly, though, Carmen has been very quiet lately.
The model-turned-actress has been working non-stop for the last 18 months, shuttling between the Philippines and Malaysia on her latest project, a soap opera entitled Kahit Isang Saglit.
The project was a co-production between the Philippines’ ABS-CBN and Malaysia’s Double Vision, with the late veteran television and film director Gilbert “Manong” Perez as auteur.
The production took far longer than the forecast six months to complete, accounting for her absence from the Malaysian scene.
“I’m not gone! I’ve just been quietly working,” she exclaims in mock wail, while recalling a journalist’s statement on a comeback project.
Prior to Kahit Isang Saglit, Carmen had already been on a long busy period working on the play Rose, Rose I Love You, and the movies Visits: Hungry Ghost Anthology and Sayang You Can Dance (out last month). She made a cameo appearance in Gorgeous with Jackie Chan and Shu Qi, and acted in The 3rd Generation (starring Nicholas Teo and Amber Chia) and Baik Punya Cilok, while her television stints include Trio And A Bed, and Ghost. The English plays she has been in include The Girl From Ipoh, Rose Rose I Love You and Wish I Was There. In the Philippines, Carmen also had a cameo role in Filipino horror movie, T2 (Tenement 2).
Carmen moved into her bachelorette pad, located just two minutes from her family home in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, a year ago but is still trying to settle in.
“I’ve been working in and out of Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia in the last one year alone.
“I only started unpacking my things (for my new apartment) this January. I’ve only lived there for a total of three months,” chuckles the 32-year-old.
She admits to being on the verge of a burnout when she was approached to star in the series.
“In 2007, they paired my photo which they selected from a website with that of the show’s main actor, Jericho Rosales. ABS-CBN thought we looked good together, and called Double Vision, which got in touch with me.
“But I was apprehensive because I was burning out and worried that I would be exploited. Manong convinced me that it was going to be okay.”
After acting for the last 4½ years, Carmen rates Kahit Isang Saglit as her best experience yet.
A comeback production for Rosales, one of the Philippines’ most popular actors, the teleserye (“television series” in Tagalog) was a combination of challenge, fun and tears for the cast.
Challenging because the schedule was terribly hectic and Carmen had to learn both her own Tagalog lines and that of her co-stars (she is presently back in the Philippines to learn Tagalog for another upcoming shoot in June with Rosales and Filipino starlet Kristine Hermosa), fun because it was unforgettable and sad because Perez passed away during production.
“It was a mind-blowing experience. My co-actors were very good. We shot for 24 hours straight three times a week, endured a typhoon, and halfway through, Manong suffered a heart attack. It was quite emotional,” she recalls, adding that she adapted to sleep deficiency by snatching catnaps whenever and wherever.
Then there was the culture shock: Filipino paparazzi were unlike anything Carmen experienced before, as the press relentlessly linked her with Rosales’ break-up with his girlfriend, Heart Evangelista.
She remembers being swarmed by three camera crews at the airport in the Philippines.
“I had just touched down, and had no clue about the rumours that had been circulating when I was back in Malaysia. I was tired and just hoping to get some sleep and suddenly I got accused!
“I didn’t realise how blown up it was. It got a little bit too in-my-face.”
Through it all, Rosales remained a good friend, a shoulder to cry on.
Would she consider him, though?
“Ah ... now you’re being a paparazzo,” she says with a grin, wagging a finger at me. “Every time it gets too hard to handle, I will tell Jericho it’s all his fault. He’s been a very good friend and we’re very close but that’s because we only had each other for the last six months.”
Despite the rumour-mongering, however, Carmen remains extremely popular in the Philippines.
A tale in two cities
Kahit Isang Saglit has already shown in the Philippines, while the Malaysian “version”, A Time For Us is now airing.
Shot both in Malaysia and the Philippines, the tale is the quintessential drama, revolving around a love triangle, disapproving parents, drugs, murder and money.
In the drama, Rocky Santillan (Rosales), an officer with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency mounts a secret investigation into his father’s death while on assignment in Malaysia.
Margaret Dimaandal (Carmen), meanwhile, goes in search of her father who she believes left the family under duress.
In the process, the two cross paths and fall in love.
The drama also stars four other Malaysian actors: Soosan Hoh, Louisa Chong, Awal Ashaari and Zayanah Ibrahim.
Parts of the series may be tailored to suit the Malaysian audience, as there are some intimate scenes, but Carmen is keeping mum.
Incidentally, Carmen has a no nudity and kissing clause in her contract – a deliberate measure to preserve her reputation and protect herself from being exploited although she is “not totally closed to it.”
Girl next door
Acting has become a priority for Carmen over the last two years, with modelling assignments squeezed in between shooting schedules.
“It’s 80% acting and 20% modelling now. It’s a learning process for me where acting is concerned, and being able to work abroad has broadened my horizons,” she says.
She recently closed down her bag and jewellery boutique Kushi in Bangsar, KL, opting instead to showcase and sell her wares during special tea parties twice a year.
Despite her hectic schedule, Carmen manages to find time for travelling – something she has always loved – and alternates her time between catching up with family and friends, as well as on sleep, and working out at the gym or wakeboarding.
What remains refreshing through it all is how unfazed Carmen is with her celebrity status and how she embraces her growth as an artist.
“After 14 years, my ideals have definitely changed and I have evolved. I used to be so shy. I’m still rather shy.”
The woman remains amiable despite getting attitude from upstart models, talents and on-set hairstylists.
“Aiyah, in due time they will learn; they will grow older one day too,” she says.
Her fresh-faced beauty and easy smile makes her the epitome of the girl next door with typical girly preoccupations with carbohydrates and weight gain (“I love rice and noodles. I put on almost 4kg in the Philippines and had to start working out in January!” she claims).
She takes good care of her face, never leaving home without slathering on sunblock, and applies moisture masks every day – a reason she looks so good all the time.
And she faces the same woes of single, eligible women the world over.
“I’m just a regular girl who wants someone to love me. I hope I find one soon.”
Is it any wonder why we all love her?
A Time For Us is now showing on TV2 (12.30pm Monday to Thursday).
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