By Valerie Tort

The bubbly yet sophisticated Mariel Rodriguez graced the heavy spotlights as a commercial model and gradually walked her way in becoming an actress.

Before Mariel’s hosting stints, she landed a couple of commercials for beauty, food, and other consumer products such as Clean and Clear, Close Up, and Pizza Hut. With hardwork and lots of guts, she flew off the Philippines for an audition to the Singaporean-based TV series Rouge, which was aired on MTV Philippines. Rouge started her acting career not only in Singapore but also here in Manila.

Mariel Rodriguez

As soon as she came back to the Philippines, Mariel Rodriguez joined the team of the adventurous and thrill-seeking hosts of GMA7’s Extra Challenge. Aside from a couple of TV guestings for teen-oriented programs, Mariel eventually graced the MTV Pilipinas studio and joined the other MTV veejays’ wacky and cool stints for the music lovers.

With her mindset to do the best in every work given to her, it is no wonder why Mariel Rodriguez became a successful TV personality in her three-year stay in the entertainment industry.

“In every endeavor I do, I promise myself to do my best. Everytime I’m given a job whether as host or actress, I give my everything to get the job done,” Mariel said in a newspaper article.

Maria Erlinda Termulo is popularly known as Mariel Rodriguez to her fans and to the avid viewers of ABSCBN’s noontime game show Wowowee and the Filipino-pioneered reality show Pinoy Big Brother. Full of hopes and dreams, Mariel Rodriguez sketched her career path at the start of her acting and hosting stints. The goal-oriented host aspired to be one of the Philippine actresses she admired in the movies and the television shows.

Mariel began to visualize herself as a villain in her younger years.

“When I was young, I always liked playing kontrabida—Cherie Gil roles. I think I could do an okay villain,” she said. On the contrary, the mainstream entertainment industry accepted Mariel Rodriguez as the funny girl-next-door who radiated a vibrant aura that contaminated everyone who saw her.

“When I entered showbiz I really thought that I was going to do more of acting, and that’s really what I wanted to do from the start. I wanted to be a dramatic actress,” she said. “But lately, I’ve leaned more towards comedy and hosting. It is really far from what I wanted to do but if I was given a choice, I want to do drama and be in movies. I also want to be in a teleserye,” the model-turned-host added.

Reflecting from her first acting stint to her latest Maalaala Mo Kaya guesting, she saw how she was transformed from the playful performer of Rouge to a serious actress in the Philippine primetime.

“The Mariel in Rouge? All I cared about was looking good in Rouge. I swear. Whenever I would watch a scene I’d say, ‘Oh no, I have no lip gloss there,” or, like ‘Oh no, that’s not my best angle,’” she recalled.

“I didn’t feel conscious, even when I had a crying scene and my face got even more distorted (referring to her role in Maalaala Mo Kaya). I was dedicated to give justice to my role as compared to the Mariel in Rouge. I’m definitely more mature now,” Mariel said.

Mariel felt that she owed her biggest break to Pinoy Big Brother and learned a lot from the experience. “I’m really lucky that my manager is also a host so he really guided me every step of the way,” she said.

From all these work experiences Mariel had, she knew that there is still something out there to be learned—whether it may be in the field of acting or another kind of hosting for a different kind of television show.

“I don’t think I’m on top. I’m still working my way,” she said.

Mariel Rodriguez is just blossoming as an actress. No wonder if she will once again captivate the audiences as they see her more serious side just like in Maalaala Mo Kaya.

Tags: Mariel Rodriguez, Philippine Celebrities,

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