Lady Marian
She’s beautiful, fulfilled, devoted to her family, her craft, and to a cause greater than herself.
In fact, her dream is to become a teacher.
When I asked screen goddess Marian Rivera in an interview at the New World Makati Hotel for PeopleAsia Magazine’s YouTube channel, which recently had its soft launch, “Do you want to be anything else aside from an actor?” she replied in a heartbeat, “I want to be a teacher.”
Marian recently won the Cinemalaya Best actress Award for her role as a teacher guarding the ballot in Balota.
“Pangarap ko talagang maging teacher,” she repeats. “Perhaps that’s why I am able to be a teacher to my children when we have lessons together, doon ko nabubuhos ang pangarap kong maging teacher.”
Her being an actor by profession was an accident because she reveals that after college, she had only set her sights on being a magazine cover girl and a commercial model, “Ang saya ko na noon.”
“I didn’t aspire to be an actor. I didn’t know the Lord would bring me to this path, ‘Anak, ito ang para sa iyo’,” says Marian, who recently marked her 10th wedding anniversary with actor Dingdong Dantes. They are hands-on parents to Zia and Sixto.
And 14 years after her last movie Kung Fu Divas, she gets a box-office hit for her movie Rewind, and her first Best Actress award for Balota. Not bad for an accidental actor.
She knew Balota was going to be a statement.
“Kailangan buo talaga ‘yung loob mo because it’s about politics,” she says. But she ventured into the project and out of her “comfort zone for the first time” for a reason.
“In your career, you do movies because you want to earn. You do movies that are experimental. You do movies because it’s personal for you, and you want to do them. But there are movies that you do as a contribution to your country. And for me, that’s what Balota accomplished.”
She shares that after she read the script, she exclaimed, “Oh my god, I’ve been in showbiz for so long but I had never been given the chance to portray this character. Number 1, teacher with a fight scene, number 2, de-glammed and with dialogues I had never delivered before in any of my movies or television shows.”
Family first & always
Marian rises at 5 a.m. on schooldays to bring Zia and Sixto to school, even if she worked late the night before and her husband Dong tells her, “You don’t have to do it all. Huwag mong kayanin lahat.”
“But I really want to do it. I really want to be a hands-on mother. Gusto ko talaga eh, no matter how busy I am. Sometimes, Dong tells me, ‘Yan, matulog ka na muna.’ I tell him, I can sleep after I drop off the kids at school. I can find a way. But the moments when I am in the car dropping off the children, hindi ko na ‘yan mababawi, hindi ko ‘yan ma-rerewind. May hugot ako kasi noong bata ako, walang parents na naghahatid sa akin, Lola ko lang.”
But despite the fact that her parents were not there to drop her off at school, and that she was raised primarily by her grandmother whom she lovingly calls “Nanay,” Marian bears no bitterness in her heart.
“Nanay gave me her 100 percent and I am grateful she raised me with no anger toward my parents, who are separated. Nanay, who is now 94 and still strong, always used to tell me, ‘Anak, tandaan mo, hindi ka magiging successful sa buhay mo kapag may galit ka sa mga magulang mo at hindi ka marunong magpasalamat dahil nabuhay ka dahil sa kanila’.”
Even if everything she endorses turns to gold, so to speak, from Labubu, to Molly toys to Skullpanda, Marian doesn’t consider her career as her greatest achievement.
What is?
“My family. That’s my dream because I am an only child. So, my goal is to have a whole family, with kids. God gave that to me. That is my very core, kung bakit ako lumalaban, kung bakit ko ginagawa ito, at bakit ko love yung mga ginagawa ko kasi sila yung inspiration ko talaga.”
Is there something Marian Rivera would like to change in her life if she is able to rewind it now, like her life was rewound in the movie where she and Dong starred?
“Wala eh. Parang lahat ng maganda at ‘di maganda, natuto ako. At lahat ‘yun, ito yung kabuuan, kung sino ‘yung nasa harap mo ngayon.”
The end. Applause. And the leading lady takes a bow.
