DESTINY has started to unfold for Matt Lozano and Jomari Angeles, who are both getting their biggest breaks as actors.
Indie fixture Jomari Angeles is thrilled to finally fulfill his dream of being cast as a lead actor in the online series Limited Edition.
Over the years, Angeles has worked with some of the most celebrated local filmmakers, like Chito Roño (Signal Rock), Dan Villegas (Hintayan ng Langit) and Brillante Mendoza (Ma’ Rosa), and he has kept all that he learned handy as he traverses from one acting assignment to another, whether it be on the big screen or television.
He shared that he has played alongside some of the biggest names in entertainment, like Jericho Rosales, Angelica Panganiban and Jaclyn Jose, and he treasures these experiences.
“Every new character is a chance for me to learn, an opportunity to absorb skills and techniques from how a director guides and motivates you, and how a coactor inspires you with his or her years of experience,“ he intoned.
Admitting that he quietly dreamt of bagging a lead role one day, Angeles said he couldn’t contain his excitement when he learned he had landed this most coveted project. “I go to every audition equipped with the most realistic expectations while hoping for the best. So when I was told that I got the lead role, I was just so happy and thankful.”
The narrative of Limited Edition unravels from the point of view of Angeles’s character, a naive and conservative lad from the province who finds love in the most interesting circumstances. Promising director Jill Singson only took six days to complete the entire season of this series produced by the master shoemaker Jojo Bragais, having ironed out every little detail their team needed during the pre-production phase of the project.
To prepare his actors, Singson and his line producer Weng Concepcion commissioned respected actress and workshop expert Angeli Bayani to make sure that Angeles and his coactor Andrew Gan got into their respective characters with ease and spontaneity when shooting commenced.
Bayani told us that both actors work very hard and she added that Angeles is a natural actor who is focused and determined to bring out his best in every scene. Angeles, who started out in the industry using his real name Jomari Umpa, reiterated to us that he treats big or small roles with the same dedication.
“An actor is expected to get into his character, whether you are in all the frames or in just a few scenes. When the audience remembers you in particular scene and recalls your lines, you know you did a good job as an actor.”
Meanwhile, Matt Lozano has just been announced as the actor to give life to the character of Big Bert Armstrong in the GMA show Voltes V Legacy.
We’ve known Lozano’s mom, Elaine, a singer turned production executive, for a long time now. Lozano the son started out wanting to be a singer because he got more than recessive genes from his mom who was the original Nescafe Girl many decades ago. (In the 1980s, The Nescafe Girl title was bestowed to the lady who was chosen to sing the jingle of the coffee brand in the commercials.)
For many years, Lozano, who has changed his name from Mavi to Mav to Matt, tried his luck as a singer, performing wherever there was a stage that would welcome him. He was with a band, then went solo, and even joined a reality show for singers, but the big break remained very elusive. Throughout his journey, Lozano added unwanted poundage, which gave him a complex.
When a friend convinced him to audition for the Voltes V Legacy series, Lozano went along and little did he know that the weight he gained allowed him to match perfectly the character’s requirements. The eyes of the decision-makers in GMA were on him long after he was done with the camera test.
“Everything happens for a reason and unravels at the most perfect time. I am just thankful that this break came at a point in my life when things seemed so unclear. I will seize every moment because opportunities like this do not come very often,” he said.
Jomari Angeles and Matt Lozano are both reminders that patience is indeed a virtue, and the universe gives the good breaks to those who want it so bad.