ONLY a few days more before the onset of the new year. As in years past, 2022 had its share of highs and lows, challenges and breakthroughs, miscues and milestones.
And then there are those who carry on with producing premium and outstanding outputs in their chosen fields, and inspire us no end with their consistent pursuit of truth, excellence, audacity, boldness, innovation and fearlessness.
These personalities made up our honor roll for 2022:
BARBIE FORTEZA: No doubt that Barbie Forteza is the brightest TV star of the year because of her much talked-about role in the top-rating TV series Maria Clara at Ibarra. She is the main reason why many are glued to this series, including us. Her lovable portrayal of Klay, the modern-day Maria Clara, has been consistently spot-on and attracted loyal viewers from all over the country, including Filipino communities overseas that are reached by the platforms of media giant GMA Network.
MICHAEL CINCO: Dubai-based Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco continues to raise the flag for our country in every piece of exquisite outfit he creates. Just two weeks ago, Cinco was honored with the International Fashion Designer of the Year Hall of Fame in the prestigious India Fashion Awards in New Delhi. A few months before that, Cinco was also the very first recipient of the newly launched The Outstanding Filipinos in America (TOFA) Awards held in New York City. Celebrities from around the world who form part of Cinco’s clientele, include Lady Gaga, Aishwarya Rai, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce, among others. Cinco’s creations at this year’s Arab Fashion Week and the New York Fashion Week certainly raised the bar higher than ever.
BEA ALONZO: After her big move to GMA Network, Bea Alonzo’s star has shone even brighter. She headed the cast of Start-Up PH, the local adaptation of the hit South Korean series. Thanks to her new manager Shirley Kuan, Alonzo’s endorsements multiplied and Alonzo was even able to acquire an apartment in Madrid, qualifying her to become a legal resident of Spain under the Residency by Investment program of the Spanish government. This also gives her access to travel to countries that are part of the European Union, and if she desires, she can also apply for citizenship after a few years. Alonzo is a smart investor and she plays her cards really well. Her movie with Alden Richards might push through and her next TV series for GMA is now on the drawing board.
SOLIMAN CRUZ: It had to take a Romanian film to show the world what an amazing actor Soliman Cruz is. When Mihai Mincan’s film To The North had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, Cruz’s star illuminated and it was his superb and subdued portrayal of an Asian seaman who discovers a stowaway in the cargo ship that propelled the film to be accorded the Premio Bisato D’Oro special award for Best Film by a group of Venice-based critics. The lovable low-key actor was named Esquire Philippines’s Actor of the Year, besting out other local actors who made waves in international productions. In the coming year, we will definitely see more of Cruz, whose personal life is as colorful as the many roles he gives life to on screen.
JODI SANTAMARIA: The Broken Marriage Vow, the Philippine adaptation of the hit British series Doctor Foster, gave Jodi Santamaria a best actress trophy at the 2022 Asian Academy Creative Awards. Santamaria mentioned that she was so drained after working on the series that she entertained thoughts of shifting to a new career. But after her big win, she reckoned that maybe she should stick to what she loves doing the most, which is acting. She is ending the year with an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival, a romantic comedy titled Labyu With an Accent, which was partly shot in the US.
VIVA’S VIC AND VINCENT DEL ROSARIO: The father-and-son tandem of Vic and Vincent del Rosario is unbeatable. Despite many new players, their Vivamax streaming service is still way ahead in terms of competition. Now with over a reported 5 million subscribers, Vivamax continues to reign on all fronts. The more the company produces, the more jobs are made available to Filipino film workers who were hard hit at the peak of the pandemic.
LIZA DIÑO: After six years of dedicating her life to championing Filipino films and filmmakers as chairman of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Liza Diño is back as an actress and she is starting her journey as a producer. She recently put up Fire & Ice Media and Productions Inc. and sits as the company’s CEO. She produced Becoming Ice, the very successful 40th anniversary concert of Ice Seguerra at the Solaire Resort & Casino recently, and the show will have its Cebu staging in February. Diño is currently collaborating with her filmmaker friends Pedring Lopez and John Paul Su to produce their respective new projects.
DOLLY DE LEON: 2022 is definitely the year of Dolly de Leon, who scored nominations from the Golden Globes and the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards recently. De Leon has already won one best supporting actress award courtesy of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and she is crossing her fingers to get the country’s first-ever nod at the highly touted Oscars. The stars aligned and smiled at De Leon when she auditioned and was picked by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund to play the cruise liner toilet manager Abigail in the film Triangle of Sadness, which won the coveted Palme d’Or in Cannes. Not many know that it was another international actor, Jake Macapagal, who headed the Philippine auditions team in search for the actress who will play Abigail.
FUSCHIA RAVENA: The rainbow flag was raised to the highest level once more when Fuschia Anne Ravena was crowned Miss International Queen 2022 in Thailand last June. The pageant is the world’s biggest and most prized beauty contest for transgender women and Ravena’s crown was the third for the Philippines, following wins in 2012 and 2015. In the final round of competition, Ravena said: “I will influence other people to spread love, peace and unity in order to achieve equality because, after all, we live under one sky and we breathe the same air. And even if we have differences, love remains universal.”
Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023. Cheers!