Anne Curtis: From
party girl to best actress
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| Twitter girl: The year began with a bang for Anne, as she hit the four-million follower mark on Twitter, solidifying her status as the most followed Filipino on the site. But with more clout also comes more critics. “I’ve learned the art of deadma (not minding bashers) perfectly na.” |
It is highly unlikely that a day goes by that you do not see
Anne Curtis either on television or along major highway billboards, in the
mall, on magazine covers, at the supermarket, when you go online, or even hear
her voice on the radio. As the “Princess of All Media” turns 28 this month, her
star’s light is blinding, and is shining even brighter as each year passes.
What makes this woman everyone’s favorite sweetheart? Here are 10 things you
should know about Anne Curtis Smith.
1. She doesn’t deny
being a party girl when she was younger, and points out she was never obsessed
over her looks.
“Sobrang fun! Uuwi kami may araw na. Nights of going home at
7 a.m., because we’d eat out after going out, then even do badminton the next
day,” Anne recalls of her gimmick days. “I was so happy that I did it when I
was young. I was around 18, 19, 20, till 21. Those were the days na it was fun,
it wasn’t as hectic as it is now.” She says there was no one instance that turned
her from partyphile to responsible adult, it was only age. “I guess it comes to
that point na you all start growing up, everyone starts having boyfriends,
starts settling down, it just came naturally. You reach that point when you
just don’t want to go out anymore. You would just rather hang out to catch up.
“I was chubby! I was so chubby in the cheeks and I was so
white,” Anne bashfully adds about how she looked a decade ago. “I guess I
wasn’t so conscious back then. I don’t recall wanting to be thin, but I knew I
had to lose weight. I learned about the South Beach
diet and it worked. Now, it’s such a trend to be fit or thin.”
2. Four lessons in
love that Anne learned from past relationships:
“No more naming names,” Anne begged off with a smile. “I
don’t want that I’m in a relationship but I’m still talking about my exes.”
(Anne is currently in a relationship with businessman and food blogger Erwan
Heussaff.) She shares that she’s been lucky to have “good” breakups in all her
past relationships, and that though communication was cut for a few months, she
ended up being friends with all of them.
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1. “I don’t like to say they were mistakes or regrets;
because if you ever really did love someone, you may not be in ‘love’ with
them, but you still have that love because it was something that was genuine at
the time.”
2. “I’ve learned how to balance my career and personal life
— which is hard! If you make an effort to make them feel that they’re important
and that you have time for them, it can work. But it doesn’t happen overnight.”
3. “To just be more sensitive. As girls we sometimes have
that brattiness, that ‘I’m gonna get my way, I don’t care what you say.’”
4. “I used to have this behavior of ‘getting even.’ Now no
more. When you get even, the only person you end up hurting is yourself. It’s
better to just say, ‘Okay, moving on.’”
3. She has 10
brothers and sisters and never had any angst about her family setup. “We were
very, very lucky that we all grew up together.”
“I don’t say ‘This is my half-brother or half-sister.’ This
is my sister this is my brother. It’s really about not having that barrier of
saying this is my half, regardless of the color of your hair or skin is, you
all have the same blood somehow,” Anne explains. “I’m the panganay of the
second batch,” she says. “Then now Dad has a new family with Charlie, and Clare
Bear who passed away.” Both her father James and mom Carmen had a family prior
to their getting together, and both sides got along well even before she was
born. “No one ever had that feeling of, ‘Why does he love this family more?’
Because we were all together.
“When we’re out in Australia, it’s so funny, we’ll
meet random people when we’re out drinking beers and we’ll ask, ‘Guess what our
relation is?’ And they’ll stay there looking at us, ‘Umm, cousins? Sisters?
Whaaat?’” Anne says with a laugh.
4. Looking back, if
she could have done things differently, would she have not quit school rather
than entering show business? “I think so, yes.”
“I wish that I had done high school the normal four years,
but you know, at the end of the day I have no regrets. It got me to where I am
today,” Anne says. “I think now, it’s more doable to do both (school and
showbiz), that’s why with Jasmine (Anne’s younger sister who recently entered
showbiz), we’re very strict.”
She admits it was quite a struggle when she decided to leave
school to focus on her career. “I was probably around 15, I was two or three
years into showbiz. At that point, you can’t turn down work. Either I do it or
I miss my break. At the school I was in, they don’t accept artistas, so they
were the ones who suggested I go to DECS for home study. My whole high school
stage took me maybe six years to finish. It was just so hard.” For her junior
and senior year, she was able to get a special class schedule at Angelicum. “I
got to do cheerdancing na, at least I got to go to junior prom, I had that
sense of being in school rather than being at home just doing my modules.”
On college: “I really want to go!” Anne reveals she signed
up for open university in Australia
late last year, and got accepted. “Basically, you’re online for a class and
everyone can talk to each other. But I don’t know, I would just get awkward,
because you have forums so everyone can talk to you. I’m like, ‘Ack! I don’t
want to talk, I’m shy!” Anne shrieks. Anne, shy? “I just put it off for a
little while, maybe I’d do better if I’m actually with people.” She is leaning
towards the field of Early Education. “I love kids!”
5. The seven
life-changing decisions Anne made:
1. Saying yes to
guesting on TGIS. “It was a Christmas Special in Star
City to promote Magic Kingdom,
the film I did that time. The director Dominic Zapata asked me, “Do you want to
be part of TGIS? I said yes,” Anne says with a big smile. “Then I became part
of the cast.”
2. Moving from GMA to
ABS-CBN in 2004. “I was in Nuts Entertainment with Carmina and Gelli, and I
was talking to them about it — I should transfer, how I love Nuts Entertainment
and that “it’s so much fun. They asked, ‘Gusto mo bang umarte?’ ‘Here kasi I always
get the balikbayan roles, mga comedy, and I want to act.’ They said, ‘Then
gawin mo.’ And I did. And that was majorly life changing.”
3. Auditioning for
Kampanerang Kuba. “I knew at that time that direk Wenn (Deramas) was eyeing
a different actress. So I went into the audition knowing that there was already
someone for the role. But I was so happy that I got the role. Having the guts
to say, you know what, go, why not.”
4. Deciding to own up
to her actions. “It was when I fell over in Boracay. There was no such
thing as social media back then so it was by word of mouth, chismis, ganyan,
that I was too drunk and I fell. So when they interviewed me about it, I was 18
at that time, I said, ‘Yes, nakainom po ako.’ And if you’re known to do
teenybopper roles, it’s more like, ‘Ano ba yan napaka liberated naman.’ It’s
about just being very honest all the time, even if it was negative I always
owned up to it. I think that that is one of the major reasons why people trust
my word, because I don’t lie.”
5. Choosing to play
the other woman in No Other Woman. “Instead of playing the wife, which Viva
wanted me to do.” (Anne won a FAMAS Best Actress award for No Other Woman.)
6. Doing Showtime.
“It definitely helped change my career all together. People got to see who I
was as a person. When I act, I get roles that are either fashionista or mayaman
or kontrabida. But they saw how kalog I am in real life which is really, really
who I am.”
7. Signing up on
Twitter. “A friend just convinced us to join and we were following all
these Hollywood celebrities. It’s been a big
way that I’ve been able to connect to people, to make it more personal and
reachable.”
6. On how she chooses
her battles: “I choose not to have a battle.”
The year 2013 began with a bang for Anne, as she hit the
four-million follower mark on Twitter, solidifying her status as the most
followed Filipino on the site, with a number much higher than that of
international celebrities. But with more clout also comes more critics. “I’ve
learned the art of deadma (not minding bashers) perfectly na. Because of all
the chismis that have come my way, I’ve learned to just say okay and brush them
off,” Anne shares. “But the one thing that always gets to me is if anything is
said about my sister, or my mother, or my family. I can’t explain it! Grrr! I
cross the line if someone crosses the line.”
7. On what fearless
Anne is actually afraid to do: “I admire people who have the guts to just pack
up and leave and never look back. That’s one of the things I’ll never have the
guts to do.”
“After auditioning for a role in an indie film in the States
(she played the role of Crystal
in Blood Ransom), it crossed my mind. Should I go? Should I try it out?” Anne
shares. “But why give up something when you don’t have a concrete plan? It’s
all about taking risks and chances, but I’m not yet ready to pack up and leave.
I came from Australia
and I made a life here. To just leave and build a whole new life, it takes a
lot of courage.
“I know that I’ll follow that dream one day, but there’s no
rush,” she adds.
8. Anne’s personal
and professional bucketlist:
1. Start a business. “I haven’t gotten anywhere near it and
it’s hard. Because I haven’t started college, I don’t know a thing about
marketing or business management. But there are people who have studied that,
and it’s all about finding someone I can team up with for that. So definitely,
maybe this year.”
2. To go skydiving. “My gosh, it’s so scary! I’ve gone
bungee jumping already. But this, if your parachute doesn’t open...”
3. More concerts. “So many concerts to watch and festivals
to go to!” What’s on top of the list? “U2!”
4. More challenging roles. “I definitely want to do
something action, like Angelina Jolie. But it’s hard because sometimes there’s
no audience for that. Or maybe a romantic comedy with action like Mr. and Mrs.
Smith. Or a dark role, like Girl Interrupted.”
5. An Australian tour. “Erwan and I really make an effort to
go somewhere we’ve never been when we travel. I’m from Australia, but
I’ve never actually done a full-on tour! I never leave Melbourne,
New South Wales, Queensland. But it’s so big, there’s still
the northern territory, South Australia, Ayers Rock, and all the
major monuments.”
6. To own at least one first-edition book. “I recently
renovated my apartment and in my new library, I want to have all hardbound
books.”
9. Anne Curtis in
numbers:
22: Total number of current endorsements, with five more
coming out soon.
30: Number of moles on her body. “There are probably some in
places I don’t even know!”
100: Estimated number of pairs of shoes in her collection.
85: Percent of earnings saved. “For basic spending, there
are certain sweldos that are meant to pay the bill. I have quotas for myself
every year, and until I reach my quota, I can’t spend anything. I only spend
when I go out of the country.”
15,0000-plus: Estimated crowd at “Annebisyosa No Other
Concert” in Araneta Coliseum. She had 12 costume changes and 10 special guests.
10. She admits to
wanting to live a quiet life someday. “Like Audrey Hepburn, who bought a house
in Switzerland and would
just fly to Hollywood
to shoot movies. But it doesn’t work like that here.”
“I really, really enjoy what I do, and I won’t stop until
I’m too tired talaga to work. That’s why I take one month or two-week
vacations, because you need that so you don’t get burnt out,” Anne shares. “But
it’s not anytime soon before I stop working or settle down, no, not anytime
soon. I want to at least have enough set aside to live by the means I want to.
I don’t want to be some has-been that has nothing left of what she worked hard
for.”
On the massive success she has achieved, she says: “I’m
really enjoying it while I can. It was a really, really long climb to get where
I am now. It didn’t come easily for me. I’ve been in the industry, going on 16
years, so right now I’m just enjoying it. Because at any time, you know, the
seasons will change. As my dad always says, ‘There’s always someone younger
than you, young lady, so if I were you enjoy it while you can.’”
* * *
Anne is known for always telling her fans to “dream big” and “go for
their dreams.” What if a young girl tells her, “It’s easy for you to say go for
your dreams, look in the mirror, not everyone is that beautiful.” Anne replies:
“That’s why I add that you have to have patience and faith in yourself. It’s
not like my dreams started to happen overnight. I’ve been in the industry since
I was 12 and it’s just in the past three years when everything started to fall
into place. You really have to have patience. I don’t want them thinking na
parang you can just dream and think that it will happen. You have to want it
and pursue it. That’s why I say I’m a pursuer of dreams.”
