Angel Aquino On Her Journey To Becoming An Actress

During her first Vogue Philippines shoot, Angel Aquino opens up on her journey as an actress.

Believe it or not, Angel Aquino was surprised to be featured in Vogue Philippines with the likes of Maricel Soriano, Nova Villa, Gina Alajar, and Alessandra De Rossi. “Are you sure they want me on this shoot? This is for big actors!” she says. Her humility is disarming, especially when she’s worked with big names: the “king of comedy” Dolphy, veteran film actress Sharon Cuneta, and award-winning actress Hilda Koronel, to name a few. “It’s an honor to be on the roster with them,” she says, gushing about her fellow actresses on the day of the shoot.

It also reunited her with familiar faces, including one that brought her back to her modeling days: photographer Neal Oshima, whom she credits with launching her acting career. “I was a model for a few years, and then Neal Oshima took photos of me, and Butch Perez saw the photos, and he said, ‘I think she can be in my film,’” she says. She played the role of Dolores, a Banaue princess, in the film Mumbaki (1996). Over 10 years, she made her way from playing supporting roles to main characters, adding accolades to her name as she grew in the industry.

All of this, and she never thought that she could become an actress. “I’ve always been so shy, so I never thought I could act,” she says. Jeffrey Jeturian, who discovered Angel, helped her become comfortable in front of cameras by introducing her to modeling. “He kind of broke the ice for me,” she says. “I eased my way into acting, into the show business, and I learned everything along the way.”

Even after all this time, she confesses that she still gets intimidated by the cameras. “When you’re breaking down or there’s a big scene, those things are still so nerve-wracking for me,” she says. She also expresses her admiration for younger actors. “In everything they do, their self-confidence, my god! It’s through the roof!” she says in a mix of Filipino and English. “And I’m like, ‘Damn, I wish I had the confidence back in the day!” But as she reminds herself, to each their own. That is, every actor has their own process and journey.

It’s a sentiment that extends to her advice for aspiring actors. “There’s not one medium that will be effective for everybody. It’s really different. You have to find your voice, you have to find your technique. You have to find what works for you,” she says.

In finding that voice, she hopes that actors will use it for good. “As actors, we have a very strong voice, and I really hope that actors use that as the right channel to fight for the right things,” she says. “You’re available to everybody. You’re very accessible. So, it’s very powerful, and we have to respect that power, and we have to know how to use that power.”

It seems that acting has made Angel not only break her shyness but also be adventurous in her life. She recalls filming Donsol, where she swam with a whale shark. “I felt that I was touched by God,” she says. In moments like these, where she has to muster up the courage, she references the title of Jennifer Aniston’s film—that she has to Just Go with It.