"I choose roles that I know I can breathe truth and life into. If it doesn’t ring true inside me then I will just fall short of the material and myself and would much rather pass on it."

"Life should always be about learning something new. I would love to learn to speak fluently in as many languages as possible. Photography as well."

"What other jobs would I be doing outside of acting? I would have loved to teach teens and kids anything about the performing arts."

"I like projecting strong. I like projecting feisty and being an instrument in empowering our women of today."

"I really never branded the characters I have been offered as kontrabida (villain) nor do I believe in typecasting."

"I do not believe in black and white portrayals of characters."

"Life is a journey of learning from our mistakes and human errors. So in the case of my characters, I try to relive all these for all so that they may identify with it and realize that there is always rhyme and reason for our reactions and behavior and eventually find redemption in the end. They have just got to be human."

"I just try to breathe in a real human being into the characters I play and try to emanate the different nuances we all go through in real life. Human beings are complex. All of us go through our good and dark sides every so often depending on our daily impetus and experiences."

"It's now part of my life. So I have to be grateful for it. I tend to forget that I was in the middle of a tsunami. Then I am jolted, and I realize that it did happen."

"It wasn't so bad for us. The hotel was at the far end of the cove. I didn't see the wave coming. I didn't see people drowning. But it was chaotic, and I was very scared for my kids."

"I shall listen to that song tomorrow to begin a great day. I keep your words to heart."

"I call on the art gods to touch us in our most vulnerable, most selfless, most loving parts."

"It’s clearly knowing that life is just so fleeting. That we can be sucked out from this earth any time and for whatever reason. To seize every moment is what I have learned. Not to think things too much. To be in the moment of what our true human natures are called for."

"I am cherishing it all. I finally hear the birds chirping on my eight-floor balcony in this concrete jungle called Metro Manila. I never even took the time to listen till now"

"A symbol of hope. I believe strongly that this may very well be the ‘new normal’ -- going back to basics and being food secure and self-sufficient."

"Sometimes I wonder if the past is more important than the future and then realizing, that now is the only thing that we can control."

"This is what this is all about and what it's meant to be – to reassess ourselves, our values, our actions, our connections, and our behaviors in life, and to others. A time to reflect on all that matter and what doesn’t."

"At the end of it all, what happens to become the strongest force in me and the strongest energy is that of being a mother."

"Save money, ‘yun talaga (that's really it). It may not be the means and end but it is necessary for us to be safe, stable and secure so we can continue to grow."

"One should be able to observe, to listen, to imagine and to communicate. All that is so important to be able to deliver as an actor."

"Kumbaga (So to speak), it was a good time to find out that I was slowly being set free of my own."

"You know, actors are the most insecure species. I think people don’t know that."

"You know, the best directors become parents to their actors. They are the people you look up to and learn from."

"That’s a whole different discipline, to discover ways to do it differently and still be fresh which to me comes from my theater experience. So, I would love to have that kind of process as well to see how far it can play and how much more you can give."

"What an amazing profession! It’s something I can do, hopefully, for the rest of my life."

"Actually, this theater really broke the mold for me to feel that I’m growing and evolving as an actor. I’m just so happy that the door was opened to me in that regard — to walk into theater and discover a whole new, different milieu and different ways of learning and playing amazing roles."

"I didn’t attend theater. I didn’t attend any kind of training. Now I understand and it’s making it a part of who you are."

"I was a teacher last year in acting. And I never felt so fulfilled and inspired like when you share something, you take in more than what you can actually give them because they live with something different."

"As an actor, teach!"

"They are my drive! They are the ones who have proven to me what evolution is all about and becoming better than the past generation."

"I will continue to do this for as long as I can because I love acting, and also I love to do theater."

"I think the most effective advice my mom ever told me both for career and parenting as well and for being a human being is to be most of all honest. As honest one can be to yourself and to others."

"I want women to believe that they can become who they want to become and that they are even more powerful than the men. No, you know what, it’s not a contest, its just, be. Be what they can be. And express themselves in the way that they should to be able to inspire other women. I want to break boundaries, I want to move forward."

"I know I have made a mark. Please tell me I’ve made a mark."

"Listen. The legacy, I’m not going to let it die, there’s so much more to give. We have the next generation, and there’s still more to come."

"Music is the only medium, the only form of art that is invited to play in cathedrals."

"He’s a guy who thinks differently. His perspective in life is different. He believed in me. He showed me the world. He showed me his world—a world of genius and high art. Something you don’t just pick up from a supermarket. The professionalism. The dedication. When I watch him teach his students in his Masters classes, even for the minutest detail of every note, he would stop to show them the right position."

"All the characters are fighting for something meaningful, something that’s true, something that's even spiritual. It’s about the power that keeps us alive and helps us survive and cope, knowing that among each other, we can find a resolve, especially in this time and age."

"Ang diamond naman hindi siya maganda sa umpisa (A diamond is not pretty at first), but you have to clean it out, shape it to make it beautiful."

"Just keep on going, believing in your dreams and it will someday take you where you are supposed to be."

"I want to tell them na (that) if ever they don't win, it's not the end-all and be-all of their life. God may have other plans for you, di ba (don't you think)?"

"I flew and spread my wings as wide as I possibly could! I’ve had my bad landings, not to mention missed turns and glass window splats spiraling head first into the ground, sometimes even bloody, but healed those chipped wings nonetheless and slowly made my way up to flight once again no matter."

"I’m just a human being. We go through the same ropes of the downs, the highs, and the lows. I am not going to be surprised if I die a pauper, but I have lived a life."

"I’ve always aspired that one day, I would pass on what I’ve learned from the years I’ve been in the industry of show and performance."

"When I am onstage, I am most happy. It demands more discipline from me. It demands more sanity, and it demands more challenge inside me that makes me feel growth."

"I realized that at the end of the day, it all comes down to getting to know the person better and understanding every story each person goes through."

"“It’s an exciting ride but at the same time of course, no risk, no gain. Kailangang mag-evolve and this is a new learning process for me.""

"That’s why I said I wouldn’t do something unless I don’t have full trust in the right people. They’re the masters, I’m just the actor."

"My life and how I live it. My freedom, my choices. I don’t wanna live in a box."

"The nice thing about being in a marriage with Chiz is that he has always respected the many seasons of my life that I'm going through."