Yasmien Kurdi has had a very successful career in showbusiness. After becoming runner up in the 1st edition of reality show Starstruck, she's had successful shows, films and released music.
She then took a pause to finish her studies (with flying colors in Political Science as a Magna Cum Laude!) and got married to pangga Rey Soldevilla, also had her daughter Ayesha (whome she now appears with in their family vlogs). When she did this, she told GMA Artist Center and the network, understood what she wanted to do. They gave her an open invitation to just come back when she's ready, and now she's one of GMA's prized dramatic actresses. Today, she has decided to continue her journey with GMA Artist Center.
Here's our interview with her:
Her reason for staying is simple, she feels the love of GMA. 18 years with the network is huge, they remember her, give her shows, knows what she needs for her family's welfare. When she started, she received a lot of advice from the managers, but now she's a Mom and knows how important it is to live their life even with all the pressures of work as an artist. She had a small time when she almost gave up because she wasn't getting accepted in shows, this shows her tenacity, she feels it's fate, and when she really needed it, she got where she is today. She attributes it to her joining the show Starstruck til now.
Although they don't see much of each other, they still know they would be there for each other. GMA is taking good care of her, and I'm sure, new shows will come for her after this successful one called LAS HERMANAS in GMA Afternoon prime.
We're here at the GMA Studios for what seems to be a continuation of the Walk of Fame, this was started by the late German Moreno and is now being continued by GMA Executives.
Artists who are now part of this installment include Aicelle Santos, Yasmien Kurdi, Kris Bernal, Miguel Tanfelix, Bianca Umali, Roi Vinzon, John Feir and Iya Villania. Plus Aiai Delas Alas, Gabby Concepcion, Carmina Villaroel, Megan Young, Dion Ignacio, Atom Araullo and Rovilson Fernandez.
We got to talk to some of them on the sidelines and they were all so happy to be immortalized in the sidewalks of GMA. Congratulations Kapuso!
You ain’t see action like these in GMA yet, so it is quite nice to see them do this. As PDEA Agents, they form a band together to finish people behind the deaths of their lovef ones. Bing Loyzaga will be a formidable foe, so will they succeed? Maybe.
Heated encounters, a mole in the agency will prove it very hard to solve cases. This September 9 will be a different evening as they showcase their training, real stuff which they had to undergo before shooting this. Yes, it’s called Beautiful Justice. This stars Gabbi Garcia, Bea Binene and Yasmien Kurdi. Gil Cuerva, Derrick Monasterio, Valeen Montenegro, Victor Neri, Gabby Eigenmann will reprise some of the roles in the first few weeks, what will happen to them? That’s what you’ll see on Monday.
Gabbi and Yasmien weren’t there but Bea says “There are different challenges here, on how you deliver. This is based on suggestions from PDEA agents themselves so while we try and find out or own Beautiful Justice, there will also be a bit of other cases on different days and not just our own case. This is also hard to do because we had to train for a month and continuously remain to do so til now because the project is just bold. We have had training previously but the fight sequences need us to train, all of us that is.”
The show already started yesterday so if you wanna see more, stay on GMA!
Love is happiness, love is dreamy, but what if you suddenly found out that you have HIV? Will that be the end of your relationship? Will that mean the end of your existence? What would be more painful than having it? What if you didn’t know how you got it? That’s exactly what this show will try to answer. This is “Hindi Ko Kayang Iwan Ka!”
To inspire, to make you understand what an HIV positive person would go through while living with the virus. I think this is but a noble thing to do now that the statistics shows how huge HIV incidents happen in the Philippines. This is what they call an “advocaserye” (a series about an advocacy) and it’s starred by Yasmien Kurdi, Mike Tan, Martin Del Rosario.
Milo Alto Paz the show’s Executive Producer says “It’s not your usual drama, the incidents are high and people should be aware to actually make this successful and we hope you create a lot of noise so people would know more about it.”
Martin del Rosario says “Supporting this advocacy will help a lot of people, and I hope you enjoy watching the show.”
Mike Tan adds “I hope you get something more out of the episode, we hope you can help us spread the word about the show because it’s an advocacy which GMA spearheads. It’s like a documentary and people would want to watch this, it will help them to understand it and know how to help.”
Yasmien Kurdi says “I am so nervous, but excited at the same time for you to see what we’ve done for the past few months. On February 26, please help us through social media and help us make this known through your blogs so people would be able to read about it and watch our show.”
We watched the first episode ahead of everyone this afternoon and it’s quite nice to actually see how it all started. You’ll also get to know how each individual character would get connected, as Mike Tan says fate has a lot to do with how people meet. It’s a very complicated story to tell because the topic alone means you have to explain things. You have to be patient, but be prepared also to get butterflies when Marco and Thea’s love story begins.
Ms. Gina Alajar (Marco’s Mom) and Jackie Rice (Eva is Marco’s Girlfriend) will be making the whole thing miserable. Watch out for instances where they’ll be slapping them around silly... because it will happen and the prejudice against HIV patients is real. Watch out for the show during GMA’s Afternoon Prime starting February 26.
I was keeping this post on drafts because it was taped a couple of weeks back. It was my first time joining the audience too. I was there during the launch and this Easter Sunday, you'll be seeing me on the sidelines of People versus The Stars with lovebirds and hosts Drew Arellano and Iya Villania-Arellano. During this episode you'll see the angelic but funny Jackie Rice (who also appears in Ika 6 Na Utos), Afternoon Soap Queen Yasmien Kurdi (who just finished Sa Piling Ni Nanay) and super funny Superstar impersonator and Bataan politician Teri Aunor. They'll be answering several TOUGH questions designed to confuse, outwit, and make them rich. Otherwise, the money will go to deserving audience members raffled off by a DTI representative during the shoot.
To start the game, they kinda choose a leader so if the time runs out they can declare their final answer. This time they chose Teri Aunor, which was quite a good choice because he's quite adept in answering trivia questions. You'll see how she panics because she talks too much before telling the hosts what it is. It was hilarious!
Behind the scenes, seeing Drew and Iya have fun while doing the show was actually refreshing. These two look absolutely in love, like it was if they were still boyfriend and girlfriend with the exception of the super cute baby that they have of course.
We won't tell you if they win the prize pot or not but they answered almost everything on the show. It was mostly Philippine General Information questions and I would have answered most of them myself. I like that they've got multiple choice questions and if you're not careful, you'll end up with almost nothing.
During the latter part of the show, you'll also enjoy the presence of GMA's home grown boyband ONE UP. Well, let's just say they've made some of the girls scream on the top of their lungs while the guests chose the answers to the final question.
If you would like to be part of this show you can follow their social media channels or GMA Network because they do include online participants to be part of the audience sometimes. It was fun and very educational and if you're lucky, that smartness might prove you to win moolah if you get pit against The Stars!
People VS The Stars shows every Sunday at 5PM. Don't miss it this Easter Sunday!
Today marks the release of the ONE LOVE album. It's the charity project that's got a stellar cast plus some of GMA's most promising singers who all joined up for the benefit of GMA's Kapuso Foundation. It's actually the first of its kind and judging from the talent we've seen during the blog conference, they've really been able to make this a thing to watch out for. They did some of the songs and the carrier single called "Sa Puso Mo" (In Your Heart) stood out as it was sang by a couple of people from the label and the ensemble cast who participated in the album.
These ladies (Kath Castillo, Hannah Precillas, Kai Atienza) performed the song "Broken" which is more on the emotional side of things. They're the finalists and winners of Bet ng Bayan which is a show on the same network. They find this as an opportunity not just to showcase their talent but to also help in a cause that would help a LOT of people whether they're sick, in an emergency or just in need. They're also optimistic that this could spark plans for their individual careers.
I've seen Ralf King sing with us during the Christmas Party for bloggers last December, he's one of the unquestionable people who can sing a phonebook and still sound amazing. He's also good looking too and very down to earth. I didn't get to talk with him that much but I'm vouching for this guy. He's singing one of the singles "Para Lang Sayo" (Only for You) which I find quite nice, more of a ballad/rnb type of thing when he executes it.
Nar Cabico half hosted the event. I think he's being groomed to be in that post aside from singing. He's a good chap and promises the digital album will impress critics as the songs were tailor made for Valentines day.
Julian Trono as usualy was looking so good. He's doing a duet with Lindsay De Vera and I got so naughty that I had to tease them during the interview. I think I know Julian's not single but when brought with the idea Lindsay went ahead and Friendzoned the KPOP/PPOP singer.
Don't they look sweet? I know, but Lindsay says even though she would fall in love with someone like Julian she knows she treats him like a brother and friend. They've been together since Jollitown days and since they kinda grew up together Lindsay finds him in that category. Anyway I saw her smile as she was being teased, nothing wrong with that.
Lovely Yasmien Kurdi also sang super nice one of the songs. I missed her singing. Her last album was in 2007 and it was a hit so I was wondering why there wasn't a follow up after that. She quips she had to finish her studies and had to have time with family when she left the industry a few years back. We're not alone, but hopefully after this great showing on the charity album GMA Records would be able to make her another one since she's a very spirited singer. I can tell how impressed people were when she sang one of the songs in the ONE LOVE album. She hasn't lost that touch.
A good friend, James Wright implied how much he's so eager to help co GMA Record artists in this album. He say's "they're like family and I would do the same if I were in their position". He gave us a sample of his hit song "Sana'y Ikaw" which is part of the OST of Marian Rivera's show Carmela. He's one of the nicest people I've ever encountered in show business and hope that translates how people would perceive him and his songs. He still also has his self titled album out but hopes this charity album would make people unite, love one another, important for a great country like ours.
Other artists that are also in this album include Glaiza de Castro, Derrick Monasterio, Kristoffer Martin, Kylie Padilla, Ruru Madrid, Betong Sumaya, Gabbi Garcia, Maricris Garcia, Rita Daniela (whom I talked to in the elevator) and Denise Barbacena. If you love them, you'll love this project made by JU Entertainment of Korea and GMA Records. Here's some of the videos we took during the blog conference, enjoy their performances!
