ABS-CBN Entertainment and Electric Entertainment from the US succeeded in co-producing the Hollywood-caliber TV series, Almost Paradise. The Filipina-American actress Samantha Richelle was one of the chosen Filipino actors to play a vital role, along with American actor Christian Kane, veteran Filipino actors Arthur Acuña, Nonie Buencamino, Ces Quesada, and Raymund Bagatsing, to name a few.

The actress possesses a very tough character in the series as she portrays the role of Kai Mendoza, a police officer who is set to capture influential drug syndicates. Almost Paradise focuses on the story of Alex Walker (Christian Kane), a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover operative who faces early retirement from his job after learning he has hypertension, which can be detrimental to his life. The story escalates with his decision of relocating to an island, in hopes of having a peaceful life. But what adds tension to the story is the fact that he actually puts himself into a greater danger because of his faceoffs with the criminals lurking there.

Obviously, Samantha doesn’t just have the acting prowess, for she also has the mesmerizing beauty that would definitely make everyone turn their heads or flood her photos on Instagram with likes, such as the ones included in this gallery. 

While majority of us are probably unfamiliar with her, you’ll surely be amazed to know that she’s actually a royalty. Not because she came from an influential showbiz clan, but she’s actually the daughter of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of current Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah. 

However, she apparently chooses to keep her royal background low profile and live a simple and quiet life, yet filled with adventures, here in the Philippines together with her son Myles and husband Anton del Rosario, a professional football player. 

Aside from acting, she has an incredible talent in fashion designing, too. In fact, she has her own streetwear clothing line and was already able to launch her very first collection in 2017.

Veteran OPM artist Martin Nievera, who has known Samantha ever since she was little, had a very interesting conversation with the actress in one of the episodes of his online talk show “Martin In The House” last year, wherein she imparted how her passion for acting started and how her experience working for Almost Paradise was. 

She first shared that acting has actually been one of the things that interests her, although she didn’t see it as something that would actually be her career path. When she was still attending school and studying arts in Los Angeles, USA, she was surrounded by her friends who were actors and actresses. There was a time when she was actually asked by a friend if she could portray a character in the play he was writing, which she willingly accepted. And apparently, the guy who was directing the play was actually one of the producers of Almost Paradise. And when Samantha was finally offered the project, she was one hundred percent game to accept it, telling Martin, “I honestly didn’t think twice because I didn’t really have anything to lose”.

And when asked how she felt hearing kind words and praises from Christian Kane himself, Samantha couldn’t exactly put into words just how grateful she is. “It’s amazing to be able to hear amazing words from people like Christian Kane,” she said. 

Samantha also recalled how she prepared and worked for her scenes in the series. “I do try to memorize it as much as I can beforehand but it's so much easier for me to just sit down and memorize what’s up next,” she said, adding that she doesn’t really like to memorize everything at once. 

Samantha also shared that she had so much fun doing the trainings and choreographies for all their fight and combat scenes. And it seems like Samantha already came into the realization that acting is something that she’ll love to do again in the future, something that is surely going to be her career. “I go to set every day and it’s not work,” Samantha declared in delight.

Catch Samantha on Almost Paradise, every Sunday night on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z Channel 11.