From being the bratty and crabby middle child Nikki Grace Lim in the highly successful daytime drama Be Careful With My Heart that served as her teleserye debut a decade ago, Janella Salvador is now set to send chills down our spines as she plays the iconic fictional Filipina villain Valentina in the much-awaited “Mars Ravelo’s Darna” that will premiere on August 15.
But before she astounds us with her another sure-fire performance, let us look back first on her childhood through this feature, which also exhibits some of her adorable throwback photos that we collated in an album!
Fondly called by family and close friends as Jea, her full name is actually Janella Maxine Desiderio Salvador. She was born in Cebu on March 30, 1998. Her actress-mom Jenine Desiderio was West End musical actress and her musician-dad Juan Miguel Salvador is a decorated singer-songwriter and vocalist of Rage Band. But their relationship was short-lived as they called it quits in 2002 when Janella was only four years old.
Despite having celebrity parents, Janella seemingly had an ordinary childhood as she got to experience joining in Halloween trick or treat while cladded in a cute Darna costume, signing up as a Star Scout, and just enjoying the things that kids like her love to do.
With parents that are both musically talented and part of the entertainment industry, it didn’t come as a surprise when she followed their footsteps and tried her hand in singing and acting. At a young age, Janella already scored guestings in various local television shows and a lead role in a school musical through which she’s able to showcase her singing prowess. And in one of those appearances, she was discovered by talent manager Manny Valera, who later on co-managed her career alongside Star Magic.
From simply having guestings, she went on to land a role in Be Careful With My Heart as the well-loved Nikki, who amused and endeared audiences with her being “conyo” and perky personality. Her promising talents gave her a spot in Star Magic Circle 2013, as well as her first-ever teleserye lead role via the 2015 daytime drama Oh My G!.
Janella has managed to carve her own path in the local entertainment and make a name for herself as an actress and singer. Aside from being recognized through her works in the teleseryes and movies she starred in, she’s also able to reap nominations and trophies as a recording artist.
It’s truly amazing how far Janella has already come ever since we first saw her on Be Careful With My Heart 10 years ago. And we can’t wait to see her shed off her sweet girl aura as the Gen Z Valentina in “Mars Ravelo’s Darna.” Way to go, Jea!