His character Carlos Fiero may be aggressive and merciless on Dirty Linen, but, unbeknown to many, John Arcilla is actually lighthearted and gregarious in real life, as what we’ve seen in his recent Hotspot interview.

In this snippet, he was asked by host DJ Jhai Ho to describe his co-stars who portray the characters that comprise his onscreen and fictitious family – the Fieros – which he gleefully did.

First off was Francine Diaz, a.k.a. his daughter Chiara Fiero, who he regarded as “napaka-sensitive, napakagaling, napakagandang bata” and jested how she and DJ Jai Ho are each other’s spitting image.

When it comes to his onscreen son Zanjoe Marudo, who plays Aidan, he imparted that aside from being sensitive, his conversations with him also made him discover that he’s actually a “thinking actor.” And he’s so happy that he got to work with him in this project as his child, as he considers himself as a proud father to him.

Meanwhile, as Jhai Ho mentioned Angel Aquino, who portrays his younger sister Feliz Fiero-Pavia, John expressed how he salutes and loves her so much. He went on to liken her to a “hunyango” or chameleon because of how she can exceptionally and flawlessly portray any role bestowed to her. While a lot of people knows it for sure, it really bewilders him that she doesn’t have any inkling about it. And he finds it as “the beauty of her soul.”

He only had one word for Janice de Belen, who plays as his cunning wife Leona, which is “intelligent.” According to him, she’s a “combination of heart and mind, technique and realism all in one.” Her experience, professionalism, and wisdom as an actress combined are what he finds adorable about her so much.

And lastly, for Tessie Tomas, who does a compelling job of playing the role of his domineering and manipulative mother Doña Cielo, he tagged her as “witty, funny, and intelligent.” According to him, “she’s not just funny and witty for nothing, because she’s also such a very intellectual icon with a lot of sensibilities.” He also added how he finds her being “spontaneous” admirable.

When asked to describe the Fiero Family as a whole, he uttered “baliw.” However, for him, the infamous fictitious family is just like any other normal family because they, too, have their own share of secrets, scandals, differences. It just so happened that they’re under our magnifying glass and they are very expressive with their feelings. Thus, he couldn’t help but utter, “Sobrang ang sarap gawin, Jhai. Sobrang ang sarap.”

Catch John on Dirty Linen, weeknights on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, and TV5.