Actress Jodi Sta. Maria’s entryway to showbiz was via teen roles she portrayed for youth-oriented Kapamilya programs Gimik and Tabing Ilog; with the latter’s episodes still craved by the audiences until these millennial times.
Over the years, Jodi has evolved into a more versatile actress and she managed to secure her spot as one of the industry’s most powerful gems. Only Jodi can act like sunshine one moment and an intimidating antagonist the next. She can pull off dual roles, too; like her portrayal of two identical strangers with opposing personalities in Sana Dalawa Ang Puso.
At 36 and after two decades in the industry, Jodi still explores in search of challenges. Elevating her status as a power actress even more, Jodi stars in the mystery-thriller Sino ang Maysala? Mea Culpa as Fina Baniaga, a plain farmer who unfortunately loses her newborn.
The pilot week of the provoking series displayed Jodi’s intense dramatic scenes as she suffers the agony of getting separated with her child. Jodi finds her character quite grueling to portray as it requires extreme emotions that she sometimes fail to put off post-take. When this happens, she makes a conscious effort to nudge her mind the difference between her fictional persona and her reality.
“I feel so old!” the seasoned actress exclaims as she talks about working with a roster of promising millennial stars. “Nakakahawa ‘yung grit ng mga batang ito”, Jodi says referring to her younger co-actors in the teleserye. Working in the industry for twenty years has already opened her eyes for raw talent; and she has seen it in her Sino ang Maysala? Mea Culpa fellow artists.
Jodi gives utmost importance to passion and humility and these are the basic tools she encourages other dreamers to get a hold of. While she sees nothing wrong with trying someone’s luck in showbiz due to financial gains or popularity, she still believes that an aspiring actor’s motivation must extend beyond this surface. Jodi believes that a sincere love for one’s work would produce better output. She also adds the value of building good camaraderie with everyone in the set, saying showbiz is just a small world.