As always, it was a happy and inspiring conversation with Andi Abaya! The young actress brought her vibrant energy to Kapamilya Chat and talked about her favorite moments on the set of The Iron Heart.
Andi is grateful to be part of a big teleserye with a formidable cast. She still feels awestruck whenever she encounters the show’s big stars in their hotel. The ‘kilig’ even gets more real when she’s acting with them as how she felt when she first had a scene with lead actor Richard Gutierrez. In that scene, Richard’s Apollo visited their place to confront Sue Ramirez’s character Venus. The good thing is she and Jhai Ho had to act ‘kilig,’ so they didn’t have to hide what they truly felt.
Just to be part of this show is already an achievement. But to learn from her co-stars takes the honor much, much higher. She’s amazed at how her co-artists exude grace and humility despite their stature. They also inspire her to better herself and love acting more.
Their favorite bonding activities in the bubble are usually food trips and making TikTok videos. The trio of Andi, Sue, and Jhai Ho are as close-knit as their characters in real life, with Jhai Ho as their ‘nanay-nanayan.’ She also discovered Sue’s funny side and a bit of her being ‘palaban’ like Venus.
In portraying her gregarious character, the biggest challenge was to learn how to speak Tagalog fast sans her natural conya accent. Andi is glad she’s getting better at it, knowing it will help her showcase her versatility as an actress.
Her character as Maia is off to a more exciting narrative, with eyes finally open to the real, darker side of the world. She will have more interactions with Troy (Louise Abuel), who is part of a troll farm. Andi said it’s an honor to work with Louise, who started as a child actor, praising his talent sharpened through the years. She further revealed that Louise has a fun personality.
Apart from acting, The Iron Heart teaches Andi independence since she has to travel solo to their filming location in Cebu City. She felt anxious at first but is now getting used to it. Sometimes, she’d tape in Cebu for a day and immediately go back to Manila for her other show, “Teen Clash.” On top of that, she is currently enrolled at De La Salle University.
It’s a difficult task juggling all these commitments. But as Andi says, you’ll never feel too tired when you love what you do.
In the latter part of the interview, she responded to questions from netizens. When asked if she’s ready for action scenes, she thought that while gun handling and physical fights won’t fit Maia’s character, she wants to experience more intense scenes like getting abducted by Tatsulok.
On her similarities with Maia, she divulged that they are both caring and empathetic.
Catch Andi in The Iron Heart, weeknights, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, and A2Z.