Eugene Domingo

Unlike in Hollywood, few local acting gems have showcased versatility. In the Philippines, dramatic actors are often forever boxed as that, and so with comic fellows.

Current sensation Eugene Domingo hopes she’d be able to get out of the comedy genre one day and be welcomed into a more serious one. While most people think of her as impossible to be taken as a drama act in a certified tear-jerker or a lead actress in a horror movie without comic flavor, she is determined to show she is beyond the celebrity who makes people laugh.

“Sana i-consider ninyo po ako sa susunod na panahon na isang artista na gagawin ang lahat, hindi lang comedy,” she says during the presscon for her TV5 series “Inday Wanda” held recently at Rembrandt Hotel in Morato.

After scoring blockbuster comedy movies and with her visibility as a TV comedienne, Eugene is oft-regarded as heiress to the throne of “Tanging Ina” Ai Ai delas Alas. This and with how actors are usually defined in Philippine showbiz makes it unlikely that her tag as a comedy figure would one day wear off.

On a positive note, she’s too good at comedy that audiences expect her to crack jokes all the time. In TV5’s upcoming series, she plays the title role of “Inday Wanda” who is a household maid poser whose real mission is “to fight back and keep demons from entering the world.” The series is a mix of comedy and fantasy which writer Dwight Gaston, formerly of “Batibot,” does not qualify as sitcom. He feels it is a comedy with a cliffhanger of an ending in each episode versus a typical sitcom where a problem is solved at the tail of each episode.

At the presscon, Eugene, who describes her character as “masipag at puro ang pag-iisip” once again threw the punchlines. Referring to co-star Ariel Rivera, she pointed out, “Sana maraming ganito, gentleman pero hindi corny. Matalino at hindi takot sa bading!”

Ariel, in his first project as a Kapatid talent, threw back a compliment: “Nahihirapan ako to work with her kasi every sequence matatawa ka sa kanya.”

“Inday Wanda,” which airs on August 5, Thursday, 7:30 p.m., also stars Alicia Mayer, Long Mejia, Ella Cruz, Gene Padilla, and Cogie Domingo as Toryo the Demon Lord.

Insisting that she can’t be boxed in whatever way, Eugene puts logic why she’s one of the very few who appear significantly in all three networks, namely, ABS-CBN, GMA, and TV5. “Di ko sinasabi na lahat dapat katulad ko. But for me, mas epektibo ako kung malaya ako at nagagawa ko kung anong gusto kong gawin. For me, importante ‘yung commitment mo sa isang bagay, may pakikisama ka, at tumutupad ka sa usapan.”

Humility likewise plays a role. When compared with Ai Ai, she almost had a ready answer: “Ai Ai is always ahead of me. Iba siya talaga.”

The two ace comediennes are set to appear together in “Tanging Ina Mo Rin.”