From the time she started in show business in 2000, Kapuso actress, host, social activist and painter Heart Evangelista has always wanted to try something different. While showbiz gave her everything that a girl could dream of—fame, fortune, and good life—the actress felt that it was not exactly the medium through which she could express her untapped creative energy.
But. since she had not discovered her creative outlet yet, Heart went on with her showbiz career for almost 20 years, finding success in drama, romantic, and fantasy TV shows and movies. She was paired with different leading men, bagged high-profile endorsement deals, and established herself as one of the most bankable actresses of her generation.
Success, however, did not come with a steep price. While from the outside Heart seemed happy and content, on the inside she was yearning for something that would give herself the one thing that showbiz could not: freedom.
“I got to a point in my life that I thought that I needed to get away and do something else,” the My Korean Jagiya star says, referring to the time of her life when she was going through a rough patch with her family.
Feeling alone, Heart turned to the place where she had always felt loved and accepted: art.
Painting eventually became therapeutic for Heart. Not only did it help her make sense of her situation and see things from a much clearer perspective, painting emboldened and inspired her. It gave her a purpose and a direction.
On a blank canvas, Heart poured her heart and soul out. All the things that she could not say or do she expressed through colors and brush strokes. With a brush in her hand, deftly applying oil on canvas, she was not Heart the actress. She was Heart the person.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the world to take notice of Heart’s artistic talents.
In 2014, almost a year after she took painting seriously, Heart was given the chance to mount I Am Love Marie, her first solo exhibit of dreamy female portraits, at the Art Space of the Ayala Museum. Her works were sold out within the day.
Looking back, Heart admits that she felt extremely nervous to showcase her work. More than the fear of being rejected, it was the fact that people she didn’t know would get to have a peek of her true self that unnerved her. Heart, who was used to adulation from showbiz-loving Pinoys, suddenly realized that her works exposed to the world her desires, her hopes, her dreams, the very private matters that she kept to herself for years.
“When I came out with my first exhibit, I was extremely nervous. I didn’t want them to see me. I wanted them to see my soul. This is what makes my paintings more interesting –the reality of my life. And they loved it.”
Months after her first solo exhibition, Heart held another show at Galerie Joaquin in San Juan City. In 2015, Heart had the privilege to have her Love Marie exhibit at the Chan Hampe Galleries, a successful art space at the Raffle Hotels Shopping Arcade in Singapore.
There was no turning back for Heart. Whatever her surface and medium, may it be a blank canvas or an ultra expensive Birkin Bag or a stylish Mark Bumgarner dress, Heart’s love affair with art continues to flourish.
When she was free from fears and doubts, Heart was finally able to accept herself and embrace (and fully understand) her own transformation.
And that is why Heart was chosen as one of Cream Silk’s Modern Filipinas. “Our Cream Silk women represent Filipinas who have the desire and drive to transform to their best self. These women are confident and empowered, and they possess beauty that stands out,” says Raiza Revilla, Brand Manager of Cream Silk.
As the longest-serving Cream Silk ambassador, Heart, now 32, truly epitomizes who the Modern Filipina is. She is not afraid to embrace her individuality and let her uniqueness shine through, constantly reinventing and improving herself to succeed in whatever endeavour she sets her heart to.
From being the little girl who loved doodling on walls and magazine covers to the beautiful woman filled with aspirations and confident in her own skin, Heart Evangelista seems to have transformed to the best version of herself.
“As I showed the world my art, my heart, I wasn’t just an actress. I was actually an artist. And that was my transformation.”
Watch Heart Evangelista as she shares her transformation story from actress to artist at https://tinyurl.com/HeartTransformed. Visit Cream Silk’s official YouTube and Facebook page for more details.
