Cherie Gil
Perfecting Kontrabida

“You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat.”

So said Lavinia Arguelles, better known as Cherie Gil, to Sharon Cuneta’s character Dorina Santos, complete with the emptying of her glass of water on the bida’s face in Bituing Walang Ningning.  And that, of course, placed Gil in a league of her own – an icon, in not so many words.

It all started for Gil – daughter of Eddie Mesa and Rosemarie Gil, and sister of Michael de Mesa and Mark Gil – when she was nine years old, starring in Cofradia with future sister-in-law Gina Alajar.  Then as a teenager, she mentored under Regal Films’ Elwood Perez for her breakout movie Problem Child (1981).

Gil as she is widely known now, however, established an identity as a villainess, which, she recalls in an earlier interview may have started “with all these Sharon Cuneta films.  I did Bituing Walang Ningning, (and) then it went on from there.”  In fact, that characterization has “gotten in the way of my day-to-day life in that sometimes, people think I'm a kontrabida in real life. When I'm at work, I even have to try hard to get people to relax in my presence.”

Going outside the typecasting, though, Gil has long proven her merit as a well-rounded actress, even with stints in Atlantis Productions' staging of Doubt, the Pulitzer, Tony and Drama Desk award-winning play by John Patrick Shanley; and in Barefoot in the Park.

Gil credits her family for influencing her not so much in terms of choosing the film industry to establish a career, but for being in a field that they love to be at (“We're not really here for a career. It's more that we're here because this is what we love to do. Because if you call it a career, it means you're already making it your profession. The decision-making process should start even before the career comes in. You've got to be true to yourself. There are so many people in the business who are there merely for economic reasons, and not because they have the passion for it,” Gil was once quoted as saying).

There are numerous actresses wanting to make a mark as villains – from Katrina Halili to Ruffa Gutierrez to whoever – but all can learn so much from Gil: that it’s beyond being snobbish or strict or whatever, it has to do with the whole package.  No small wonder, therefore, that Gil will continue to remain in a league of her own.