MANILA -- Marking 25 years in show business is an admirable, if not enviable, feat for any showbiz star. No wonder, actress Mickey Ferriols cannot be thankful enough for the years she has been in the business.

While she started as a commercial model and TV host, Ferriols made her mark acting on TV and the big screen. She will be always be grateful to ABS-CBN for whom she has been doing projects for nearly two decades now.

“I am that way, sa kung sino man ang tumulong sa akin,” Ferriols told ABS-CBN News. “ABS-CBN got me for nearly two decades now. They’ve been giving me projects. Sa dami ng artista ngayon, I still can’t believe na marami pa ring projects na dumadating sa akin.

“Ang dami kong contemporaries na magagaling at maganda din. [Laughed] The gratefulness and gratitude ko sa ABS-CBN, ibinibigay ko lang sa kanila at sinusuklian ko rin naman ang suportang binigay nila sa akin. ABS-CBN is my constant.”

Among the projects that she did for ABS-CBN, Ferriols is particularly grateful for doing memorable teleseryes like “Sana Maulit Muli,” “Hiram,” “Diyosa” and “A Soldier’s Heart.”

“Ang mga projects na binibigay sa akin ng ABS-CBN, laging may kabuluhan,” she said. “Those four shows will always be at the top of my head. I’ve been working for a long time for ABS-CBN.”

The network has allowed her to freelance after so many years. She has done films like Edgardo Viñarao’s “Honey, Nasa Langit Na Ba Ako?” (1998), Marilou Diaz Abaya’s “Jose Rizal” (1998), Jose Javier Reyes’ “Kung Ako Na Lang Sana” (2003), Chito S. Roño’s “Caregiver” (2008), Maryo J. de los Reyes’ “I’ll Be There” (2010) and Jerome Pabocan’s “Born To Love You” (2012).

Recently, Ferriols joined Viva Artists Agency (VAA) and she cannot be thankful enough to start a new chapter of her life with a new management outfit.

“Ang dali ng pag-uusap namin ng Viva,” Ferriols said. “When I was looking for new management, I asked myself, ‘Why don’t I try Viva? They are pretty distinguished as a management company.’ Hindi ako nagkamali.”

In her future film projects, Ferriols does not mind working with young actors even in a May-December affair.

"Ang role kasi naming actors is to act,” Ferriols maintained. “So, whatever new acting challenge or new role is given to me. I will gladly welcome that and do it. As long as there’s nothing torrid. Hindi na bagay sa akin. Hindi ko kakayanin.”

The name of young actor Marco Gumabao was floated to be Ferriols’ possible co-star in a May-December romance.

“I acted with Marco in ‘MMK [Maalaala Mo Kaya]’ before and he played my son,” she explained. “Hindi ko ma imagine that I will be paired with him. If ever, one day, a role like that will come, ang sarap lang isipin how you will do the role.”

Ferriols expressed her desire to work with young stars like Julia Barretto. “I’ve worked with Gerald Anderson in a teleserye, ‘A Soldier’s Heart.’ When you’re with young actors and actresses, you feel young also. That’s why I want to work with them. Ang sarap mag-experiment.”

She was doing “A Soldier’s Heart” when the lockdown was declared in March last year. “Our taping was stopped, but ABS-CBN found a way to do lock-in taping later on. We were the first one who resumed our lock-in taping. It was very doable.”

After “A Soldier’s Heart,” Ferriols is slated to be seen in the forthcoming “Init sa Magdamag” on the Kapamilya Channel.

This pandemic brought Ferriols a lot of realizations. “How we should take care of our health especially us who are in showbiz. We know na pare-pareho kaming naka-exposed while we are all working,” she explained.

“The importance of family. Kung gaano ka-fragile ang buhay ng tao. It made me realize that God is always in control, kahit ano’ng mangyari, maganda or masama.”

Ferriols does not also discount the fact that contravida roles are up her alley. “I tried playing contravida before in the teleserye, ‘Kokey at Ako,’” Ferriols said. “Direk Wenn [Deramas] made me do it. I haven’t done that before. Ang ganda ng experience.

“Sobrang naging taxing for me. Nakaka-drain siya. But I got to experiment the different nuances of a contravida. Tapos comedy pa. Medyo laid back. I haven’t tried playing contravida in a serious drama.”

Ferriols acknowledged she has been so blessed to have acted with many actors in the past. “I like Anne Curtis. I really wanted to work with her before. Then she played my daughter in ‘Diyosa’ [2008].

“There were so many opportunities at that time. Ang daming missed opportunities, if I’m being honest. That is a regret. The opportunities and my career, the way I will take care of it now. If I only knew better then, I wish naalagaan ko ang mga opportunities.”

As far as her personal life is concerned, Ferriols admitted she is not into a relationship at the moment. She is happy merely being with her unico hijo, 15-year-old Brent Marcus, her son with actor Archie Alemania.

“Archie and I have been separated for 12 years now and we have built a friendship,” Ferriols said. “No more malice, whatever. Am I ready for a new love? To be honest, I am not looking for one. But if God will give one, why not, di ba?”

She does not deny, though, she had two serious, non-showbiz relationships after Alemania. But both didn’t last.

“With Archie and I, we have no straight rules na dumaan sa korte,” Ferriols said. “Wala kaming gano’n. I am always thinking, Brent needs Archie as much as Brent also needs me.

“So Archie can see him anytime. In April, Brent will go to Boracay with his dad to celebrate his birthday. He is very close to both of us. Mabait siya. He listens to both of us.”

Her son previously wanted a sibling. “There was a time, nanghihingi siya,” Ferriols said of her boy. “I told him, ‘Hindi kasi tayo pinalad. Hindi naka-tadhana’.”

However, the boy is certainly interested to join showbiz, too. “He would tag along in tapings with both Archie and I,” Ferriols said. “So he also developed an interest in showbiz. Maybe when Brent is ready, I will not stop him.”

Aside from acting, Ferriols has gone back to her childhood passion which is painting. As early as grade school, she started sketching and portraiture. In high school and college, she started painting seriously.

However, when Ferriols joined showbiz, she had no choice but to set aside painting. “Five years ago, I told myself, ‘This [painting] is really my passion. I kept coming back to painting. Inalagaan ko na rin. In November, I will have a two-woman show with Teresa Loyzaga.”

Ferriols wanted to become a dentist when she was a young girl. However, she got sidetracked from that childhood ambition when she joined showbiz.

“I loved hosting. Then, nasabak ako sa acting. I guess kung ano ‘yung nandiyan sa harapan mo, gagalingan mong mabuti. I guess that was what I did. No regrets.”

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