By Irish Christianne Dizon from The Philippine Star
Read the full article here.
“If I want to be one of the best of my generation, I have to study where real standard of acting was set.”
-Jake Cuenca, LSTFI alumnus
MANILA, Philippines – The first thing Jake Cuenca did at this Supreme cover shoot was to take his shirt off for no apparent reason. He sat down on the makeup chair and deftly removed his white cotton tee without saying a word. That wasn’t a classic D-Bag move, though. The dude wasn’t trying to impress anyone with his abs. He was actually worried about staining his vintage top — a souvenir from a journey that changed his life.
Last year, Jake went on a month-long quest for new acting techniques at the famous Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York — “The home of Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, Marlon Brando, and all these big names,” he explained. One can’t just waltz into the acting school with loads of cash and demand a spot, apparently: Just like everyone else, Jake had to go through the strict application process. He got in because of his solid portfolio. (In fact, while he was getting schooled in the Big Apple, Jake won his first Best Actor Award at the 2014 International Film Festival Manhattan for his role in the indie movie Awaken.) Many of his classmates were working actors from all over the world, as far as Brazil and Russia. A handful had even trained for years at Stella Adler, another noted acting school. In that environment, Jake was a sponge, hungrily absorbing everything he could. “I don’t like acting the same way every single time,” he said, explaining his decision to leave Manila, fresh from the success of the soap Ikaw Lamang. “If I want to be one of the best of my generation, I have to study where real standard of acting was set.”
“It’s the home of Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, Marlon Brando, and all these big names.”
Jake Cuenca is an alumnus of The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute®. Learn more about the programs and classes available here. Apply here.