Turning 34 last August 4, Dominic Ochoa was all smiles when he faced the media during Star Magic’s birthday presscon. The actor admitted he had a lot of reasons to be happy. Aside from currently being part of the afternoon soap Ligaw Na Bulaklak and weekend series Varga, Dom will also be seen in a new show on TV5 called Hush Hush. So even during his birthday, he was too busy with tapings to even celebrate.

“I was taping for Hush Hush and Ligaw na Bulaklak the whole day. It’s okay with me because I enjoy the work. I’m thankful for the projects they give me,” he said. Dominic has started to delve into more mature roles like his contrabida turn in Bituing Walang Ningning. The actor admits that although this is a far cry from his lighter roles in Gimik and Whattamen (which he did with best friends Marvin Agustin and the late Rico Yan), he has embraced the fact that he will be taking on mature roles from now on. He even played the role of father to the young Varga in the weekend series.

For Dominic, he sees no problem in working for different networks. He sees these different projects as working and acting opportunities. “Honestly I never really compared stations when I’m working for them. But for me, it’s basically the same people rin naman eh. The people working sa kabila, nakatrabaho ko na rin. Some of them used to work for channel 2 too. These were people who transferred. So parang ganun din,” he added. But this doesn’t mean his sense of loyalty has wavered. Dominic isn’t shy to say he’s a proud Kapamilya through and through. “I’m very happy with ABS-CBN. I started here and I hope to end here also. But the reason why I’m working for other channels is because I’m not really closing my doors on doing other work. And even though I’m really not the main artist in channel 2, babalik at babalik pa rin ako sa bahay ko,” he said with a smile.

Apart from showbiz, his business venture Thumbs Up ice cream has been doing well over the years with future plans for expansion. His four-year relationship with makeup artist Denise Go is going strong, with the actor planning to propose anytime this year. There’s even talk that the wedding will take place in Italy. Dom is hopeful that a wedding date can be set early next year. “She did my makeup before kaya kami nagkakilala. We’re both happy with each other. As far as I’m concerned, I’m very happy with her. Sana ganun din siya sa akin (laughs),” he declared.