1-on-1: Kira Balinger on pageantry, MMK, and The Law of Revenge

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MANILA — Accepting another “Maalaala Mo Kaya” episode admittedly “took a lot of courage” for Kira Balinger, three years after her last starring role in the iconic drama anthology.

Balinger will star alongside Alexa Ilacad and Yves Flores in the August 14 episode of the ABS-CBN program, about siblings who strive to change their life after growing up surrounded by drugs and crime.

Balinger last appeared in “MMK” in the 2018, and has since been “hesitant” to return.

“The pressure is something else. I feel like it’s something that I wasn’t too ready for yet as an actress,” she said. “To accept another episode again, after several years, it reminded me about my love for acting.”

“It took a lot of courage to say yes again.”

In the years between her last “MMK” episode and her comeback, Balinger took on dramatic roles in back-to-back ABS-CBN series: “Pamilya Ko” in 2019, and “Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin” in 2020.

While those projects served to improve her craft, Balinger mentioned her ability to lend truth to her acting, which can be drawn from personal experience, she said.

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“I’m only 21, so there are some things that I haven’t experienced in life. There are some emotions that I do not yet know about, I don’t know how to get it out yet, to express it,” she said.

Her previous hesitance to take on another portrayal in “MMK,” is “all about really giving justice to the character.”

“Kaya ko ba? Kaya ko ba ‘tong role ko? Could I give justice to it, to the story, to the letter sender?” she said, sharing how she processed her decision. “I know that you will never be 100% ready for anything, no matter how much you prepare for it, but there are some things na alam mo sarili mo na, ‘Okay, hindi ko pa kaya, hindi ko magagawa ‘to nang tama.’”

“So I’m not going to put myself — and the production — in that position. Mahirap, e, especially now with all the lock-in: the time pressure, the budget, everything. When you step on that set, you need to know what you’re doing, for everybody’s sake, not just your own.”

Balinger credited her director in the episode, Raz dela Torre, for allaying her apprehensions, as well as her co-stars Ilacad and Flores, for “being easy to work with.”

Speaking with ABS-CBN News, Balinger also spoke about her dream of joining pageantry (a goal still far off, as she opts to focus first on acting), the Netflix debut of “Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin” as “The Law of Revenge” (she’d rather call it, “What’s Yours is Mine,” in jest), and her other passion behind the cameras (hint: Galleria de Kira).