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How Race Matias feels about acting alongside Maricel Soriano in “Lavender Fields”

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Liezel dela Cruz

Those who&#x27;ve seen his portrayal of Atty. Matteo Bautista in &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/linlang2023/">Linlang</a>,&quot; and now in &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/lavenderfields/">Lavender Fields</a>&quot; as Agent Eric Pascual, will surely agree that Race is one promising actor. While showbiz might be in his DNA as the son of Herbert Bautista, Race is here to make his own mark—and do it his way.In his interview with his &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/lavenderfields/">Lavender Fields</a>&quot; co-star Maricel Soriano, uploaded to the latter&#x27;s vlog channel, Race opened up about his start in showbiz and how he’s continuously learning, enjoying the process, and pursuing his passion, one role at a time.Before he became the actor we see on screen today, Race was all about dancing. He was part of the La Salle Greenhills Airforce dance team back in high school. But as life would have it, he was removed from the group when his grades slipped during his senior year. Sounds like a setback, right?However, the LSGH Airforce coach, Vimi Rivera, didn&#x27;t let go of Race&#x27;s potential and recruited him instead to Legit Status, the group founded by Coach Vimi and which took Race all the way to the Hip Hop International stage in 2015, competing against teams from almost 50 countries.For college, Race flew to the United States to study filmmaking. He remembers living independently there, without anyone to rely on. A classmate from one of his classes cast him in a short film project for a school requirement, and that&#x27;s when he realized he enjoyed acting in front of the camera even more. Between acting and filmmaking, the former feels closer to his first love, dancing, because it allows him to express himself in front of an audience.&quot;There was this transition that was much easier. Dancing to acting seemed more natural,&quot; he shared. With his newfound passion, Race juggled a year of acting lessons with his filmmaking course, which he still finished despite his newfound love.It can&#x27;t be denied that his penchant for entertainment runs in his blood. But no matter how &quot;destined&quot; his path seemed, Race’s perseverance cannot be overlooked. He mentioned that he only asked his dad, Herbert, for advice about acting once, when he was just starting out, and from there, he’s made sure to develop his own process and identity.Speaking more about his relationship with his father, Race acknowledges that Herbert has been supportive since his childhood. However, it’s really his mom who has been by his side every day, every moment—the one he turns to when he’s feeling exhausted.For his first-ever acting project, Race found the perfect material in &quot;Indak,&quot; a dance film top-billed by Nadine Lustre and Sam Concepcion. It was like hitting two birds with one stone, as he showcased both his acting and dancing prowess in a single movie. He looked back, &quot;I learned a lot just from that first experience alone. Ang dami kong natutunan with how different it is when you&#x27;re studying something in school compared to when you&#x27;re actually doing it.&quot;Race was nervous and still finding his way at the time, which is completely normal. Even Maricel, as she narrated, went through that as a newcomer, especially the feeling of being clueless and not knowing anyone on set to ask for help or guidance. But she had to be brave at just six years old because she needed to help support her family.With Maricel&#x27;s five-decade-long career, she can easily recognize pure talent when she sees it, and she saw that in Race when they worked together on &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/linlang2023/">Linlang</a>.&quot;Looking back on his time in the award-winning drama series, Race recalls being in awe of Maricel&#x27;s brilliance. He specifically remembers a scene where Maricel’s character, Amelia, visited Kim Chiu’s Juliana and delivered a feisty line. He was blown away, and thought it was unscripted because of how real it felt.Race is also grateful for the friendships he built on the set of &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/linlang2023/">Linlang</a>.&quot; He became closest to JM De Guzman, who played the villain, Atty. Alex Lualhati. They shared many common hobbies, like mobile games and sports, with JM being into kickboxing and a former member of the University of the Philippines-Diliman Wrestling Club.&quot;Siya ‘yung legit na unang kuya ko sa industry,&quot; he said of JM. &quot;Being on set with him and doing scenes na nagpapalitan lang kami, it&#x27;s so much easier for me to do my job when I feel my partner sa eksena is also in the moment kasi &#x27;yung batuhan is so much more natural.&quot;One thing he learned from JM about acting is that when his scene partner steps up, JM won’t back down either. Maricel agreed, noting how JM delivers his lines with perfect tone, which is impressive because in real life, JM is quiet and laid-back, enjoying his alone time with mobile games. But both Maricel and Race can vouch that JM knows exactly what to do, right on cue, during the take.Race is like a sponge soaking up knowledge from his more experienced co-stars. In &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/lavenderfields/">Lavender Fields</a>,&quot; he plays junior agent Eric, the apprentice of Albert Martinez&#x27;s Agent Zandro Fernandez, and many are entertained by their on-screen dynamic.&quot;Just being in the same room as him, ang dami kong natututunan, the way he carries himself, the way he approaches a scene,&quot; he talked about Albert. &quot;Parang may coolness siya na nandito lang [in the middle] lagi &#x27;yung energy, but it&#x27;s never kulang. It&#x27;s there and it&#x27;s exactly what the scene asks for. And that&#x27;s hard; when you&#x27;re always at the razor margin of what the scene demands, he does that so effortlessly.&quot;&quot;Less is more,&quot; he summarized what he learned from Albert.Finally, he gets to have an exchange with Maricel in <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/lavenderfields/">Lavender Fields</a>,&quot; since they never had the chance to share the screen in &quot;<a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/linlang2023/">Linlang</a>.&quot; And who better to learn from than Maricel herself, who has been in the industry for over five decades? Race was all ears as Maricel shared her advice during this interview, emphasizing the importance of passion, punctuality, discipline, and simply being grateful and enjoying the process as secrets to longevity in showbiz. As the saying goes, &quot;When you love what you&#x27;re doing, you never have to work a day in your life.&quot;Working and learning from Maricel is like a dream come true for Race, just as it is for many younger stars. He also hopes to act with John Arcilla, John Lloyd Cruz, and Arjo Atayde in the future.But at the end of the day, Race doesn’t really dwell on the heavy expectations he may face in his career in the future; he’s simply enjoying where he is right now.

Working and learning from Maricel Soriano is like a dream come true for Race Matias.