• Home
• /
• CityTimes

Empress on the rise

HER APPEARANCES in different episodes of the long-running drama anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya (MMK) have made showbiz-watchers dub her the next drama princess.

---

---

But apparently Empress Schuck doesn’t see herself that way. At the Press conference for ‘Impossible’-the ‘Your Song’ episode in which she shares stellar billing with AJ Perez, Dino Imperial and Lauren Youngshe told City Times about her tendency to be her own worst critic.

“When I watch myself on TV I can’t help but analyse my own performances,” she said. “I pick apart every scene and ask myself questions like, ‘Did I do that one right?’”

That’s why she finds it hard to believe that her MMK stints had gone over well with audiences. In fact, she wasn’t even aware that such nice things had been said about her acting-on the Internet or in the papers-until City Times told her. “I don’t get to go online often and I don’t buy newspapers or tabloids unless I’m sure there’s something about me in them. That’s why I don’t know what people have been saying about me-well, until you told me, that is.”

Empress’s mom is also one of her fiercest criticswell, as fierce as a mother can be toward her daughter, anyway. “She comments on my dancing all the time because she used to be a dancer when she was younger. Sometimes, after I perform on Asap, she’ll say, ‘Why did you do that? You should have done this instead!’ That’s why I don’t like asking her what she thinks of my acting, because I’m afraid of what she might say,” joked Empress.

All that aside, her mom is one of her biggest fans. So much so, in fact, that she accompanies Empress during presscons. On the day of the ‘Impossible’ presscon, she was seated a few feet away from her daughter.

She had a newspaper in her hand, but she looked up every now and then to check on the proceedings.

“She’s the best,” said Empress.

“She also drives me to and from locations. In fact, when a script comes she reads it before I do because she has to check how far the location is because she has to think about gas and all that stuff.”

So how does she feel about being called the next drama princess?

“I feel flattered, but I honestly don’t think or feel that I am. I sometimes think that I don’t do enough when I act or dance, so I find it really hard to believe people when they compliment me on something that I did.”