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Ryan Agoncillo is also his own man

THESE DAYS, whenever the name of Ryan Agoncillo crops up in conversation, it’s usually in connection with Judy Ann Santos, his real-life girlfriend and co-star in the hit box-office film Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo where they played a married couple.

Ryan and Judy Ann’s paths first crossed when they worked together in the fantaserye Krystala. In the beginning, no one expected them to hit it off because they were so different from each other. The English-speaking, Catholic-school educated Ryan seemed too sosyal for Judy Ann, and vice versa. But like the song goes, love moves in mysterious ways — and despite all odds, the two eventually became a couple.

The movie Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo affirmed that fans approve of the Ryan-Judy Ann loveteam. In fact, Star Cinema has already started work on the couple’s follow up movie, to be titled Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo. The two are also paired opposite each other in Ysabella, a new primetime teleserye that premiered recently on ABS-CBN. The two figure in a love triangle with Derek Ramsay as the third member.

Ryan says that compared to Krystala, he had a harder time doing Ysabella. “Krystala was just a trial [for me as an actor],” he says. “I didn’t really get to show much in terms of acting. But here in Ysabella, our director really squeezed the acting juices out of me. I even had to go through a workshop just to get the feel of the scenes.”

The fact that he was acting opposite his girlfriend certainly helped. There was no adjustment needed. It made things easier for Ryan, although during the first few days on the set, he purposely avoided acting sweet towards Judy Ann.

“We didn’t even hold hands,” says Ryan. “I didn’t want to do anything that would make the other people on the set feel uneasy, especially our director, Rory Quintos.” Ryan and Judy Ann had already worked with Quintos in Krystala, but because they were still in the “getting to know you” stage at the time, there wasn’t much hand-holding or cuddling going on on the set. So this time around, Ryan decided to hold back on being affectionate around his girlfriend.

Which is all well and good, since Ryan needs to start putting some professional distance between him and Judy Ann in preparation for the release of his forthcoming movie under Regal Films, titled My Kuya’s Wedding, in which he has a new leading lady in Starstruck season one winner Jennylyn Mercado. The fact that he is very strongly identified with Judy Ann, both on and offscreen, could adversely affect the box-office performance of the movie.

People sometimes tend to forget that even before he met and fell in love with Judy Ann, that Ryan was already a successful TV host with a flourishing career. He first made his mark on GMA’s morning show Unang Hirit, after which he moved to the Kapamilya network to host Studio 23’s Breakfast and later, Y-Speak. He also had a brief stint on ABS-CBN’s morning show Magandang Umaga Pilipinas before it was reformatted and replaced by Umagang Kay Ganda.