MANILA, Philippines – Miss World Philippines 2017 Laura Lehmann has been very busy since turning over her crown to Katarina Rodriguez in September 2018. Aside from her hosting stints, she is now venturing into acting, with her first movie Elise under Regal Films.

In an interview with reporters last Wednesday, January 16, Laura said the two jobs are both fun but very different. “Both being an actress and a beauty queen, you have to be in front of a camera a lot of the time. But the thing being an actress is that you just don’t get to be yourself. You get to be different characters. So syempre, it’s a lot of fun to experience different sides of yourself and to portray yourself in different ways. It’s very exciting for me.”

“But it’s [also] super different. First of all, in the beauty queen world, you have to have makeup on, false eyelashes…you have extensions and everything and you’re in heels all the time. But when I was acting here, [it was] very minimal makeup,” she added. 

Laura said everything was new to her – so new, in fact, that she forgot to bring things like extra clothes, a chair, and other essentials when shooting.

“Very eye opening and you learn to respect artistas as well because now I’m not just seeing them from a movie screen. I’m getting to know how they work and how much they sacrifice. They’re there sometimes until 4 am in the morning just to make a good movie for everyone,” she said.

She said she is set to do another movie soon with Lovi Poe on top of hosting a sports show on ESPN 5.

Working with Enchong Dee

In Elise, Laura plays Enchong Dee’s girlfriend. The former Ateneo Blue Eagles courtside reporter said that she was a bit nervous working with Enchong, given his stature.

“When you first get to know him, he’s quite quiet and quite shy. So I was quite a bit intimidated. But after a while, when we started doing movie, he’s such a nice guy and I’m so lucky he was my first partner because he’s really nice.

She also said that she got worried in doing intimate scenes because she didn’t expect to do something like that in her first film. Laura, however, said she’s grateful she was given a good role.

“But I was scared because I never showed public display of affection in front of people. What more in front of millions of people who are going to watch the movie.”

Although she is now trying acting, Laura said that she’s not closing her doors to the possibility of pursuing medicine in the future. Prior to being a beauty queen and host, Laura’s dream was to be a doctor.

“Well, medyo on hold muna yung medicine world. Because when I do something, I really want to make sure I put my whole heart into it. And if I want to become a doctor, dapat nasa klase ako araw-araw (I should be in class everyday). And I would need time for that.”

Elise also stars Janine Gutierrez, Miko Raval, Miel Espinosa, and Victor Anastacio. The film is directed by Joel Ferrer and opens on February 6. – Rappler.com