Way before she became an actress, model, writer, and director, Bela Padilla said she spent her childhood with a lot of happy memories that helped shaped her love for film. The 35-year-old artist shared how it was actually her mother, Meg Carino, who developed her appreciation for film and how she ended up being named after one of her mom’s favorite onscreen character from the early 80s.
“My love for movies was definitely from my mom. We had like a whole wall of VHS tapes. In fact, ‘yung real name ko is Krista Elyse. My second name Elyse is from (the 1980 movie) Somewhere in Time, ‘yung character ni Jane Seymour is Elise McKenna. I was named after her because it was my mom’s favorite movie and I grew up watching so many Disney films. My dad also is also a big fan of movies. My granddad din. Nung nag-sa-start ako mag-workshop sa ABS-CBN, my granddad had a stroke. So ‘pag hapon after the workshop, I would go to his house and we would watch ‘yung mga films,” she recalled.
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Growing up with a family of movie lovers, Bela counts her regular movie dates with her mom as one of her favorite bonding moments with her growing up.
“So I had a big variety of different kind of films growing up. Yun siguro yung best memories for me, especially with my mom. Kahit after classes dati, a big treat was when I studied in Colegio De San Agustin (CSA), tatawid kami ng Glorietta to watch a film once a week. At least once a week ‘yun,” she added.
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In a previous interview, Bela also credited her mom for her being a bookworm, which eventually led to her writing her own material and her getting screenwriting credit for films like 366 (2022), Yung Libro Sa Napanood Ko (2023), Luck At First Sight (2017), Last Night (2017), and Apple of My Eye (2019).
“The biggest influence, I would say, my mom was a big influence. Her love for books rubbed off on me. I feel like I wouldn’t be a writer today if I didn’t like reading first. Also, I felt like there was a gap in the industry for what I wanted to watch and maybe because I wasn’t being offered the roles I wanted to play, parang sometimes, ‘di ba, invention comes out of necessity. So I started inventing characters that I wanted to play. So parang dun lang naman nag-umpisa ‘yun eh. Gusto kong mag-play ng certain characters that no one was offering me so I started writing. This year, I’m writing a few things in collaboration with ABS-CBN,” she revealed.
While she counts her mom as an inspiration as a parent, Bela admitted she is not prioritizing becoming a mother herself someday soon. She is open to the idea of becoming a parent someday, though. “Yeah, I guess. Pero hindi naman, hindi siya yung priority ko right now. Kasi I just came back (to the country) eh. So I’m figuring out what I want to do with my career again.”