For much of her career, Sunshine Cruz has always been a visible presence on film and television, thanks in large part to the efforts of her longtime manager Alfie Lorenzo.
“With Tito Alfie, it was always strike while the iron is hot. Accept all offers while I was still young so I appeared in a lot of films, TV, those pito-pito movies,” the actress recalled in a recent interview with InterAksyon and other media.
As saddened as she was with Tito Alfie’s recent demise, Sunshine also reflected on her career and thought that even now at age 40, she still has a lot more to offer. So she recently took the bold move of signing with Arnold Vegafria’s ALV Talent Circuit, which will now manage her career from hereon.
“I just thought that I wanted to spread my wings and I like the fact that today’s generation of managers have a plan for their artists. I just feel and know that I will be in good hands with Arnold and his team,” she noted.
No less than Sunshine’s 15-year old daughter, Angelina Montano, who is being managed by ALV, inspired her to sign up with Vegafria.
“Even before I signed, I had already been good friends with Arnold and I love the way he’s handling the career of Angelina.”
Under ALV, Sunshine now feels that her own career has more direction and that she also has someone who will fight for her and protect her from intrigues.
The sky is also almost the limit as to the prospects that she sees for herself under her new management team. As Sunshine remains gifted with an age-defying angelic beauty and a knockout figure to die for, Vegafria is looking at the prospects of getting more endorsement deals for beauty products for the actress.
For acting projects, Sunshine said that while she wants to see what else is out there for her and even explore indie projects that would allow her to further flex her acting muscles, there are limitations as to what she can do on the big screen.
“I am very much open to doing any role, but I now have three grown daughters so there are restrictions. I’m done with that,” she said, referring to that phase of her career during the late ’90s and early 2000s where she did numerous sexy roles.
“But kissing scene is fine, bed scene is fine, it’s really no big deal,” she added.
She also has no qualms about playing mother roles, either. “In 2013, I played the mother of Arjo Atayde. Jodi Sta. Maria and Angelica Panganiban have played mothers before, and they’re younger than me so yes, that’s not a problem for me,” she quipped.
In the hit teleserye, “Wildflower,” she is again playing the mother of Maja Salvador. What makes the role particularly challenging for Sunshine is that her character, Camia, is seeking revenge against the ruthless political dynasty that ruled their small town and destroyed their family.
“I’ve been crying a lot in this series, but I’d really want to challenge myself given the chance, not always playing sympathetic characters. I want people to hate me for a change,” she enthused.
Sunshine’s signing with ALV is just one of the many personal milestones that she experienced this 2017.
Last April, she finally graduated with a degree in Psychology from Arellano University. And four years after her marriage to actor Cesar Montano was annulled, she and boyfriend Ismael “Macky” Mathay are celebrating their first year anniversary this month.
