Ocean Swell

YOU CAN’T SAY SURFING IS LIFE UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN HOW MARA LOPEZ LIVES IT

- Ria Esguerra

The ocean is a force of nature. It is its own master. It is vast, powerful, and ever-rolling. To be able to play in it, more than appreciating its beauty and majesty, you need to learn to respect it and the life it holds. The waves are its heartbeat—and becoming one with it lets you stand on water.

As someone who’s been surfing since she was a kid, Mara Lopez recognizes this and has lived by it pretty much her whole life. The 26-year-old daughter of former Bb. Pilipinas Universe Maria Isabel Lopez got her first taste of conquering waves thanks to her father.

“Surfing is my first love—I’ve been doing it since I was six. It was introduced to me by my father Hiroshi Yokohama who also pioneered the first surfing school in the Philippines in the ‘90s. For us, it was definitely not just a sport. It was a father-daughter bonding thing,” shares Mara. lot, and I didn’t get all the roles. I see those rejections the same way I look at wipeouts,” says Mara. Her mentality? Just dust yourself off and paddle back out to the open water.

Had she not continued just going out for auditions despite all the rejections, she probably wouldn’t have landed a role in the risque indie thriller Palitan that yielded her first Best Actress award at the 2012 Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival.