Good Bad Guy

He’s the guy you love to hate on TV and the big screen.

- Pat Calica

ARJO ATAYDE has been making his mark in the industry with his convincing portrayals of your favorite villains to watch, i.e. Joaquin Tuazon in the ABS-CBN primetime series FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano and Biggie Chen in Erik Matti’s Buy Bust.

But, he’s not good at these roles because he’s innately bad. In fact, in person, Arjo is quite friendly and a “chill” guy you’d want to hang out with every day. To put it simply, he’s just a good and effective method actor—one who follows what the director instructs and enjoys creating backstories and answering questions about his character until he makes sense and empathizes with it, ultimately putting himself in the shoes of this new persona.

We sat down with Arjo to get to know him more—what he’s passionate about, what he aspires for in life, and everything else in between. What we saw is a guy who’s passionate about his craft and has an appetite to discover more.

GOOD AT BEING BAD

“I’m a director’s actor,” says Arjo about his performing style. Surely, he appreciates the freedom given to him to develop the character by himself, but at the end of the day, Arjo knows that it’s what the director wants that will make the whole project—whether it’s a film or a TV show— complete and perfect.

For the past year, you’ve been playing mostly antagonist roles. How do you prepare yourself for that?

I watch movies. I psych myself for it. No over analyzing things or situations, I just get in and be real, that’s it. I make sure that every scene would be real to me, not that I’m going to be acting it—it’s going to be as if it’s really me.

Do you have any “bad guy” character/actor inspiration?