Ivana Alawi In METRO: From Digital Star To A Leading Lady
Reinventing Ivana Alawi: The Digital Star Is Now a Leading Lady
Top YouTube content creator and breakthrough buzzmaker Ivana Alawi is taking the teleserye sphere by storm as she stars in the new series “A Family Affair”
The birth of a digital star
The same tectonic shifts transpired in the life of Ivana Alawi as she launched her YouTube channel in 2019. Her first-ever post was a total clickbait: “My Secret to Bigger Boobs.” This was followed by her first vlog, filmed by her younger sister Mona, as they casually strolled around the mall. Then a newbie in the vlogosphere, she did all sorts of contents that netizens usually like to consume: What’s in My Bag?, Mukbang, travel and prank vlogs, as well as the ubiquitous “Jojowain o Totropahin Challenge” that is famous among Filipino vloggers.
Until one day, what seemed like an ordinary “A Day in My Life” video forever changed the course of her life and career. That vlog, uploaded on October 30, 2019, shows her waking up, making the bed, sorting her clothes, hand-washing those clothes in their garden (wearing an oversized yet form-fitting black sando), playing around with her sister and their mom in the kitchen, cooking adobo, and eating what she whipped up herself. It all looks ordinary when you read it, but it’s different when you watch Ivana do them. This vlog remains to be her most watched video with more than 30 million views, as of this writing.
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Rising leading lady
Ivana shared that her first forays into acting took shape at a tender age when she would play pretend with her sister. “Minsan umaarte kami—nag-iiyakan lang kami, pero nagagalit pa sa’min ’yung nanay namin,” she recalls. She even replicated her mother’s classic mantra: “Bakit kayo nag-iiyakan? Sana ’yung luha n’yo, sa TV ’yan.” While sounding like a joke cracked in jest by every wishful mother, the statement paints more like a prophecy for Ivana’s forthcoming fame.
Before Ivana emerged into the limelight, she had to overcome several bumps. From celebrity search reality shows to trivial appearances on television, her life now was never just at an arm’s length away; it was a joint effort by grit and grace. In 2018, Ivana played her first project as a Kapamilya artist in the afternoon series Precious Heart Romances. Soon after, she was asked to portray a role in the primetime hit FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, which caught the attention of major talent managements. In 2020, Ivana finally sealed the deal with her dream network that is none other than ABS-CBN.
Her breakthrough project post-signing came shortly after, even amidst the pandemic, through a series titled A Family Affair, which casts her alongside Gerald Anderson, Sam Milby, Jake Ejercito, and Jameson Blake. It is directed by Jerome Pobocan and Raymund Ocampo. “I was just waiting for things to get better and sakto nga ’yung tawag ng Star Creatives,” Ivana opens in delight. “They were telling me about the story and sa story pa lang, sobrang na-excite na ako!” (READ FULL ARTICLE HERE)
