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Thursday, April 18, 2019

Pillowtalk with Kiko Estrada | Interview for Benchmark magazine Summer 2019


Kiko Estrada is one of our sought-after fave actors today. We were pleasantly surprised when we first saw this very intimate editorial which we are very happy to share with you guys today.

Dare to see more inside? Click here






Kiko Estrada hardly ever goes out during weekends these days. “I’m boring,’ says the actor, known for roles on Mulawin vs. Ravena and last year’s teen ensemble comedy Walwal Unless it’s something important like a friends birthday, he’d rather settle for a quiet night in. “I just stay home and watch movies on Netflix or go to the gym.”

It’s a change brought about by his effort to be more disciplined and take his career more seriously. Kiko was a teenager when he landed roles on shows like Tween Hearts, Angelito: Ang Batang Ama, and Annaliza. Now 23, he says he constantly takes every opportunity to keep glowing and evolving. “I like act­ing because every day is a new learning experience,” he explains. “You can never learn too much, that’s why it’s interesting.


He’s the kind of actor who admittedly becomes “obsessed” with whatever material lie’s working on— he cares about the script, and it matters to him which directors and co-stars he gets to work with. The roles he’s looking for are becoming more and more complex: “I’m [interested in] the gray areas, he says. “When [characters] fuck up, when shit really hap­pens because that shows the human part I want to dive down there and see how to make that character likeable or understandable.”


Kiko comes from a family of actors that’s been around for generations: his mother is Cheska Diaz, daughter of Paquito Diaz, and his father is Gary Es­trada, son of George Estregan and nephew of Joseph Estrada. I lis parents encouraged him to try his hand in the industry—there was some pressure to live up to his name, of course, hut he sees it as instrumental to his ambition and all part of the process. “I think it’s necessary,” he says. “You have to work hard for it, I guess. The pressure comes with [the effort] and it takes time.”

2019 is shaping up to he an exciting year for Kiko. He’s starring in the new drama series Kapalaran with JM de Guzman and Arci Munoz, and My Stepmother’s Lov­er, a daring May-December romance with a twist co-star­ring Sunshine Cruz and Martin del Rosario. There’s also Glue, an upcoming film directed by Lino Cayetano and produced by Bench.

If he had his way, he would always he around film, production in any way, shape, or form. Recently, he’s been getting into script writing to exercise his creativity, hanging around and learning from the likes of Ricky Lee. “Hopefully I want to direct one day,” he says. “I want to he a filmmaker. No matter what tin* position is, I just want to [create] quality films.”

Asked where he sees his career five or 10 years down the line, Kiko doesn’t miss a beat when he answers, "At the top. I mean, aim high, right? Let’s just work hard to get there.” -Fiel Estrella


Photographed by Regine David
Styled by MJ Benitez
Produced by Martin Yambao
Grooming by Sylvina Lopez

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