Before Barbie Forteza, there was Nini Jacinto

Nini Jacinto                                       Barbie Forteza

The first time I saw Barbie Forteza on the Filipino rendition of Stairway to Heaven, I knew there was something hauntingly familiar about her.

I'm used to seeing the likes of her beauty before, a face that screams innocence that it landed her the lead role in Pilyang Kerubin, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't her looks.

She has shades of Marian Rivera and Angelica Panganiban, but even with that in mind, I felt like a detective who was missing the clue that could solve the mystery. I knew I had the answer right under my nose, but I just can't put a finger on it. Besides, I usually put my finger inside my nose.

And just now, it hit me -- Nini Jacinto.

Back when I was still a hormone-enraged adolescent (1. Pretty sure this was in the mid to the late 90s; 2. Whose to say I'm not anymore driven crazy by my hormones), sexy-titillating films were at the height of their popularity, simply because such movies sell like pancakes (turns out I'm not the only one manipulated by hormones). ST films were thought to have contributed to the downfall of Philippine cinema. You can blame it on the masses' bad taste for films, the poor quality of Pinoy movies, colonial mentality...the hell I care. The fall of the Philippine movie industry is a different story. For now, let's focus on Jacinto.

In order to make a killing in the box office, your ST movie has to feature not only a pretty face but a voluptuous body as well. A lewd title (e.g. Talong, Itlog, Patikim ng Pinya, Kristina Moran) helps, but a person that possesses both a beautiful face and body goes a long (pun intended) way. Such is the case with Rosanna Roces, Ana Capri, Klaudia Koronel, Aya Medel, Ynez Veneracion, Criselda Volks, Lara Morena, Ina Raymundo, Rica Peralejo, Joyce Jimenez, Diana Zubiri, Rita Magdalena, Francine Prieto, Ara Mina, Sunshine Cruz, Angela Velez, the Viva Hot Babes, and lastly, Nini Jacinto (1. I can put more names here but it'll take kingdom come before I could finish; 2. I'm not a pervert. I can't help but pick these kinds of things up when you can easily stumble upon ST trailers on any channel; 3. Just because I'm not a pervert doesn't mean I didn't watch such movies. I was curious after all.).

Just like Forteza, there was something innocent about Jacinto's face. But while the former had it good in the early stages of her career, the latter wasn't as lucky. According to Remy Umerez, Jacinto used to star in "That's Entertainment". "That's" was responsible for producing some of the brightest stars in show business today. But if you had to share the stage with such talented people, you better do something outstanding in order to stand out. Unfortunately, Jacinto fell short in that department, otherwise, I would've known her original screen name Elli Rose Apple. It wasn't until she became Nini Jacinto that her name was tattooed on my mind (just like the rest of them bold stars). Sadly, Jacinto made the same mistake that most sexy stars committed during that time -- get married and/or get pregnant at the height of her career. And in no time, she drifted away from the limelight.

Now, I've no intention of tainting Forteza's image by comparing her to an ST star, nor am I into lolicon. It's just that I'm glad I finally figured it out. All these words dedicated to my fascination from the fact that two people whose careers had gone opposite paths shared a face. Because I know somewhere, another man who had a hormone-driven childhood was wondering who was that other star Forteza resembled. And now I have an answer -- Nini Jacinto.

What do you think? Do they really look alike or do my eyes deceive me? Fire away in the comments section.