GEE CANLAS is a total showbiz package. She can act. She can dance. She can sing. She can host. If we breakdown each category, she burgeons into an artist of consummate versatility. Gee is undeniably one talented woman – a complete representation of its entire essence. She is just waiting for the right opportunity – and she is geared up anytime to astound both the movies and TV with her unbounded potentials and talents.
Gee has become visible acting on TV comedy shows [Lokomoko High, I Laugh Sabado] and doing hosting jobs [Showtime, Pilipinas Win na Win, OTV, Wow Mali, Music Uplate Live]. One could realize that she indeed possesses the same capacity and efficiency that bestowed Toni Gonzaga her earlier accomplishments. Comparison is unmerited, but what makes the great effort more exciting is the fact that Gee exemplifies a beautiful chameleon-like mold. She can be a goddess [as nature’s mother queen in “Lumang Kahoy”], a funny girl [as Cathy in “One More Chance”], a dance diva [Philippine All-Stars], a fashion icon [Be Bench Model Search]. From an ordinary girl to a sophisticated woman, Gee can simply transform herself at ease into every character she wants her to be in front of the camera. Gee, who has professionals taking care of her beauty and fashion grooming, stands tall at 5’6 and hugs the tape at 34-22-34 measurement.
Gee is not just another fresh pretty face that is thrown out to sizzle, and then fizzle haphazardly in the entertainment world. She is a learned actor. In fact, she underwent an extensive film performance course with no less but acting luminary Gina Alajar as her mentor, aside from her competitive theater background during her days in Miriam College where she graduated. She also has a professional stage and movement trainings, which dramatically enhanced her dancing skills and inner sensuality. It can be acknowledged that Gee initially found her way as an internationally competitive member of a world-renowned street dance assemblage.
This fact, and her readiness to explore her deepest soul to the arts, gave way to her first starring roles, a short film and a full length feature film for the upcoming CinemaOne Originals Film Festival. It is actually most fitting that her launching film is an independent feature that highlights both her dancing and acting talent, which was directed by Mark Shandii Bacolod, entitled “Ang Pakiramdam Ng Puso Kapag Iniwanan”, one of the featured short films at the recently concluded 2nd Halo Halo Indie Film Festival by MASKAY. According to her, the dances [in the film] are not just simple steps to maneuver with grace and deft – they are actually grounded by the emotions and the narrative of the character she portrays. It is not as much as psychologically profound as Black Swan but this film rather threads on the geography of her character’s great descent to heartbreak. Director Bacolod related in the interview that his fourth film is the first of the “Heartbreak Trilogy” which he is planning to accomplish with the marriage of art disciplines and drama in digital film. Gee Canlas is his perfect and only choice.
Her first full length film [as lead] on the other hand is a finalist in the upcoming CinemaOne Festival. Written by Allan Lopez and Layeta Bucoy and directed by Maribel Legarda, the film is called “Melodrama Negra”. Her most memorable experience in the said film was when she had to go inside a coffin and lay there for an hour. She freaked out she found out that it was actually a used coffin.
Gee also has her shares of countless TV ads that reflected her jovial and charismatic countenance, as advertisers would approximate to describe her. She has appeared in Maxx, Nescafe 3 in 1, Nissin, Sketchers, Palmolive Circle of Ten., and Nestea commercials, among others. Advertisers love to hire Gee because she maintains her sweet and reputable image throughout her endorsement contracts. In Gee’s part, she is very careful with her conduct in public especially on TV since she considers herself as a role model, aside from being an image cover girl. And another side of her personality was introduced to us a few weeks ago via Amazing Race Philippines. With her bestfriend, Sheena Vera Cruz [Philippine All Stars dancer/choreographer], Gee take the roads to the finish line with another image – THE ADVENTUROUS GIRL. As seen in the past episodes, Gee is not just simply a role model, she is a Good Friend and a Woman of Power. For now, while she works very hard to achieve her dream, her noblest aspiration is to make her audience pleased and inspired.
Mark ‘Shandii’ Bacolod
Aliwan Avenue 