Paolo Ballesteros cosplayed Hollywood actress Julia Roberts when he received the award at Tokyo International Film Fest.
Filipino actor and host Paolo Ballesteros won the Best Actor award at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival on Thursday, November 3.
After nomination, Paolo was recognized as the Best Actor for his transgender woman character Trisha in the film “Die Beautiful.”
“Die Beautiful” is a film about the lead character Trisha who wishes to be dressed as a different celebrity on each night of her funeral despite being in a conservative Filipino-Chinese family. Earlier, it received the Audience Award in the same festival.
During his acceptance speech, Paolo expressed he was surprised with the award and injected humor by saying he thought he won the “Best Actress” award. He also joked that he thought he would attend a red carpet event that is why he dressed up as the Hollywood actress.
He is known for his makeup transformations. On Thursday, Paolo accepted the award in a gold sequin gown while cosplaying Hollywood actress Julia Roberts. On stage, he was accompanied by the film director Jun Robles Lana.
Paolo went teary-eyed. He thanked the film production team, director Lana and producer Perci Intalan for the award.
According to him, he dedicated his award to his family, managers, friends and colleagues at Eat Bulaga where he served as a host. He was also grateful to his fans in Manila and around the world, including his daughter and pets.
Paolo also thanked Liza Dino-Seguerra of the Film Development Council of the Philippines for her support as well as all the volunteers, staff and judges of the festival for accommodating them.
“To the man behind the film, Direk Jun Lana thank you so much for entrusting me Trisha’s character,” Paolo said, adding that he is grateful to all of the staff for the gift of new friendship and for their professionalism.
“To all of you who came and watched our film, I will never forget you,” he added.
Paolo was then congratulated by his colleagues.
The jury on the film fest was headed by French director Jean-Jacques Beineix, and included Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung, U.S. producer Nicole Rocklin, Italian actor Valerio Mastandrea and Japanese director Hideyuki Hirayama.