“Lahat ng rejections na pinagdaanan ko, it’s what made me who I am now. It made me love my work more.”

Belle Mariano is undeniably one of the biggest stars of her generation today, but her success didn’t happen overnight. Just like her peers, she also had to begin from somewhere. ICYDK: the 20-year-old actress got her start in showbiz as a commercial model before debuting as a child actress.

In Karen Davila‘s latest YouTube video where Belle was the guest, one of the things the actress recounted was how she struggled to get into showbiz as a young child. For starters, her parents weren’t a big fan of her going into the entertainment industry at such a young age, so she had to *convince* them to let her go to auditions.

“From the very beginning kasi, my parents were kind of telling me na don’t enter showbiz. They were really against me entering showbiz, pero ako talaga yung every night, pinipilit ko to the point na minamasahe ko po yung both parents ko,” she quipped.

Belle eventually landed her first acting gig at the age of nine, but she revealed that she actually had to attend more than 100 (!!!) auditions before she even got to that point. She shared that she felt disheartened because she kept coming home empty-handed.

“I attended so many VTRs to the point na parang nawawalan na ko ng hope. I think it’s also because wala pa akong [prior] experience when it comes to commercials. I think the process… lahat ng failures na pinagdaanan ko, lahat ng rejections na pinagdaanan ko, it’s what made me who I am now. It made me love my work more.”

Things turned around when she gave herself an ultimatum and tried one last time. “Luckily, when I auditioned for this one commercial, talagang sabi ko, ‘This is the last. If hindi talaga ito for me, ‘wag na.‘ Then I got the commercial, then from then on, nagtuloy–tuloy na.”

We stan a hardworking queen!

Watch Belle’s full interview with Karen below: