Cebuano actress Chai Fonacier only had a handful of acting credits when she was cast in Ara Chawdhury’s Miss Bulalacao. In the indie film, Fonacier plays the stepmother of Dodong (Russ Ligtas), a young drag queen, who gets pregnant after a supposed alien abduction.
The 2015 Cinema One Originals film was Fonacier’s first feature film, so it was significant to her, even though she didn’t really see acting as her career. Little did she know that Miss Bulalacao would be the role that would launch her as an actress, earning the film festival’s Best Supporting Actress award.
“It didn’t register to me until the other films came, like Pauwi Na or Respeto and all these other stuff, because they saw [Miss Bulalacao] and they saw that I won that award and I’m like, ‘Huh, okay, so I can do this,’,” says Fonacier in the latest episode of Rolling Stone Philippines Greatest Hits, where she talks about her most remarkable roles and projects so far.
“I would say that I fumbled my way and stumbled my way into acting. It started with Miss Bulalacao, and because the film scene in Cebu was very small at the time, it’s really like, ‘Chai, can you… I was thinking of you to do this role, you know?’ And then the acting just really snowballed from there.”
Fonacier eventually received one of her most remarkable roles to date, playing Jude in the hilarious Patay na si Hesus, where she stars opposite Jaclyn Jose. But Fonacier almost didn’t star in the film. The filmmakers scrapped her original character, which sends her into a panic. But she is offered Jude instead, which she realizes, after accepting the role, is a trans man.
“Wait, what do I know of trans men? Oh, Lord. So I panic,” she says. “I had the worst panic attack of my life. Because I wanted to treat this character with respect, with a lot of respect and a lot of sensitivity.”
Hear more about Patay na Hesus, Nocebo, and more in Fonacier’s Rolling Stone Philippines’ Greatest Hits episode. Now on the Rolling Stone Philippines YouTube channel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cebuano actress Chai Fonacier began acting through Ara Chawdhury’s 2015 Cinema One Originals film Miss Bulalacao. Originally a musician in Cebu’s local arts scene, her award-winning supporting role as a stepmother snowballed into leading roles across acclaimed regional and national independent films.
Chai Fonacier played Jude (formerly Judith Marie), a trans man and one of the central children of Iyay (Jaclyn Jose) in the 2016 Cebuano dark comedy Patay na si Hesus. Her performance earned the Best Supporting Actress award at the 35th Luna Awards.
After being offered the role of Jude, Fonacier researched trans masculine experiences to portray the character with sensitivity, respect, and authenticity. She sought to avoid caricatured tropes, grounding her comedic timing in genuine humanity and family dynamics.
Fonacier won Best Supporting Actress at the 2015 Cinema One Originals Film Festival for Miss Bulalacao and repeated the feat at the 35th Luna Awards (Film Academy of the Philippines) for her performance in Patay na si Hesus.
Chai Fonacier starred in the 2022 Irish-Filipino psychological thriller Nocebo, directed by Lorcan Finnegan. She played Diana, a Filipino caregiver using traditional folk magic, opposite French actress Eva Green and British actor Mark Strong.
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