 |
|
Picture Gallery
| Upon first glance at accomplished video decoration/aspiring actress Maria at her Eye Candy shoot, you'd assume she's an upstart in the modeling world. You wouldn't believe that in just a year she's ravaged the music video scene. Though she owns eyes that are straight hypnotic and a look that's tropical exotic, the Puerto Rican/Filipino mix also owns a very petite, latte-tanned figure and baby face that screams, “I'm finally legal!” But the 22-year-old's adorable attributes didn't blind a certain Bronx rapper from recognizing her overall beauty and poppin' her career off. “Fat Joe helped me out a lot,” tells the Miami-raised, New York City-residing dime. “I knew him through this guy I was dating and he saw me and was like, “Hey, I want you in my next video [“What's Luv?”].'” I couldn't do it the next day 'cause it was a two-day shoot—but I did it the second and he still made me a principal. From there I met with a bunch of casting directors and took off.” |
Casting director after video director summoned Maria to spice up their visuals, no matter what genre of music. Whether hip-hop (Jay-Z's “Excuse Me Miss,” Cam's “Hey Ma” or Violator's “Keep Doin' It,” featuring Busta Rhymes, Mystikal and Dirtbag), hip-hop soul (Carl Thomas' “Make It Alright,” Ginuwine's “Hell Yeah”) or reggae (Sean Paul's “Like Glue”), ma always shined.
Though her exquisiteness was, her heart was never on the set. Videos just served as a pacifier for her real dream. “The only reason I do these videos is because the majority of these directors want to be feature-film directors. So if they like you and enjoy working with you then they're gonna keep working with you in film,” she informs. “I'll only do a video if the director calls me directly. Like Eric White, he'll call me all the time to do videos and I'll do it because it's him calling me.” [ Bio from XXL ]