Erstwhile actor Arthur Benedicto has come back to the country as a transgender woman Bambi Moreno to try acting again.
When he was younger, Benedicto joined That’s Entertainment for a few weeks. He was in the company of Lotlot de Leon and Jestoni Alarcon then. He joined a teleserye, a revival of Flordeluna, where he played a rapist. He was about to join the cast of the iconic movie Bagets but he was sent to Japan by his mom as a tourist.
Now back in the country as a transwoman and sporting a new screen name Bambi Moreno, she wants to try acting again.
“Gusto kong makapag-guest sa Batang Quiapo. Mentor ko si Joel Lamangan. Ang turo sa amin noon not scripted ang lines, batuhan lang. Nag-workshop ako kay Bernardo Bernardo at kay Joel (I want to guest in Batang Quiapo. Joel Lamangan was my mentor. What were taught before, the lines were not scripted, just throwing lines only. I did workshop with Bernardo Bernardo and Joel),” she said in a press conference at Cafe Escudero recently.
Moreno revealed that at a young age she already knew that she was effeminate.
“At the age of seven alam kong babae talaga ako. Kaya lang, mahigpit ang parents ko (At the age of seven, I already knew that I am a woman. Bit my parents were strict),” she said.
Moreno finished her BS Management course in college and initially went to Japan as a tourist.
Then she worked in a ramen restaurant. He also worked as a hosto where many Japanese women fell in love with her.
No sooner, he worked as a ladyboy in a bar where she met a Japanese transgender woman who helped her achieve her dream to become a woman.
“Tinulungan niya ako. Ikinuwento niya sa akin kung paano ang process (She helped me. She shared what the process was),” Moreno said.
Moreno shared that the process was long. She went through a lot of tests, took hormones and when she finally passed all tests, she went to Singapore for a sex change operation as Japan had no sex transplant operation then.
Moreno’s sexual reassignment was not welcome news to her family.
“Nagalit ‘yung brothers ko. Ang father ko, pinuntahan ako sa Japan. Sabi niya, gawin mo ang gusto mong gawin ‘wag ka lang magka-HIV. ‘Yung mommy ko, umiyak lang siya (My brothers got mad. My father went to Japan. He said. ‘Do what you want to do as long as you don’t get afflicted with HIV. My mom only cried),” she recalled.
Now, Moreno is a successful entrepreneur, bringing talents to Japan. She also works as an entertainer in the Land of the Rising Sun.