The straightforward and carefree Ria Irawan

The straightforward and carefree Ria Irawan

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

Actress/video music director Ria Irawan, 33, had just taken a
break after shooting a music video recently, and immediately
joined her producers and other crew members who were also resting
in a corner.

Moments later, she has already sparked laughter for telling
bawdy stories which would make most parents cover their
children's ears.

Ria is carefree, brutally straightforward, and never hesitates
to start a conversation even with strangers to put them at ease,
or simply to make them blush.

As an actress, she is very professional, she always comes to
the location on time and does her homework.

However, she is far from the usual stuck-up image of a
celebrity. For her, the shooting location is home and all crew
members, even the lowest ranking, are her family.

In fact, she does not know any other kind of life as she has
been in the industry since she was four.

It was her late father, then well-known actor Bambang Irawan,
who took her to a movie production before she even knew that what
she was doing was called acting.

"Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have had another
kind of childhood," Ria told The Jakarta Post.

In school after the holidays were over, kids would tell
various stories about how they spent their vacation. Some would
say that they went for a picnic, some would tell how they spent
their time playing interesting games. But Ria would always come
with the same story.

"I only did shooting and more shooting. It was kind of sad,"
Ria said.

Her father, who died when she was 10, always emphasized that
acting meant work, so she had to take it seriously and do it with
all her heart.

Perhaps, one must understand the above history before jumping
to conclusions about her carefree attitude, the thing which has
been the fodder of the tabloids.

She admits to having been a troubled person once.

It was the controversial death of a young man named Rifardi
from a drug overdose at her home in 1992, which put her name in
the headlines in most local publications.

She and her former boyfriend, well-known music video director
Rizal Mantovani, had to deal with the police before they were
eventually cleared of any suspicion.

"I'm a friend to all kinds of people. Many times they come to
my home for sanctuary if they have problems. I try to help them,"
Ria said.

After all the turbulence, however, she successfully bounced
back and freed herself from dependencies, including drug use.

Today, she is reestablishing herself as an actress.

When old-time players start to fade away or end up doing
second rate TV dramas, otherwise known as sinetron, Ria's career
took wing again when she was chosen to play a leading role in the
upcoming big screen movie Biola Tak Berdawai (The Stringless
Violin).

She has also done other things such as music videos (some of
which have even won awards from a local TV station) and importing
several Spanish soap operas for local TVs.

Nevertheless, she has no regrets about the things she has gone
through. In fact, she admits that everything that has happened in
her life took place only because she allowed it to happen.

"I'm a very curious person. I hate it when people don't try to
figure out everything. Me, I always want to try everything."

Ria is indeed the kind of person who is driven to try
everything.

Even though she had already achieved stardom status when she
was a teenager, she chose not take leading role in teen flicks.
Instead, she chose supporting roles playing opposite good adult
performers.

"I love acting in supporting roles. I think supporting roles
are very important since they often carry the story forward," Ria
said.

As the result, she won the Best Supporting Actress for her
moving performance in Selamat Tinggal, Jeanette (Good Bye,
Jeanette) at the 1989 Indonesia Film Festival (FFII).

"Back then, I always wondered if I was going to receive
another award. But then I learned that it was not really the
right way of thinking," Ria said.

She then realized that the main achievement she had to aspire
to was to be satisfied with her work. So she kept honing her
skills as an actress.

"Only since 1997, I could really call myself an artist. I even
put it on my ID card as my occupation," Ria said while puffing on
a cigarette.

Apart from her carefree attitude, her innocent, child-like
looks reveal that a sadness and loneliness inside her.

She admits to have tried to build relationships with men from
many backgrounds.

Her marriage to a man 14 years older than her, however, hit
rock bottom only several months after it started in 1997.

Today, she said, she manages to be a single woman, but added
that the possibility of marriage is always open.

"Everybody needs a relationship. But I'm so lousy at taking
care of men. Right now, I prefer making friends with women," Ria
said.

Despite the fact that she is much calmer than she was several
years ago, she admits that she is still in a turbulent state.

"I just started taking yoga, and I already feel more
emotionally stable," she said.

The break was over and she had to go back to work.