Exclusive, Vania Valencia Into the World of Acting Through Basketball

JAKARTA - Vania Valencia is not yet familiar to the public, but it turns out that she is often found on various social media. At least that's our impression when we see her name in a number of acting credits.

This year, she starred in the film Dealova directed by Ray Nayoan. This romantic film is set in the world of basketball and school which is close to the daily life of the woman born on September 21. She plays Clara, Libby's best friend, played by Givina.

"Clara is a friend, Libby's senior, who will be played by Givina, the main character, and here Clara will help Libby to achieve her dream as a basketball athlete, where she, as a basketball senior, doesn't want her basketball school to be destroyed or down. That's why she, as basketball captain, helps Libby in her adventures, both in romance and basketball, who will accompany her to achieve her dreams and complete them," said Vania Valencia about her role.

As a basketball athlete, Vania felt that it was easier for her to play the character of Clara. However, she did not deny that playing basketball in films has its own challenges.

"Previously, I was a basketball captain in middle school and high school, so I can quite recall the old Vania and there isn't much difference, so it's not difficult to understand Clara's character. Not in terms of acting, but in terms of having to shoot basketball every day in the sun. Many times, because I take a lot of shots, it becomes quite challenging physically," she said.

Vania Valencia started her career as a basketball athlete. Since she was in high school, she joined the team and became a champion in the Development Basketball League (DBL). Until now, she is still actively playing basketball, but she also felt her desire to join the film Dealova because this film has a story setting that focuses on basketball.

“Actually, finding this project was quite funny. At that time I was filming a series, I happened to be at the shooting location and I opened my laptop to upload to YouTube because I am active on YouTube and basketball content and I wanted to upload about basketball collabs. Then by chance, Ray was taking a break as a series director there and sat next to me," recalled Vania.

"She saw that I was uploading and then finally it turned out that we were chatting, connected, Ray is really a basketball kid. Not long after that, Ray said there was a film project about basketball. He invited me to do the casting, I was really excited because it was about my own world of basketball and there were no other films after the film DBL - Matadewa," she said.

"So, when there was an offer for a film about basketball, I felt very interested and joined the casting. Finally it was accepted and yes, we finally met with this project," said Vania again.

This woman, who also studied the world of modeling, admitted that she was not familiar with Dealova, a romance film that was released in 2015. She was only required to play her character so she never found out about Dealova's first film. On the other hand, as an actor, she feels that this film shows something that is close to young people today.

"I think this is something fresh because the Dealova that Mr. Ray conveyed is interesting, which used to be a love triangle, people's passion for the world of sports, the world of music, so this is a fresh Dealova because the story still relates to young people today which is parents conflict when their children want to enter the world of sports or the world of education. Because sport is sometimes underestimated even though it can build character, get scholarships and so on," explained Vania.

"Honestly, I don't know because in 2005 I was still 5 years old in his position. So it's like we haven't watched Dealova, but when we were offered the film, we didn't watch it because our acting coach advised us not to watch it so we could meet a new soul from the film," she said again.

Want to Follow in Joe Taslim's Footsteps

Vania Valencia hopes that the film Dealova can increase people's love for basketball. The reason is, the basketball side in the film Dealova is also presented in full detail.

She wants the basketball side of this film to be an inspiration for viewers to become interested in basketball. She herself admits that basketball in Indonesia is currently hotly discussed because it is often shown on television.

"In this project, we are more competitive as a basketball captain, showing our younger siblings that basketball is correct, so that we can be winners representing the school. So maybe what differentiates the characters is that they are more mature even though they are in high school, wiser, and have higher leadership, in Clara she can lead her subordinates to achieve their dreams even better," she said.

Vania said that achievements in basketball in Indonesia, especially women's basketball, were increasing. She wants basketball to continue to be discussed and continue to attract public attention.

“The hopes are quite big because basketball is on the rise in Indonesia. There's sportainment on television now, and now DBL is running with foreign players who are increasingly improving and yesterday Indonesian women's basketball won gold, so many basketball lines are improving," said Vania.

"The hope is to improve basketball in Indonesia, young people are interested in basketball and I want to make Indonesia even more proud and inspire today's young people to be able to achieve their dreams," she explained.

Having combined acting with basketball, now Vania Valencia has the desire to find an acting project with something she likes, martial arts. Vania revealed her interest in the world of martial arts, from boxing to muay thai.

This can be seen from her social media which is filled with her work and achievements. She is also active in making short films which are released through her personal YouTube channel.

"We are making teasers and making big screen films and we hope that in the future I will get many action films, projects that I will get and of course I can reach Hollywood like my senior, Brother Joe Taslim, who has reached abroad," she said.

Her involvement in various things is also based on her love of the world of basketball. As an athlete, Vania Valencia feels that her competitive and ambitious spirit continues to be ingrained, so she is always open to various opportunities, including playing various characters.

“I tried various things, looking for which one suited my personality. Coincidentally, because I had been involved in acting which was quite suitable, I felt like I was deepening the aspect of acting. Just because I found a new soul in action, I hope I can focus on acting and action," said Vania.

With her ambition, Vania Valencia hopes that one day she can act in action genre projects or those produced by Hollywood. "Hopefully there will always be hope, that I can take action movie" stressed Vania, closing the day's conversation.