For Jake Cuenca, discipline is not an image. It is lived, felt, and practiced daily. At this point in his career, he admits he has been “working non-stop.” The closest thing he’s had to a break was a recent trip to Japan, but even that came with conditions. This he shared in a sit-down interview in mid-November.
Discipline is in!
“The biggest break I got was Japan,” he shared. “Pero the thing is like, two days ride sa Japan and then Saturday taping na ako ulit. So I had to get back to “Edong.” Edong is Jake’s character in his current series What Lies Beneath.
Concern followed him even there. “Everyone was worried. Sabi nila, ‘Jake, hindi ka ba kakain?,’” Jake shared. His answer was blunt and practical, “I’m like, dude, I’m taping on Saturday so I’ve got about five hours to get there.” Food became purely functional. “So all I ate there, all I ate were like, every meal was three pieces of sashimi,” Jake detailed.
The physical demands were extreme. “Tapos motor kami 200 kilometers, ha? So energy drink,” Jake said. He laughed at the irony. But for Jake, there is always purpose. He added, “There’s a reward, e. From all that fasting or limited eating, I do show up to work as Edong so hungry.”
That hunger is intentional, and visible. “You can see it in his eyes. You can see it in his hair. Nakikita mo sa kilos niya. Nakikita mo sa galaw niya,” Jake said. It is something he has to consciously recreate. “Like I said, parang I have to recreate that hunger,” he added.
Jake explained why, “Kasi sabi ko, ‘di ba, the reason why I immersed and the reason why I do that is because I didn’t come from a childhood like that. I came from a very good childhood. I love my family as you know. They treated me right all my life.” Because of that, he believes discomfort must be learned. “So in one way, shape, or form, kailangan mo ilagay ang sarili mo to discomfort so that people can understand what that hunger is that comes across. Literal, diba?,” Jake continued.
If the mind cannot reach it, the body must. “If you can’t figure it out in your mind, well then train your body to feel that hunger and then let it come out through the role. So it’s a necessity for me to do it,” he explained, “’Tsaka it’s healthy.”
Jake has structured his life around this discipline. “I’ve structured a way where it’s just so you guys have an idea of how I do it.” His week is mapped out with precision. “So parang six days a week, Monday to Saturday. So Monday comes in, Batang Quiapo. So Sunday, kain ako pasta. So I don’t have food in for Batang Quiapo.”
Training follows. “I wake up tomorrow, I’ll do weights. I already did weights earlier today.” Adjustments are constant. “So if I’m taping for What Lies Beneath on Tuesday, they tell me that in the morning. So I fast, whole meal diet, one meal a day, eggs. Five eggs a day. That’s it. The whole day, five eggs,” he shared matter-of-factly.
Jake depletes himself deliberately. He shared, “I run when I get home. I run when I wake up so that I’m super depleted when I get to work.” The results are obvious. “Like yesterday, everyone’s like, ‘how did you lose all the weight?,'” he proudly related.
Even pleasure comes with discipline. Jake said, “Kasi nga, in my mind in Japan, sabi ko, I’m gonna enjoy this, but this is not a vacation. I still gotta work on Saturday. I still have to make the most of this experience with my brothers and my friends. Pero work mode pa rin tayo.”
The week continues with intention. “So Wednesday comes in, weights again. Then Thursday comes in cardio again. Then Friday, I get a vitamin drip — to kinda bring back all the vitamins, not to be too depleted,” Jake passionately shared. By then, balance is restored. “So come Friday, I’m healthier. I’ve structured the way around it,” he added.
His approach varies by role. Jake explained, “For What Lies Beneath, I can say that that’s 110% method [acting technique].” For FPJ’s Batang Quiapo, where he plays Miguelito Guerrero, it’s a different style. He said, “It’s a mix of everything. Kasi, like I said, parang wala script. So you kinda have to go with the flow.”
But with What Lies Beneath, the transformation is internal. “It’s a different feeling. I feel it in my stomach. My posture changes. My eyes change. It’s a different experience. I’m a different person,” the passionate actor opened up.
Offcam, he knows himself well as “Mr. Sociable.” But on set, the shift is complete. Jake said, “Pero pagdating ko ng Tuesday, I become very grim and quiet. Like, very, very quiet. Walang kinakausap sa set. I have my own tent.”
Isolation becomes preparation. “Mag-isa lang ako doon, listening to my music and very immersed to the script of what’s about to happen,” Jake shared, epecially when scenes turn dark. “So if we’re about to do a very serious scene, I’m gearing myself up to something like that. Even at home, the passion does not switch off,” he added.
Restraint is king!
The same discipline was tested not on set, but in front of the press, when Jake was asked to confirm a personal breakup. He did confirm it. And he did so with restraint.
When asked what he learned about himself after making the big reveal, “I’ll be honest, at the end of the whole process, I was very, very proud of myself,” he said. “At the same time, I ended up looking at the mirror and being proud of myself and loving myself more for it.”
Jake described the pressure of the moment, “Kasi it’s… I’m going to choose my words again wisely. But it’s in the moment, diba? When you’re being pressured for an answer, and your back’s against the wall literally, and you have people, cameras, drilling you, distracting you, getting you emotional.”
In that environment, reaction is easy. “The easiest thing to do is not to do the right thing, diba? The easiest thing to do is to react and to follow your emotion, whatever that may be, whether it be anger, frustration, or magalit ka,” Jake said, admitting it nearly happened. “It almost happened in that interview, but I was able to contain myself.”
The weight of the topic made it harder. “But it’s hard not to lose it a little bit kasi you’re talking about something that was very important to me. It was a big part of my life,” Jake honestly said. What mattered most was what came after. “But I’m proud of it because at the end of the day, I had the time to process and think and choose my words wisely.”
That moment reshaped him. Jake shared, “That’s why now, every time I say something, I’m like, ‘Give me a second, let me process and choose my words wisely.’”
The response from peers surprised him. Jake detailed, “I have a lot of, I’m not going to name names, but a lot of celebrities or senior actors who have gone up to me and said, ‘You know that interview was so good.’” He insisted there was no performance and further explained, “And I was like, I’m not trying to be good in that interview, it’s just speaking from my heart.”
What made it meaningful was who noticed. “When other guys go up to you and say that, guys don’t normally do that. Other guys won’t go up to you and be like, ‘Hey,’ you know what I mean? That’s not a thing. So when it happens, it stays with you. So when you have senior actors older than I am, more influential, I’m not going to name names because I don’t like to clout-chase, but when you have other people going up to you saying that, that’s a real man move.”
He paused, then said it plainly, “It makes you proud, to be honest. It makes you proud to be a man.”
For Jake Cuenca, discipline is not just how he builds a character, it is how he moves through life. Whether on set or in front of the press, he chooses restraint, honesty, and forward motion. Moving on. Moving forward. Ahead of his game.
