Diego, Franki’s leading man in film debut
FRANKI Russell is a PBB housemate in Season 8. She’s a model from New Zealand when she joined the reality show. She has a Pinay mother and a Kiwi-European dad. She grew up in Dunedin, NZ but moved to Sydney, Australia when she was 18.
After PBB, she tried acting and played a female cop who’s part of Cardo’s Angels in Ang Probinsyano. She has her own vlog and is also active on Tiktok.
She was once romantically linked to hunky car racer Marlon Stockinger and to actor Diego Loyzaga.
She has now finished a new movie with Diego, Pabuya, directed by Italian-American director Phil Giordano, who previously directed Pusoy with Janelle Tee and Angeli Khang.
Franki plays Bella, whom Diego, as Pepe, runs to for help after he kills an undercover cop. Bella is sweet and loving, and because of their history, Pepe puts his trust in her.
But this trust is shaken when the police issues a reward for his capture.
The movie is a first for Franki. Last October, she also achieved another “first” as she was the first to represent the Philippines in the first-ever Miss Universe pageant in United Arab Emirates.
Her team-up with Diego is quite interesting since like their characters, they seemed to have a romantic involvement in the not so distant past.
How is it working with Diego? “I’m lucky to be working with Diego for my first movie,” Franki says. “He is a very experienced actor so I learned a lot from him on the set. It’s great and a lot of fun working with him.”
Pabuya co-stars Jela Cuenca as Maricar, Pepe’s seductive but selfish ex-girlfriend, Felix Roco as Jojo, the rival gang’s leader, Jiad Arroyo as Victor dela Cruz, the lead detective with a shady side.
Pabuya starts streaming on Vivamax on October 7.
