Cover Acting coach Bombi Plata on finding meaning beyond the roles people play, both on screen and in everyday life (Photo: courtesy of Bombi Plata)
Acting coach Bombi Plata on finding meaning beyond the roles people play, both on screen and in everyday life (Photo: courtesy of Bombi Plata)
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Drawing on more than three decades in entertainment, the acting coach has developed a method that encourages self-awareness, empathy and a stronger culture of care
Bombi Plata has spent much of his life helping people become someone else.
As an actor, assistant director and acting coach, he has worked across film and television, from educational programmes—such as beloved classics Hiraya Manawari, Sineskwela and Bayani—that shaped a generation of Filipino viewers to more recent productions for the big screen—2 Valid IDs with Marietta “Pokwang” Subong. His work has required him to study human behaviour closely: what people reveal, what they conceal and what emerges when they step outside themselves.
“I’ve always seen acting as a therapeutic medium,” he says. Through characters and imagined circumstances, performers can encounter difficult emotions and realities indirectly, finding ways to understand experiences that might otherwise be too painful to confront.
Over time, however, Plata came to understand that inhabiting another person’s life carries its own risks. An actor may leave a character behind when filming ends, but the emotions stirred up in the process do not always disappear so neatly. The person behind the performance needs as much care as the work itself.
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Above Beyond his work in front of and behind the camera, Plata has dedicated years to developing Sensing, a method centred on self-awareness and human connection (Photo: courtesy of Bombi Plata)
Beyond his work in front of and behind the camera, Plata has dedicated years to developing Sensing, a method centred on self-awareness and human connection (Photo: courtesy of Bombi Plata)
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His years in the entertainment industry also led him to explore how actors engage with their emotions and surroundings. These observations gradually informed his approach to acting, which he calls “Sensing”. Built around awareness of the senses, one’s emotions and one’s relationship with others, the practice has since extended beyond the stage and screen. Plata now applies it through I Am Here, an experiential workshop that brings its principles into conversations about mental health awareness and community building.
The word “sensation” also has a place in psychology. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung identified it as one of four psychological functions, alongside thinking, feeling and intuition. Plata’s “Sensing” System, however, refers to a broader practice of engaging all the senses and becoming more attuned to oneself and others.
Plata’s interest in storytelling began at the University of Santo Tomas, where he took on different production roles while studying before moving into assistant directing. When offered a more secure position as an associate producer, he chose freelance work instead. The decision meant giving up a measure of stability, but it allowed him greater creative freedom.
That freedom also brought him closer to the emotional demands of performance. In his early years, Plata experimented with deeply personal material without fully understanding how it might affect him. He recalls experiences in college, between 1993 and 1995, that included sleepwalking and gaps in his memory as he confronted difficult emotions. The experience left him with a lasting realisation: exploring the human condition through art requires an awareness of one’s own limits.
No work of art is greater than man
The statement challenges an industry accustomed to placing the finished work above almost everything else. Plata believes a performance should never come at the expense of the person creating it. Art can help us ask difficult questions and recognise parts of ourselves we might otherwise avoid, but the process should never come at the expense of the person creating it.
This understanding gradually informed “Sensing”. The process begins with the self, moves towards other people and ultimately reaches the community.
The principle has particular relevance to acting, where performers must enter emotionally demanding situations while maintaining a sense of their own identity. Plata likens the working environment to a battlefield, making it essential to find a way back to oneself once the day is over. The same challenge exists outside the industry. People move between roles as colleagues, parents, partners and friends, sometimes carrying the pressures of one into another without realising it.
Above An acting coach by profession, Plata has made understanding people the work of a lifetime (Photo: courtesy of Jeng Plata)
An acting coach by profession, Plata has made understanding people the work of a lifetime (Photo: courtesy of Jeng Plata)
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“Sensing” took a more formal turn when Plata was coaching seven-year-old Erin Espiritu for the film Kampon. A producer suggested that he work alongside child psychologist Rainier Ladic, also the founder of The Juan Psychologist. Initially hesitant, Plata was nevertheless willing to have his approach observed and questioned. Ladic began identifying connections between Plata’s exercises and psychological concepts, prompting further research into the technique.
The collaboration brought “Sensing” into academic discussion. In 2026, a paper titled To Listen With All of One’s Senses: Actors’ Experiences of the Sensing Technique, co-authored by Ladic and colleagues, was published in the North American Journal of Psychology. The study examined actors’ experiences of the method, adding a research dimension to an approach developed through Plata’s years of practice.
The work also informed I Am Here, which adapts “Sensing” for schools, companies, organisations and other groups. Developed with the involvement of Ladic, the workshop aims to encourage self-awareness, mental health literacy and stronger connections between people. Participants learn to recognise signs of distress and explore ways of responding, including through psychological first aid.
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A central part of the programme is the formation of care groups: communities in which people can speak openly, develop trust and feel a sense of belonging. His wife, Jeng Plata, a journalist, and daughter, Hiraya Plata, a teacher, are also involved in I Am Here, bringing their own perspectives and experiences of living with mental health conditions to the work. Their involvement reflects the programme’s belief that conversations around mental health need to extend beyond specialists and into families, schools and communities.
Above Beyond his work in front of and behind the camera, Plata has dedicated years to developing Sensing, a method centred on self-awareness and human connection (Photo: courtesy of Isyoot Multimedia Production)
Beyond his work in front of and behind the camera, Plata has dedicated years to developing Sensing, a method centred on self-awareness and human connection (Photo: courtesy of Isyoot Multimedia Production)
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The aim is not to turn friends or colleagues into therapists, but to help them recognise when someone may be struggling and support them in seeking appropriate assistance.
The need for such spaces feels particularly pressing in a world where communication has never been easier, yet genuine connection can remain elusive. Technology allows people to stay in touch, but it can also encourage comparison, isolation and retreat into familiar circles. People may become increasingly visible online while feeling less understood in their daily lives.
The title I Am Here expresses the programme’s central message, but it is also a personal affirmation. As Plata puts it: “I am here. I exist. I matter.” He extends that thought to people who have endured difficult experiences: “I am here. I have survived. Despite everything, I matter.”
The words are simple, but their implications are far-reaching. They speak to the need to recognise one’s own worth, particularly at moments when circumstances or mental health struggles make that difficult. His daughter, Hiraya, who joined the interview, also offered a reminder that having a mental health condition need not define a person’s future: “Having a mental condition is not a death sentence.”
Plata does not present “Sensing” or I Am Here as a substitute for professional care. Their purpose is to make people more aware of their own needs, better equipped to recognise distress in others and more willing to build communities where support is possible. Mental health, in this view, is not solely an individual concern. Families, workplaces, schools and other social environments all have a part to play.
After decades spent helping actors understand the people they portray, Plata has turned his attention to something closer to home. The work now centres on the person behind the role, and on creating the conditions in which that person can be recognised, supported and cared for.
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Syrah is Tatler Philippines’ Power & Purpose editor, where she spotlights extraordinary journeys shaping the Philippines and Asia. She covers business, innovation, impact, and culture—chasing the people, ideas and forces shaping how we live and think today.
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