Jasmine Trias works on movie and second CD
Though thousands of "Idol" fans will be glued to the TV awaiting the results of this season's finale, contestants from seasons past will be sitting pretty in the audience. Look around as the camera pans the audience, and you just might catch a glimpse of Oahu's own Jasmine Trias, sans flower.
"Idol" idolatry does have its privileges, after all. Just ask William Hung.
Trias, the third-place finisher from Season 3, is rooting for Katharine McPhee, now that her other favorite contestant, Chris Daughtry -- sorry, Taylor -- has been knocked out. But Trias has kind words for all of this season's contestants: "The show is so different now. The talent has just gotten so much better. Oh, yeah, I've been watching."
Since "Idol" ended for Trias, she has released a self-titled debut album, which sold 15,000 copies in the United States. Her mug was seen most recently in advertising for "Flying Home," a single sold exclusively in Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in Hawaii last year. But what has Trias been to up to lately?
Though she is at work on a second album, she is also pursuing an acting career. She has a role in the movie "Another Deep Breath." Filming begins in June in Los Angeles, with Trias playing the cousin of a professor who gets involved in a campus scandal.
She described the film as a "cross between 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and 'Lost in Translation,' but for a Filipino audience. I was looking for something like that."
Though she has yet to capitalize on her fame in the way of, say, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood or even Corey Clark, for that matter, Trias' popularity remains unshakable in Asia. After the "Idol" season ender, Trias heads to Japan on a business trip.
But she hasn't wandered far from her home base, returning to Central Oahu between promotional trips and tours of the West Coast and Asia.
Trias, who still values the opportunity "American Idol" gave her, has kind words for everyone connected to the show -- except Simon Cowell. "He's gotten meaner."
