At first, due to his Hispanic features and bearing, he was typecast into playing villain roles. He did the film "Contravida" in 1955, directed by Olive La Torre. He was so effective as a villain that he won his first FAMAS awards for Best Supporting Actor for three straight years from 1957 to 1959 for the movies "Taga sa Bato" (1957), "Condenado" (1958) and "Tanikalang Apoy" (1959), respectively. He is the only individual to garner a three-straight victory in any award from that certain institution