After portraying several supporting roles in movies and television series, Salvador got her first leading role in "Nagsimula sa Puso" (2009–2010). The series revolves around a teacher named Celina who falls in love with her own student. This is the first partnership of love-team Maja Salvador and Coco Martin. Salvador stars opposite Nikki Gil, Jason Abalos and Jaclyn Jose. While also doing this series, she was also, at the time, also starring in the child-themed series "May Bukas Pa" (2009–2010), with child actor Zaijian Jaranilla. Salvador became a well known name after playing the roles of "Celina Fernandez" and "Stella Rodrigo".