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Unwrapping JC Santos | Philstar.com
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Unwrapping JC Santos

Irish Christianne Dizon - The Philippine Star
This content was originally published by The Philippine Star following its editorial guidelines. Philstar.com hosts its content but has no editorial control over it.

MANILA, Philippines - The worst crime you can commit is telling the audience something they already know,” screenwriter Aaron Sorkin once said. Right now, Sorkin would be proud of us. Because our 27-year-old cover star, John Carlo Santos, is telling us something he has never shared with any publication before: the story behind his rather odd belly button. Kung makikita mo ’yung pusod ko, hindi siya normal,” he says, and proceeds to lift up his denim shirt. Parang may mata.”  (For visual aid — and a totally justifiable peek at his abs — check out the BTS video on Supreme’s Facebook page.)

 If you’re wondering why the hell we’re having a belly button show-and-tell at three in the afternoon inside the Supreme headquarters, it’s because JC is a storyteller; one who likes to narrate his tale, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. In that order, too. His story, he tells us, began on November 19, 1988, on the blood-soaked floor of his paternal grandmother’s house in Angeles, Pampanga. Pinanganak ako sa sahig ng bahay namin,” he shares. If his mom had a choice, she wouldn’t have given birth there, but circumstances were less than favorable. Walang pera, hindi na umabot sa ospital, JC enumerates the reasons. But this is more a comedy of errors than a sob story. See, instead of a doctor, it was his tipsy, not-a-gyne lola who helped pop baby JC out into the world. (FYI, Lola was in the middle of an inuman session with her barkada when JC’s mom, Elizabeth, went into labor.) Hence, the weird belly button. “Feeling ko ginupit [umbilical cord] nang ilang beses? Or kinagat,” he posits.

The image of his lola biting off baby JC’s umbilical cord is conjuring unwelcome Train to Busan memories, so we steer the conversation into (hopefully) less bloody ground: his growing up years. JC grew up in what he calls a “lower middle-class household.” He and his mom lived with his paternal Lola for a while, while his dad, Edwin, worked aboard an oil tanker ship as a bozun to provide for his little family. Eventually, mom and son struck out on their own. His most vivid childhood memory was having to keep moving houses because they sometimes couldn’t afford the rent. JC has memories in Angeles, Mabalacat, and Dau. And they were good ones, none of the bullied-new-kid drama others unfortunately go through. Changing schools constantly was not a problem for him. Every time his mom would announce that they were moving again, JC’s default reaction was, “Yes! Lilipat na naman kami! Hindi ko siya nakitang nakakalungkot. Parang, ‘Okay, bago to.’” He had the personality to thrive despite constant change anyway. (Madaldal ako eh. Makwento. Mabilis makisama.”) Even bullies couldn’t intimidate him. Heck, he ended up becoming friends with them, and together, they carried out vigilante justice in the academe. “Bully din ’yung pinapagulpi ko,’ yung masama din,” he says, with a glint in his eye. Pero innocent guys? Hindi. Everybody loved me in school.”

JC wasn’t an outstanding student, just content with barely passing grades. To wit, his highest grade was 77. His interests lie outside the classroom: Soccer, taekwondo, being the president of the school’s Interact club, responsible for whipping up school-wide contests. He never liked basketball, though, saying it’s too rowdy for his taste. When he was 15, Mama left for Las Vegas for good, leaving him and his little sister behind. If you’re expecting a dramatic MMK-worthy development in the story, sorry, but JC remained steady.  Pamilya ako ng OFWs eh. Lahat sila umalis ng bansa dahil sa hirap ng buhay. The grass is greener on the other side. May petition siya at natanggap, kinuha niya,” he says matter-of-factly. In the same way he saw the beauty of being in a state of flux, JC made the most of the fact that both his parents were away.Naging adventurous ako. Naging independent ako. So good siya for me,” he says. Wala ka talagang sob story?” We challenge. A shake of that curly head. “Eh bakit ’yung ibang anak ng OFW?” We counter. He pauses, and jokes: Ang aarte nila.”

Putting on the Big Boy pants

Despite being oceans apart, day after day, JC and his dad did not slowly go insane. They remained close. The only time they ever really clashed over something was when JC was 17 years old, and dead set on pursuing theater arts at the University of the Philippines. Walang sumuporta sa pangarap ko,” he says. Still, it’s not a sob story, but a coming-of-age one. Wag na, diyan ka na lang,” were his dad’s exact words, when JC told him about his decision to move to UP after spending two years at the Angeles University Foundation. He had been taking up Mass Communication.

You can say JC fell in love with theater at 16, when he got exposed to the energy of the legendary Tony Mabesa, founder of the Dulaang UP. Tony was the resident director at AUF and JC got to star in two plays he helmed: Romeo & Juliet and The Funtastics. Tony, a constant fixture in Manila’s theater scene, would always go back to AUF bearing playbills or souvenir programs for JC—from Orpheus Descending to Hamlet. The boy whose highest grade in school was 77 finally found the one thing he could geek out hard over: theater. As in, if there were a theater equivalent for the comicon, he would totally go to see his idols: Neil Ryan Sese, Sharmaine Buencamino, Paolo O’Hara, Peewee O’Hara, and Randy Villarama. Reading the playbills, JC saw a common thread: the OGs (Original Gangsters) he admired were all products of Dulaang UP. There was that problem with his grades though. Plus, Alam kong hindi ako papasa sa entrance exam, hindi naman ako matalino,” he says, acutely self-aware.

He may not be book smart, but JC is street smart. The boy texted Tony Mabesa a heartfelt message saying, “Sir, naka dalawang production na ako sa inyo, and I really, really love the training. Sir, gusto ko po mag Dulaang UP, papano po kaya?”  He was promptly seen-zoned before seen-zoned was even a term. The next day, he vowed to play dead in case Tony brought up his 20-seconds-of-insane-courage SMS. When he entered the office of culture & arts, the founder of his personal Mecca was there, bearing an envelope with a glowing recommendation for him. JC excused himself, ran to the nearest restroom, and did a happy dance. If you knew what JC had to do to pass the talent test, you’d understand why he defied his father’s wishes. He went all out to make a positive impression on the panelists. He cut his hair Emilio Aguinaldo-style for crying out loud, wore a costume that looked like it came straight out of Heneral Luna, and performed for 30 minutes, the pieces as challenging as they were diverse. Aside from the Emilio Aguinaldo monologue, he also “sang Stars from Les Miserables. Meron akong movement piece na pina-choreograph ko sa friends ko, a monologue from Palasyo ni Valentin, plus a monologue from Romeo & Juliet.So you can understand why there was no way in hell he was just going to stay put in AUF.

For a year, his mom and dad refused to pay for his P15,000 per sem tuition, but continued to send him his P11,000 a month allowance. To afford matrikula, the resident Ang Probinsyano of UP Diliman borrowed money from willing aunts and lolas who were proud that one of their own was accepted in the country’s premier university. P2,000 went to his dorm rent, and the rest went to food, books, and miscellany. In UP, he gave his all, and then some. Naging privilege sa akin na nasa UP ako eh. Kailangan galingan ko! 200%. Hindi ito mangyayari sa ibang tao. Napili ako oh! Blessing na blessing sa akin. Galing akong probinsya. Ako yung pumunta dun. If I fuck this up, ano pang saysay nung pagod ko?” He says this excitedly, without stopping. He detested some of his General Education subjects like Geography, but he relished Theater 110, which required him to work inside a theater. His first designation was as refreshment staff, which meant he had to make sure his station never ran out of crackers and coffee for the actors. The director at that time had a penchant for tea, and JC found the idea of serving tea to him as is boring. So he researched what he could add to make his boss’ favorite drink a little more special. “So may pa-lemon ako. Nag-start siya sa calamansi, naging lemon. ’Yung honey ’di ko afford. P500 eh.” (Yup, he bought the citrus from his own student pocket.) Whether he was assigned to clean the toilet (“Tinu toothbrush ko yung inidoro”) or asked to rig the lights, JC gave it his all. Ganun ko siya kamahal.”

Started from Pampanga now we’re here

In two years, he would leave UP to become a singer-dancer at the Universal Studios in Singapore. The money was good, but eventually, he got tired of the routine. A girlfriend based in Hong Kong Disneyland asked him to audition there for a much-needed change of scenery, and he got the part. In HK, he played Captain Shang, the hot stuff general in Mulan, three times a day, five times a week, for a year and a half. Naumay talaga ako, papunta na sa depression eh, he admits. Aside from the fact that he had turned into a negative ball of stress, his relationship with his Disney girlfriend was already on the rocks. There was no reason to stay, and every reason to go back home so he could do the things he loves most again: Doon, they’re gonna give you a song, aralin mo, they’ll give you blocking, that’s it. Dito may script ka, aralin natin, we’re gonna create something from nothing. I missed the collaborative work, the rehearsals.”

When he got back, he hit the ground running with a lead role in Dulaang UP’s Ibong Adarna where he met his game changer, his fellow taga teatro Teetin Villanueva, currently part of Ako Si Josephine: A Musical featuring the songs of Yeng Constantino. “First time kong manligaw. Yung mga dati, sex, text,” he says, laughing at the follies of his youth. This girl made him work for it, and right before leaving for New York City to study musical theater at the Circle in the Square Theater School, they agreed to make this work, distance be damned. On his sixth month in NYC — he was supposed to stay there for two years — JC had a realization. In the middle of performing a monologue in Broadway, it hit him: Natupad ko na ang pangarap ko. Broadway. I’m done. I wanna go home. I realized pagod na ako na nasa ibang bansa. I just want to stay in the Philippines.” And so he did.

He found a manager in his long-time friend, actor/director Andoy Ranay, who, incidentally, is one of the directors of JC’s serye Til I Met You. (But lest you think the actor got the part because Andoy pulled strings, nope. JC bagged the role of Ali through a proper audition even before Andoy was asked to come on board.) Andoy booked JC TV gigs in programs like Flordeliza, the ill-fated Walang Iwanan, Tubig at Langis, and the top-rating Ang Probinsyano.  For some reason, he was always the baddie. Sabi ko, ito na ang destiny ko sa TV,” he says, without any of the bitterness some actors harbor over being typecasted. “I’m acting. I’m earning money. Roles are never an issue,” he stresses. But now, he’s no longer the baddie, but the third wheel of JaDine on primetime TV. Andoy says, JC is still pretty much the same, still not a fan of bacon by the way, except they’re busier now, and closer. JC’s dream remains the same: Sana makapag theater pa rin ako. Sana makapag film, TV pa rin ako. I just want to do these things for the rest of my life.”

Before we bid him goodbye, we ask him what he hates about the job, and he can’t come up with any. But he zeroes in on a weakness. Sanay ako sa stage. Pero pag nandiyan ako na walang script, hindi ko na alam kung anong gagawin ko. A beat. “Right now, while you’re interviewing me, I’m on the spot.”

“You were good,” we refute him, and there’s nothing left for him to do but concede and smile.

* * *

Tweet the author @IrishDDizon.

 

Photos by PATRICK DIOKNO

Produced by DAVID MILAN

Grooming by DON DE JESUS of MAC Cosmetics

Hair by MONG AMADO

Clothes from FOLDED AND HUNG

 

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