CEBU, Philippines - From where we were perched at during Bruno Mars’ sold-out Cebu leg of his “Doo-Woops & Hooligans World Tour” at the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, quite a few were heard wondering loudly ‘Who in earth is that guy?’
Everyone knows current sensation Bruno Mars, so they were of course referring to his front-act Michael Copon who, just like the Grammy award-winning singer, is a proud Fil-Am who was setting foot in the Philippines for the very first time.
When the hunky singer/actor/model emerged on-stage while his Hollywood TV stints played on a video montage in the background, the crowd went wild at the sight of a gorgeous gentleman in their presence. Backed up by a female act dubbed “London Baby” who also came all the way from Hollywood, he sang a number of Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, K-Pop hits and more pop tunes. Michael also sang one of his compositions (he’s a songwriter too) “Light of the Night” and serenaded, or better yet, outrageously played tweetums with a cute girl he plucked from the crowd.
Someone commented, “Now we know he’s really Pinoy,” dryly referring to Filipino celebrities’ penchant for acting all lovestruck, complete with hand-holding, hugging and a caress on the cheek while singing to a love-team partner or a complete stranger on stage. Michael even ended the act by carrying the thrilled girl on her way down the stage.
He then showed his “Hey Yo” music video shot just a couple of days before the concert at Maribago Bluewater Resort in Mactan and in other spots in Cebu. Concert producer Marvin Agustin made an appearance in his video chilling out by the beach with the locals.
While there were those who bluntly pointed out he was out of tune, a greater number of concert-goers obviously didn’t care because he was more than handsome enough to cheer on. Here are some quick facts we dug up online all about the dapper looker, for the sake of those he left infatuated with his brief time in the spotlight at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of Waterfront.
• He was born in Chesapeake, Virginia, to a Caviteño father and a German-American mother. He came here two weeks early so he’d have time to visit his father’s homeland and meet his Filipino relatives. After high school, he moved to Los Angeles where he bagged his first acting job in the plum role of Lucas Kendall in “Power Rangers: Time Force” in 2001.
• He has also made numerous guest appearances on popular programs such as “CSI Miami,” “Scrubs,” “Reno 911,” “That’s So Raven,” “Even Stevens,” “Hawaii 5-0” and also co-starred in the original series “Beyond the Break.” As for films, he appeared as lead in “The Scorpion King II: Rise of a Warrior,” showed his dancing chops as a male cheerleader in “Bring it on: In It To Win” and was also part of the remake of horror film “Night of the Demons.” But according to Michael, his most recognized role to date was his starring role as Felix on the hit TV series “One Tree Hill.”
• In 2005, the 28-year old bested eight other celeb contestants in the VH1 reality TV show, “But Can They Sing?” Since then, he has actively written songs, produced and mixed his own music. He is currently working on his long overdue album.
• Towering at 6’2”, the dapper crooner has also established quite an impressive modeling portfolio over the past 11 years, including stints for such brands as Old Navy, PacSun, Sketchers, Nike, Reebok, Gap and American Eagle.
• Was once rumored as Kim Kardashian’s beau when he appeared on the reality star’s show as her date.
• Most interesting of them all was how he was this near to nailing the roles that made Taylor Lautner and Zac Efron global stars. Michael discloses in his Philippine press interviews how it came down between Zac and him as the two final choices to play Troy Bolton in the hit franchise “High School Musical,” but that his height when put side by side with Vanessa Hudgens did him in. He was also very close to playing Jacob Black in Twilight sequel “New Moon”, but the first director was fired, the producers decided to use Taylor again from the first installment.