Say hello to the Regal Idols

The Regal Babies (first launched in the early ’80s with Maricel Soriano, Dina Bonnevie and Snooky Serna, a.k.a. "Underage" girls, among the originals) have been "retired" by Regal Matriarch Mother Lily. It’s long overdue, I guess. Thus far, Mother Lily has launched almost 50, most of them now big stars.

Goodbye, Regal Babies; hello, Regal Idols!

Nine of them – count them!

They are (at random now) Marco Alcaraz, Eric Eleazar, Jay-R, Iya, Warren Austria, Tania Paulsen, Bianca King, Danica Sotto and Dustin Reyes.

Let me introduce them to you:

• Marco, a former San Sebastian Stag from Davao City, is the image model of Jag Jeans and a commercial model (San Miguel, PLDT, Smart and Astring-O-Sol). He appears in the ABS-CBN soap It Might Be You as one-third of the love triangle with John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo.

• Eric, a six-footer, could have qualified as an NCAA Varsity player but he opted to try showbiz. He looks familiar, doesn’t he? He’s the guy in the KFC commercial, swooning over someone else’s girlfriend while holding a box of fried chicken.

• Jay-R, said to be Gary V.’s "heir apparent," is one of the hunky Bench models (for the underwear). The Film-Am boy from California doesn’t just dance and sing (ala Gary V.), he also acts (on GMA’s Love to Love). He has an abum (Gameface), released by Universal Records whose lady boss, Bella Tan, should get credit for where Jay-R is now.

• Iya, host of Game Channel, is a commercial model (MyGlobe, Coke’s Hotta-Hotta and Lux) and a mainstay of GMA’s Click. She’s in the cast of Beautiful Life, which Gil Portes will direct for Regal Films.

• Warren is an "import" from Canada, referred to director Chito Roño by Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz. Warren’s father is Canadian and his mother a Filipino (from Pangasinan). He’s also in the cast of GMA’s Click.

• Tania is one of the three girls who give that cool dude a lipstick-marking kiss in the Colgate commercial. Born and raised in Goldcrest, Queensland, Australia, Tania is also the image model of Triumph, Smart, Rexona and Guess. She once co-hosted Eat, Bulaga! for six months and is recording her debut album for Dyna Records.

• Bianca has been a model since she was 13 and trained in theater, piano, singing, drums, ballet, etc. She’s a varsity leader, too. Also a member of the Click gang, Bianca has done several commercials, including those for Purefoods TJ Hotdogs, Coke and Rexona.

• Danica, the most popular in the batch, has been around. The daughter of Vic Sotto and Dina Bonnevie is leaving for Switzerland in July to take a five-month Hotel & Restaurant course at Les Roches. She plans to put up a restaurant when she comes back, in partnership with her parents. She’s going steady with upcoming actor Mark Escueta.

• Dustin was trained in theater since his childhood in Chicago, Illinois. An endorser of Globe, he was in Star Cinema’s Pinay Pie and in the ABS-CBN defunct show Klasmeyts, and now seen in the Claudine Barretto hit soap starrer Marina. Dustin plays soccer, golf, track and field, and volleyball.

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