Looking at a bright future

The former seaman from Magalang, Pampanga is looking forward to a bright future in acting, his passion.

Jay Garcia, 24, acted first in theater, then came the indie films, Jason Paul Laxamana’s Instalado and Afi Africa’s The Lookout, and minor TV appearances on GMA 7’s G.R.I.N.D. and ABS-CBN’s Ang Probinsyano.

Now, he is playing Denver on GMA 7’s TV drama-action series Beautiful Justice and as Agent Jet on ABS-CBN’s afternoon drama series Sandugo, just after Kadenang Ginto.

In Alvin Yapan’s Culion, a Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry, he plays Tonyo, a volunteer from Pampanga. He remembers during the first-day shoot there was a typhoon but it did not daunt the cast to continue shooting the movie in the former leper colony that will touch your heart. The story was written by Ricky Lee.

“I have to commend the Team MSB (Mark Shandii Bacolod, the film’s producer) for taking care of us while staying in Culion, Palawan,” he said. “The people of Culion were so accommodating and generous. Upon the cast’s arrival there, we felt their warm welcome. I, together with fellow actors Aaron Concepcion, Rex Lantano and Nikko de los Santos, played basketball with some residents in the island. It’s like having a vacation, meeting new friends while doing what you love most, which is acting.”

He admitted he is forever grateful to Holy Angel University (HAU), film Aria’s producer, that gave him the big cinematic break as the lead actor. He often visits HAU and appreciates its outstanding female administrators like its vice president Edna Marriza Santos who was named 2019 Quality Manager of the Year Award by the Philippine Society for Quality and former HAU president Sr. Josefina Nepomuceno (whose eldest sister HAU trustee Teresita Wilkerson passed away recently) who won the CEAP (Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines) Pro Deo et Patria Award as well as the Center for Kapampangan Studies team comprising Robby Tantingco, Myra Lopez, Lia Pangilinan and Melissa Mae Angara.

Jay said he also supports HAU’s partnerships with Disinformation and Democracy Consortium and Oslo-based Universities Against the Death Penalty global network.

“I learned a lot from direk Carlo Catu (an HAU alumnus) some techniques in acting, how to make the moment natural,” said Jay.

He has other talents, too. He can sing as he is a former song leader in their church. He is a born-again Christian.

“Whoever I am today I owe it to the past. I have become a stronger person. In acting, humuhugot din ako sometimes,” he said with a gift of gab.