Mention the name David Chua and you think for a while. The name does ring a bell and the face looks very familiar...must have seen him somewhere.
You’re right. “Self-effacing” is an understatement to categorize David but actually, well, he is.
“I’ve been acting for more than 10 years now since I was 18, straight out of college,” David introduced himself in this “body talk” after he signed up with Arnold Vegafria’s ALV Talent Circuit. “I acted in five full-length movies, two of them Somebody to Love with direk Joey Reyes under Regal Films and Cinco by Star Cinema. I won Best Supporting Actor in the Cinema One Awards for my role as a gambling lord in Saturday Night Chills by direk Ian Lorenos under Cinema One Originals.”
He has been in around 30 teleserye, with Love Thy Woman (airing interrupted by the pandemic) as the latest.
After he was crowned Mr. UST (he took up Fine Arts & Design in that school) years back and recruited by ABS-CBN for showbiz, David did “my homework” by completing a Master Class in the Star Magic Workshop (the Chubbuck Method by direk Rhayan Carlos) and training at the Actors Guild of the Philippines with the Erik Morris Technique under Leo Martinez.
“Painting is my passion but it has to take a back seat to acting for the meantime; I’m serious with my acting,” stressed David whose role models include (among local actors) Christopher de Leon, Joel Torre, Bembol Roco, John Arcilla, Noni Buencamino, Albert Martinez and Tirso Cruz III, and (foreign actors) Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquin Phoenix; plus local (“Character actresses,” David’s words) Eula Valdez, Maricel Soriano and Sylvia Sanchez, and Hollywood actresses Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman and Viola Davis.
David: “My grandfather is an original Chinese immigrant from the Mainland. He worked very hard to put up a printing press and medium-scale real estate development business for the family. My mother Lucy was a single mom whose hard-working ethic I believe I learned a lot from. It was a very big heartbreak for me to have lost her too early just last year. She was only 59. So now it’s up to me as a big brother to my only younger sibling to carry on for us both.”
David John Chua is an Aries (Year of the Snake) and wears size-M RTW, size-L briefs and size-10’ shoes.
How do you take care of your body?
“Hahaha! There is no shortcut, sorry. People ask me that all the time. Wala namang magic ‘yan. If you keep eating and don’t exercise, lolobo ka, di ba? In contrast, like what I try to consistently do, I work out at least four times a week: I box six rounds of three minutes each, I do the stationary bike for an hour and then the body weights for about 30 minutes. My diet is low carbs, low sugar and low sodium. I can’t do keto because I am active and need some carbs. I also try to do intermittent fasting of 14 hours. Eight hours of sleep daily is important. At least eight glasses of water a day.”
Favorite sport?
“I like road and mountain biking, I hike and mountain-climb, I swim, I box, I run. I’ve done a duathlon which means biking and running combined for 100 kilometers, I’ve done a half-marathon which is 21 kilometers, I’ve climbed Mount Daraitan and Mount Batulao, among others all over the country. I’m planning to get my certification for deep-sea diving soon in Batangas.”
Favorite sleepwear?
“Nothing beats my oldest, hole-riddled T-shirts and boxer shorts. Mas luma, mas masarap sa katawan.”
First thing that you do as soon as you wake up?
“Believe it or not, I pray and thank God for another new day, as soon as I wake up. This has been my ritual since my mom taught me as a child. Bata pa lang ako, madasalin na talaga ako. But now that I’m grown up, I’ve come to appreciate what this means and how a relationship with God could help me navigate my life. Then, after praying, I check my phone, like all millennials do. Hahaha!!!”
How do you deal with stress?
“I play my favorite music like Bon Jovi, Phil Collins, Led Zeppelin, The Script, Guns & Roses and Maroon 5 and then work out. It works all the time and puts me in the right mood.”
Fave hideaway?
“My world has not yet been so unmanageable that I would find myself needing to hide somewhere. I’ve been to many places for vacations. But if I were to hide from the world, it could be anywhere, but with someone very special to me. Maybe out of country or out of town where no one else is. I enjoy both the mountains and the beach equally.”
How is your love life?
“I’d like to think that I take all my relationships seriously: Friends, family, workmates, girlfriends. I’ve had several serious relationships. I guess I’m romantic in a way that I believe and would like for relationships to be happy and eventually last. Reality sets in surely. But I’m eternally hopeful. I am at the moment unattached and excited for whoever might make my heart skip a beat again.”
Women that you find sexy?
“The face, legs and body of Charlize Theron are every guy’s fantasy. You don’t even need to see singer Dua Lipa to be drawn to her. Such a sexy voice. What she looks like is a bonus, hahahaha!!! Gusto ko din si Megyn Kelly in Fox News. Beautiful but tough. Parang walang puwedeng lumusot.”
How do you make a woman know you admire her?
“If she’s accessible, well, I find a way to make conversation. A first conversation with a woman usually tells me the most important indicators. If I feel I want to get to know her better, I’d be interested to be with her in a group. And when I see I make her smile, and she makes me smile, I’ll ask her out.”
(E-mail reactions at rickylophilstar@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)