He is undoubtedly showbiz royalty. His grandma was the late actress Amalia Fuentes. His parents are award-winning actor Aga Muhlach and actress-beauty queen Charlene Gonzalez. Former child superstar Niño Muhlach is an uncle, actresses Arlene Muhlach and Almira Muhlach are his aunts.
However, while his relatives started their acting careers early on, good-looking and towering Andres Muhlach remains undecided whether or not he will venture into show business and follow in the footsteps of his parents and popular relatives.
“Grabe, you’re putting me on the spot,” Andres said. “We’ll see if the opportunity is there already, why not? Right now, I’m still thinking about it. I’m still thinking about the options and opportunities. I’m still waiting on what my parents have to say. I still have a year left with my studies. I’m considering taking the rest of my studies online, but I will do it here in Manila.”
Turning 22 in November, Andres’ priority is to finish his studies at a university in Spain, where he is taking up a Business and Communications course.
“I’m not sure yet what I’ll do after college,” he said. “I have to graduate first. We’ll see where it goes after I graduate.”
His twin sister, Atasha, recently graduated with honors from the Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom, where she completed her Business Management degree. Atasha, however, got the green light from her parents to join showbiz.
“I’m very, very happy for her,” Andres said. “I’ve known for a while that she really wanted to pursue showbiz. That’s really her dream. We will always support her.”
The brother is protective of his twin sister, who recently signed up a management contract with Viva Artists Agency (VAA) and joined E.A.T. as one of the hosts.
Possible suitors of Atasha are “scared of me,” Andres smiled. “I’m like her first wall. If there’s someone out there who wants to court her, they have to go through me.”
Andres, who was recently in Manila on a school break, shared how he’s enjoying his life as a student in Spain. “Being able to walk to the school every day, 30 minutes going there and 30 minutes back, I really like to walk,” Andres shared.
“Even my groceries, I really have to count them. Sometimes, I don’t even have enough money to do the grocery, so I count my coins.”
He’s proud that he learned how to cook chicken mechado, his favorite dish. “I’m a chicken guy, so the very basic cooking for chicken, I can do that.”
Andres and Atasha grew up in Batangas away from the glare of klieg lights. “Honestly, I never really saw my parents as showbiz talaga,” he said. “We grew up properly in Batangas. I just saw them as my parents, as regular people.”
“My sister and I just grew up playing outdoors, biking, hiking. I really love basketball. Almost every day, I play basketball. I’ve played basketball with Grae (Fernandez), although he’s in New York now, also with Benj (Pangilinan). I also play with Andoy (Andrew Muhlach),” he added.
Andres has gotten used to the attention he has been getting whenever he’s outside. Just recently, he attended the wake of entertainment columnist Ethel Ramos, who was the talent manager of his dad.
“Ang daming cameras all over. Have you seen it? But I guess gano’n talaga.”
He is aware that his mom Charlene previously hosted a dancing show, saying: “I think I got my grooves from her and also a little bit from my dad. I learned how to dance from them.”
Told that he is a “Crush ng Bayan,” Andres simply smiled sheepishly.
“I appreciate the love,” he said. “It’s a lot of love. Thank you.”