Richard Yap: Stardom Is Never Too Late To Come Even When You'Re In Your Mid-40s

RICHARD YAP is the best example to the saying that “age doesn’t matter”. Who would have thought he’d achieve leading man-heartthrob status at his age? He turned 46 last May 18, definitely over the hill for anyone who just entered showbiz. It’s generally believed that there’s a premium on youth and it’s best to join showbiz when you’re in your teens, just like Daniel Padilla who’s the hottest teen star now. When you reach your 30s, you’re considered going downhill, just like Piolo Pascual or Diether Ocampo. They’re still very much around but it’s generally believed that their careers have already peaked.

In the case of Richard Yap, stardom came to him by accident and late in life. He was noticed for the Chow King commercial he did, played Kim Chiu’s dad in “Binondo Girl”, guested in “Walang Hanggan” then the magical pairing with Jodi Sta. Maria in “Be Careful with My Heart” came and presto, a star is born! His fans are now legion, swooning at the sight of Sir Chief in the hit “kiligserye” even when they know that he’s already very much married in real life, with two daughters at that.

And now, he’s all set to conquer the movies with the big screen version of “Be Careful” that’s an entry in the Metro-Manila Filmfest. He says all of them in the cast are all excited with the prospect of their show branching into being a full length movie. We earlier thought that the TV-based film entry that ABS-CBN would field in the filmfest is Coco Martin’s “Juan de la Cruz”. But obviously, the family-oriented “Be Careful” has higher ratings and the bigger fan base, so it’s the most logical choice to be turned into a movie. It’s already pre-sold, with millions of viewers already familiar with all the characters.

The movie version will still be about the love story of Sir Chief and Jodi as Maya, but we’re told it’ll show what happens to the characters after the TV show has folded up. We heard that the TV show will end with the wedding of Sir Chief and Maya, while the movie will extend beyond that and show what happens to them after the wedding.

And not only that, Sir Chief will add another dimension to his showbiz career. Since he has sung the theme song of “Be Careful”, Star Records just got him to record for his own solo album for them. Here’s hoping he’d do even better than Daniel Padilla since he’s doing a multi-lingual album no less: with Tagalog, English, Visayan and Chinese songs in it, to target a wider market.