“None,” says Ian, who started with Starstruck. “After working together for a year now, we feel like brothers and Kaye Chua, the only girl, is our baby sister. Tito Boy Abunda manages us and he has made it clear from the start that we still have our individual careers. Pag may nakukuha sa’min sa solo projects, we’re even happy for them. I don’t look at them as competitors as my biggest competitor is myself.”
We notice he now speaks better Tagalog. “I keep on practising it with my mom. Ako pa nagre-remind sa kanya, mag-Tagalog ka. Kasi hindi niya ako tinuruan when I was growing up in the States.”
The youngest of three kids, his mom is a Filipina working in Spain and his dad is an American with the Air Force who got assigned there. “Ang ganda ng love story nila kasi my mom is 12 years older than my dad, but they fell in love. Now, my mom is 63 but she looks 40, and my dad is 51. Palipat-lipat kami coz of my dad’s assignments. I was born in Germany, then we moved to Texas, then to Alaska, Okinawa, Las Vegas, Guam and now I’ve decided to live here. They support me naman sa dream kong mag-showbiz.”
Ian is turning 25 on January 14. His biggest role at GMA-7 was in “Sisid” with Jackie Rice and, in the movies, “Kung Fu Divas”, with Marian Rivera. He feels he’s better prepared to tackle bigger roles as he’s now more fluent in Tagalog.
PJ (for Paul Justin Go) has a Chinese dad (but he has no chinky eyes) and a Pinay mom. His life is like a soap opera. “I’m the youngest of two boys. We have a sheltered life, then our dad suddenly died due to heart attack, his first. He was only 50, then within the year, my mom was diagnosed with leukemia and also died. Out paternal lola tooks us in and also died. Natigil ako sa college. I was 19, taking up marketing at UE, and had to work. Someone told me mag-go see for modelling at nakuha agad ako. Doon ko nakita, puede kong pagkakitaan yun. Then I met Tito Boy Abunda and he offered to me to join this group of newcomers he’s building up. So far, okay naman.”
Born Nov. 4, 1990, he stands 6 feet tall and is quite buff. “Tito Boy made us take workshops under Direk Laurice Guillen and Pen Medina for acting, Annie Quintos of The Company for singing, G-Force for dancing and Tito Boy himself for hosting. He’s preparing us for the big break, but I want to have a career in acting more.”
NYOBG opens the new year with “Not Your Ordinary Variety Show” doing modelling and dance numbers. Here are the show dates of their Pagcor tour: January 09 – Casino Filipino Hyatt January 11 - CF Olongapo January 17- CF Mimosa Satellite January 18 - Airport Casino Filipino January 23 - CF Pavilion February 06 - CF Hyatt February 14- CF Angeles February 15- Airport CF February 21 - CF Pavilion February 22 - CF Olongapo.
For Inquiries, call Backroom at 4351108, 4351120 and 9280717, email at backroominc@hotmail.com, facebook at facebook.com/backroominc and twitter at BackroomArtists.
