Here are some things to know about Cedrick Juan, the Best Actor winner for this year’s MMFF.
“Gomburza” star Cedrick Juan won the Best Actor award in the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival and here are some details about him.
The 49th Metro Manila Film Festival showcased 10 exciting entries. From the three roles Piolo Pascual portrayed to “Rewind’s” box office success, everything about this year’s film festival is successful.
But in this year’s winners’ list, the one declared as the Best Actor is Cedrick Juan, a theater-grown talent who stole the spotlight for his excellent portrayal in the film “Gomburza”, one of the 10 official entries of MMFF 2023.
During the awarding night, “Gomburza” gained other awards like 2nd Best Picture, Best Director for Pepe Diokno, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award.
About Cedrick Juan
In the film, he portrayed martyred priest Padre Jose Burgos but this role was not initially offered to him. This is not his first MMFF. He was Bong in Alvin Yapan’s “Oro” in 2016, nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, and Erica in Jun Robles Lana’s comedy-drama “Die Beautiful”.
This is also not his first Best Actor award. He received Best Actor award from Aliw Awards in 2017. This is for his performance in Art Theater Manila’s “Sakuntala: Ang singsing ng kapalaran as Dusyanta”.
His acting career actually started in 2013. He joined Dulaang UP’s summer workshop at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Juan starred in several major plays such as “Adarna” (2013), “Bilanggo ng Pagibig” (2015), “Teatro Porvenir” (2013), and “Hakbang sa Hakbang” (2014).
In movies, he was also cast in the 2023 Cinemalaya entry “Huling Palabas” and “Gitarista”, the International Film Festival Manhattan Best Feature winner. “Gitarista” was his first lead.
However, in his decade-long career, “Gomburza” was accordingly his biggest break.
In this year’s MMFF, he went against these actors in the Best Actor category:
- Dingdong Dantes (Rewind)
- Christopher de Leon (When I Met You In Tokyo)
- Derek Ramsay (Kampon)
- Alden Richards (Family Of Two: A Mother And Son Story)
- Piolo Pascual (Mallari)
In his acceptance speech, he said, “Maraming salamat, Jescom, sa pag sugal sa akin… Maraming salamat, Pepe Diokno, sino ba ako? Pero sumugal ka sa akin.”
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