Coco Martin shared stories of his humble beginning in showbiz
Kapamilya primetime action king Coco Martin recalled the time when he was told that “managing Piolo Pascual ka.”
Coco is one of the most in-demand actors nowadays. For many years, his series has been reigning in the primetime lineup on TV. Aside from being an actor, he ventured into directing and producing which goes to show his successful journey in the Philippine entertainment industry.
In a recent interview on Toni Talks, the YouTube talk show of Ultimate Multimedia Star Toni Gonzaga, the actor shared an amusing story that happened when he was just a newbie in showbiz.
Coco Martin’s first acting project was the indie film Masahista in 2004. Prior to this, he had several jobs and eventually, he went abroad and worked as an overseas Filipino worker.
Toni asked her guest how he ended up in Canada as an OFW. The actor said that just like many Filipinos, he wanted to go abroad to help his family financially. This was the reason that convinced him to accept his first acting job because a film producer Ferdinand Lapuz told him about the possibility of bringing the movie to other countries.
Indeed, Masahista was included Locarno International Film Festival and won The Golden Leopard (Best Picture, video category) award. When they went abroad for this, the film producer and director Brillante Mendoza had no idea that Coco was planning to go back to the Philippines.
The actor intentionally befriended the Filipinos there for his plan to stay and one offered that he could stay at their place.
Eventually, Coco told Direk Brillante about his plan while they were celebrating their win. His companions panicked because the immigration office would look for him.
The actor explained to them it was really his dream to work abroad for his family. Then, Coco was convinced to return to the Philippines.
After that, his prodcer said, “Nanalo tayo, malay mo pagbalik natin doon, magiging Piolo Pascual ka na.” With his youth and the influence of alcohol at that time, Coco jokingly said that he blindly followed that anticipation that he might be at the same level as Piolo.
Unfortunately, this did not happen at that time but he continued doing films with the anticipation that he could still work abroad. When they were in Canada, the actor did not share with his director that he was planning to stay there. For nine months, he worked as a janitor.
Towards the end of Toni and Coco’s conversation, the actress-host recalled Ferdie’s words that the actor could be on the same level as Piolo. Toni said that is happening now. “Magkaka-level na kayo,” the actress-host said.