10 Things You Should Know About Toni Gonzaga

Toni Gonzaga: 35 Louboutins, 8 movies and counting

TV host and actress Toni Gonzaga: “I was able to build a house for my family, I was able to invest in some properties, diba ito dream ko talaga na maging stable na lahat, siguro naman okay na ako to have a relationship.”

I first met Toni Gonzaga on the set of the show Wazzup Wazzup. I was just starting as a host and she had just transferred to ABS-CBN. We started to become close friends when I became her co-host for Pinoy Big Brother after I became a housemate. Ever since, she has never been selfish. With the limelight, with lines to say, with food, with extra clothes, with advice, she has always been so generous. And you know what they say: when you share with others, it will come back tenfold. In Toni’s case, a million-fold. When I hear a whole coliseum singing her songs or see full movie houses laughing at her punchlines, I really find it hard to believe that I am actually friends with this multi-awarded singer, host and actress. Here are 10 things you should know about Celestine Gonzaga, more commonly known as Toni Gonzaga.

1. She grew up never thinking she was beautiful, with her dad reminding her that she would go to auditions because of her talent and not her beauty.

When she would wait in line at castings, she couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful mestizas (she remembers models Cristina Garcia and Joey Mead) around her. “Okay lang yun kasi hindi naman ganda yung ibebenta mo, yung talent mo yung ibebenta mo,” she recalls her daddy Bonoy telling her. She and her younger sister Catherine were raised with their dad teaching, “Wag kayo masyado magpaganda o ma-conscious sa itsura niyo, hindi naman yun yung importante sa pagkatao niyo.”

Show business was her dream as far back as she can remember. When her mommy Pinty would bring four-year-old Tin (nickname given by Celestine) to her office, she’d request all her officemates to come hear her sing. “Kasi nga diba idol ko si Regine (Velasquez). Pag nakikita ko siya sa TV, sinasabi ko sa sarili ko na gusto ko maging singer, gusto ko nasa stage, may microphone, madaming tao,” she fondly recalls.

2. At hotel lobbies, Toni always makes it a point to listen and applaud for the lounge singers, because she started as one when she was 17.

At the age of nine, she almost became a part of Repertory Philippines’ production of The Great White Way, but because she was young, naïve, and tired from a long bus ride, by the time she was asked to perform, she didn’t put much effort into singing. “First time ko ma-experience yung ganung klaseng rejection, harapan, sabi sa akin ni Baby Barredo, ‘Thank you, you may now go home,’” she narrates. Little did she know that that meant her performance did not pass, and that served as a lesson for her that show business is a serious business.

Her second biggest rejection came when she was 13 years old. She joined the first ever Metro Pop Singing Competition (the same batch as Kyla and Faith Cuneta) but lost. “Isa yun sa biggest heartache and heartbreak ko, feeling ko yun yung big break ko sa pagkanta,” she shares. It was after this that she realized she needed to try other things. She auditioned for everything from acting to modeling to hosting, from ABS-CBN to GMA to RPN. Still, her big break did not come.

It was when she met the parents of a hotel lounge singer that she got the idea of working in a hotel when she was 16. “Nag-Hyatt hotel ako, Kalesa Bar, Casino Filipino, Shangri-la Conways, Sulu Hotel, I did five gigs in a week, I was first year college,” she recalls. From doing her homework in the free hotel room provided to enjoying the free buffetl; from doing two sets a night to being protected by hotel staff against DOMs, Toni widened her range as a singer and learned how to engage crowds with her hosting from her days as a hotel lounge singer. To this day, she holds dear a request card that a guest once sent her: “You will not just sing in hotels, you will sing in big crowds, and you will record your own songs.”

3. Her big break in show business came via her “I love you, Piolo!” softdrink commercial, but she was originally cast as the support, not the lead.

She remembers acting right behind all 10 choices for lead as the director tried them out one by one at the workshop, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., only to find out when the video was played back that she was not seen at all. “Pag sinabi ng direktor sa lead to give a different variation, give din naman ako, all-out acting, eh never pala ako nakuha sa camera,” she shares. Toni said it worked to her advantage that all the other pretty models were too preoccupied with looking pretty. The director plucked Toni out of the support lineup to try her out, was sold after her first take, and the rest is history.

The softdrink commercial paved the way for Vic Sotto to guest her on his sitcom Daddy Di Do Du, and that was when Eat Bulaga took notice and got her to host three times a week for a month. “Yung one month, nag-extend nang na-extend hanggang lumapit na ako kay Miss Malou (Choa-Fagar of Tape, Inc.) at tinanong ko kung pwede kaya ako mag-every day,” she says. They initially declined, but the persistent 17-year-old still tried, after which production said she could come every day, but they wouldn’t be able to increase her talent fee. Toni seized the opportunity.

4. Toni Gonzaga in numbers:

5: Number of studio albums released, all of which reached either Gold or Platinum status.

7110: Model number of cell phone that she bought with her first ever talent fee from Eat Bulaga.

730: Millions in pesos total estimated gross of her eight Star Cinema films (D’ Anothers, You Are The One, You Got Me, My Big Love, My Only U, Ang Tanging Pamilya, Wedding Tayo Wedding Hindi and My Amnesia Girl).

102: Average weight in pounds. She stands 5’4”.

35: Pairs in her collection of Christian Louboutin shoes.

5. After devoting 10 years of her life to show business, Toni plans to go back to school this year to finish her AB degree in English.

She was waitlisted for the fine arts program at UP Diliman, but upon her father’s advice (“Di ka pwede mag-juggle ng pag-aartista, UP yan”), she decided to enroll in a communications course in Dominican College, which is right beside the Eat Bulaga studio. She managed to balance morning classes, the noontime show, and afternoon classes for around two years. With the growing demands of her career, she switched to an English course in homeschool program AIDE (Asian Institute for Distance Education) in her third year. “Until I got an offer from ABS-CBN, dun na nabago lahat, I decided to grab the opportunity,” she says of why she had to stop studying.

She excitedly shares that she is planning to enroll in an online UP course this June. “Inaayos na namin ni Mommy, kasi nga nakakainggit si Catherine may diploma na after six years,” she reveals.

6. Some of the most important lessons she learned in show business, she learned from Sam Milby and Mariel Rodriguez.

It was in 2005 when she was suddenly in the spotlight, being the main host of the phenomenal reality show Pinoy Big Brother, with the premier season’s most handsome housemate Sam Milby showing admiration for her. “Yung feeling na overwhelmed ka kasi di mo naman ine-expect, people are so interested sa inyong dalawa, you’re young, you shoot almost every day together, so nadala ka din sa hype,” she says of how her almost-romance with Sam started. When her dad advised her that Sam was not the man for her (not because he didn’t like Sam but because parents just have that gut feel), as much as she was thinking of escaping and rebelling, she and Sam never even had the chance to go out and communicated only through text. “It pays to listen to your parents, and do not just follow your heart, use your head,” she says of her biggest lesson from that.

One of the biggest controversies in Toni’s career was when her friendship with Mariel Rodriguez was under scrutiny, with malicious reports of backbiting and bad mouthing. She says that the best lesson that experience taught her is to filter what to listen to and what to ignore. “I don’t want to invest my time and energy on issues that don’t add anything to my life but negativity. I’ve learned to become a professional ignorer. It saves me a lot of heartache and pain.” She says this of how things are now: “Everything is back to normal, forgive and forget.”

7. On Paul Soriano being her first boyfriend: “Its been almost five years, and it’s one of the best decisions of my life.”

After what could have been a relationship with Sam, Toni swore to herself to just focus on her career and put her love life in the backseat. “Ang sakit pala ng ganung feeling na akala mo yun na yun, hindi pala, clinose mo na puso mo, nilalabanan mo na, tapos biglang dumating si Paul,” she shares. “I remember praying about that: Lord, I’m 23, I was able to build a house for my family, I was able to invest in some properties, diba ito dream ko talaga na maging stable na lahat, siguro naman okay na ako to have a relationship,” she reveals. Her mom was instantly drawn to Paul and his cute face and good upbringing, but it took her dad around a year before he and Paul really got to know each other. Paul’s kind heart, patience and non-presko-ness impressed Toni. “The noise of Catherine, the stiffness of Daddy Bonoy, and the mouth of Mommy Pinty, nag-adjust siya dun, and I’m very proud,” she shares laughing.

Toni and Paul feel that their extremely busy schedules are actually a blessing in disguise, and that a big factor as to why they lasted so long is because they are always excited to see each other. “Feeling namin nagtagal kasi meron kaming time for each other and meron kaming space from each other, we grow individually and grow together,” she says.

Yes, they do talk about marriage and even if Toni once said that by the age of 30 she is ready to get married, she says it’s so hard to believe that’s in two years. “Pwede 32 na lang?” she jokes. One thing she and Paul have talked about is that Toni will not stop working even when she has her own family, but by then, family will be her top priority.

8. If you think Toni is funny, she insists her sister Catherine is much funnier, and some of Toni’s punchlines and hirits actually come from Catherine.

“Catherine is hilarious, she’s way, way funnier, outrageous, and crazy!” It was only a few years ago though when Toni and Catherine became close. Growing up, they always used to fight since their personalities are really quite opposite. Catherine is carefree, Toni is more reserved; Catherine goes out on gimmicks until late while Toni still follows her curfew even now that she’s 28 (“Actually di na siya curfew, it’s my lifestyle na talaga”); Catherine is a people person, while Toni usually prefers to stick to her friends. Now, they are each other’s strength and shoulder to cry on. Does she feel that Catherine thinks Toni is the favorite of her parents? “Feeling niya favorite ako, hindi niya alam, mabait lang kasi ako, siya kasi matigas ang ulo.”

9. Iconic people Toni has worked with:

FPJ: “Lahat tayo tingin natin sa kanya ‘The King,’ but he never acted like one. Never mo yun mararamdaman sa presence niya.”

Aiai de las Alas: “Ate Aiai is a mother in every aspect.”

Former President Erap: “Surprisingly funny! And kakaiba talaga mass appeal niya. Feeling mo you can approach him anytime.”

Vic Sotto: “Pinaka-laid back na nakilala ko na big star. Definitely one of my biggest dreams ay makatrabaho siya ulit in a project.”

Joey de Leon: “He is a legend. Actor, composer, comedian, writer, singer, dramatic actor, lahat ang galing.”

Boy Abunda: “He’s full of wisdom, he knows it all in this industry.”

Gary Valenciano: “He is the ultimate inspiration when it comes to living your life and living your dreams.”

10. At the end of the day, after all the projects, awards and material possessions, what overwhelms her most is the house she built with their very own swimming pool.

“Nung bata kami, pag nagda-drawing kami ni Catherine ng dream house namin, laging may swimming pool,” she reveals. Growing up, Toni and her family either just rented a house or lived with the grandparents. At the age of 22, after just five years in show business, she was able to build a house for her family that she eventually expanded into adjacent lots, including a swimming pool. “Every morning when I look around the house, that’s what I’m most thankful for, never kong na-imagine na makakapagpatayo ako ng bahay na may pool.”

* * *

I’ve been so blessed to know Toni for six years now, and she has grown to be like a sister to me. Any parent or sibling would feel so lucky to have Toni as a daughter or sister. There are too many stories of rebellious and independent-to-a-fault young people today, and Toni serves as a breath of fresh air and inspiration. In every step of her life, her family has been there to guide her and right the wrongs, and her beyond-wildest-dreams success today only proves that obedience, patience, and faith really pay off. “Yung itsura ko, I’m not stunning or astoundingly beautiful,” she humbly says. What makes Toni so special? “Hindi ko makakalimutan yung sinabi sa akin ng Daddy ko. That I’m really just an ordinary girl, but with extraordinary dreams.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/798942/toni-gonzaga-35-louboutins-8-movies-and-counting

10 Things You Should Know About Gaita Fores

Gaita Fores on food, life & lessons learned

Gaita has 200 pepper mills in her collection, “One of the things I learned in Italy is that you cannot replace freshly ground pepper with anything.”

 Food, travel and her life stories were the topics of conversation over a specially prepared brunch in her restaurant, Lusso. She reveals that, as if serendipitously (she is celebrating 25 years in the industry this month), just a few weeks prior to this interview she was going through her son’s books and found her old Florentine-bound diary that she’d forgotten she wrote in every day (“From the gray skies of Milan to what I ate on the train”) while she was in Italy. “This might be a good starting point to possibly do a retrospective of my work and everything that I’ve done all these years,” she emotionally shares. From a catering business to successful restaurants to a growing home line, she has effortlessly kept herself relevant and exciting. Here are 10 things you should know about Margarita Araneta Fores.

1. To this day, she has had no formal training in cooking. She got her training from three Italian signoras within six months of living in Italy.

Margarita, fondly called Gaita, was studying at liberal arts college Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts when she decided to go back to Manila to possibly get married to her Filipino boyfriend then. With some units credited, she went to Assumption, majored in accounting and doubled up with a lot of management subjects, just in case she would end up working with the family’s real estate business. She passed the boards and is a certified CPA. “I wasn’t really a numbers person, so at least it helps that now, I can read a balance sheet and income statements,” she laughs.

With her mother’s consent, she flew to Italy in 1986 to study. “Signora Masha Innocenti, she was an English-speaking Italian woman who taught in her house,” she recalls of her stay in Florence. She would have morning classes, then, come lunchtime, the signora would take them to the markets to shop for fresh ingredients, or to restaurants to learn more about Italian cuisine. She went on to train under signoras Ada Parasiliti in Milan and Jo Bettoja in Roma. Upon returning home and doing a stint at a food festival in Hyatt, she now has Cibo, Cafe Bola, Lusso, Pepato (now a pop-up store on weekends at The Commissary in White Space), Cibo di M, Casa di M, Gastroteca di M, and many more big ideas under her belt.

2. Her love for Italian culture and cuisine all started when she worked at Valentino Couture while living in New York.

She first worked with the Italian friend of her mother who was the fur licensee of Valentino. She then met Angela Istok, the vice president in charge of licensing, and it was she who got Gaita on board to work in the main Valentino office. It wasn’t hard for Gaita to fall in love with Italian culture. As she says, there’s a lot of similarity between Filipino culture and theirs. “They’re also Catholic like us, they love their moms like us, it’s not difficult to relate to them,” she says.

Although what her job entailed was clipping articles, buying food for his dog, checking his apartment, and making sure everything was in order for when Valentino would visit, she says that what she learned most from that job was understanding the strength of a brand. “This whole thing about the color red, and even now that he has a design team to do the designing, the brand is still so strong,” she explains. When people tell her how good the kamias shake in Cafe Bola is and that she should also put it in Cibo, she says, first, that’s what draws people to Cafe Bola, and second, it wouldn’t fit the menu of Cibo. Strength of a brand: that’s what she learned.

It was because she became friends with one of the leather goods licensees that she learned how to make pesto (“With a mortar and pestle, the traditional way!”) when she visited them in their home in Genova. It was her visit to Parisian cafes and Harry’s Bar in Venice that made her want to create that experience for the market in Manila, which is the reason she created Lusso. It was when she hosted a whole weekend for 15 friends in upstate New York, just cooking, setting the table for friends, making daiquiris with an Osterizer, that made her realize that this is what she wants to do forever. “Those experiences gel and click and you realize hey, this is the same kind of magic that I want to recreate for people, and it became my calling.”

“Now I realize those trips, even as far back as traveling to Europe with my mom in the ‘70s, those experiences are priceless, and you draw from them when you put something together.” With a bashful smile she adds, “This is the first time I’m talking about all this!”

3. It is because of her son Amado that she finally decided she would make a career out of cooking.

“It was because of him that I said, ‘Hey, you have another life to look after,’ and that made me make a decision,” she reveals. She started to make a name for herself in the culinary world in 1987, and by the time her son Amado was a year old, she says the hype was dying down. She came to the realization that the food industry was not about the glamour and media attention. It was about discipline, commitment, and being on time. (“I was famous for always being late.”)

She recalls the irony of how it was so difficult to feed Amado when he was growing up, and how all he wanted was fried chicken. “It would be embarrassing, my family would always see us battling because he wouldn’t eat, I’d try to cook and puree all these things for him and he just wouldn’t eat it,” she shares. Fast-forward to now: Amado is 21 years old, studying in a liberal arts college in New York just like his mom did. “He’s become an absolute foodie,” she excitedly shares. He doesn’t cook, but he constantly updates his mom on articles about Filipino cooking or the newest foodie places.

4. On living up to a “big family name”: “Maybe I was always wanting my parent’s approval.”

She is the second of five siblings, but growing up in the same house with her first cousins, she felt more like she was fourth in a brood of eight. “I found myself always being an over-achiever in school, I always wanted to have good grades,” she recalls. She says that it’s that love for life and sharing love for each other by sharing meals that she learned most from her family. “Both sides of the family were really into food and celebrating around the table like most Filipino families, and maybe that’s what I’ve always wanted to celebrate in the food concepts I put together, each in a different way.”

5. Gaita’s favorite markets and restaurants around the world:

Markets:

1. Union Square Greenmarket in New York City, USA. “It’s really cool because lots of chefs go there talaga, and New York being so cosmopolitan, it’s nice that a farmer’s market is still such a big part of what makes the restaurant scene thrive.”

2. Campo dei Fiori in Rome, and Mercato di San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy.

3. Farmer’s Market in Quezon City. “Of course I grew up with it behind my house! I still have my suki there especially for fish and sometimes for flowers.”

Restaurants:

1. Vecchia Roma in Piazza Campitelli in Rome, and Osteria Francescana by Massimo Bottura in Modena, Italy.

2. Mario Batali’s del Posto and Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park, both in New York City, USA.

3. Restaurante Martin Berasategui in San Sebastian, Spain.

6. On opening restaurants and having to close some: “I find that the closures are the biggest and most important lessons of all.”

“In the beginning, I was so saddened by having to close Pepato, but then I realized there are just certain things that have a lifespan,” she opens up. A friend of hers describes the restaurant inspired by Gaita’s grandparents to be an “energy,” and now Gaita realizes that the concept needed to move on and reinvent itself. Floor size, economy, people’s mindset, these are just some factors that contribute largely to the success of a business. Although she still hopes that it’ll reopen again as a restaurant, she says, “I always find that with every closure, there is a new opening.”

7. Gaita Fores in numbers:

11: Number of staff when she started Cibo in 1997. “Nine of them are still with us now!” Today, Cibo has 11 branches and 300 staff members.

9: Average number of events she caters and styles a week.

200: Pepper mills in her collection. “One of the things I learned in Italy, freshly ground pepper, you cannot replace with anything.”

17: Years she has been together with her boyfriend Alvin. “He bakes really well! You have to be structured because everything is measured in baking, me I cannot. I cannot!”

3,000: Number of pizza crusts their group made in the span of five days when they learned how to make pizza from a pizza master in Ischia, north of Naples. “When we got home to Manila, nothing that we learned came out. The water is different, the weather is different, the yeast reacts differently. It was so hard, I was so frustrated, up to this day it is quite a challenge.”

350: Cost in pesos of the Pappardelle with salted red egg, asparagus spears, and truffle dish from Pepato. “If anyone asks me if there’s any favorite dish that I created, it’s that.”

8. She believes that Pinoy cuisine is on its way to becoming recognized internationally, just like Vietnamese or Thai cuisine. “We just have to have a real united approach in presenting our cuisine, we’re so regional about it.”

On what our defining dish would be, she explains, “Its not ‘my adobo is better than your adobo’ or ‘my sinigang is better than your sinigang,’ let’s just let them meet adobo and sinigang.” She says we have to accept the fact that our culture is exactly what historian and activist Carlos Celdran describes it to be: halo-halo.

“I’m actually quite optimistic and really, really excited,” she gushes. She names Enzo Lim’s Maharlika in New York City as one of the Filipino restaurants gaining popularity. What started as a guerrilla pop-up brunch place is now a permanent restaurant on 11th and 1st and is on New York magazine’s hot list. She also shares that Saveur magazine mentions something about Filipino cuisine almost every other month, how Anthony Bourdain to this day signs his books for Filipinos writing “Best pig in the world,” how Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin tweeted about our adobo, and how Tom Parker Bowles wishes there was a good Filipino restaurant in London. “Food tourism can go hand in hand with this new approach of tourism that ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines,’” she proposes. “Besides, the best way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach.”

9. Though organic ingredients are more expensive, Gaita is proud to say that Cibo is now 75 percent organic.

Cibo’s egg, lettuce, herbs, chicken and many other ingredients are now majority organic and local. She admits it is not as reasonably priced as regular produce and it does affect their bottom line, but she says this about doing her own part in protecting the environment versus profit: “Bounty and grace come in different forms, not just in peso signs.”

10. Gaita is very passionate about her current advocacy: “Rediscovering the farmers here in the Philippines. There are so many farmers using wonderful organic produce that I want to work with!”

She was thrilled to hear her “absolute idol” Mario Batali talk about the same concept recently at food congress Identita Golose. She says he explained that chefs should celebrate using the produce of the farmers who are in their area, but to use it with the same techniques and mindset as you would when you are in Italy.

“When you are working with food, your creation and what you put on the table is only as good as your relationship with your farmer, and that’s something we’ve taken for granted here in Manila,” she reveals. She regularly goes to different provinces around the country to meet with these farmers and discover more and more of their organic produce. “When you taste of organic stuff, you realize how different it is. Our taste buds have gotten so numb!”

She mentions that her squash comes from Bacolod, Paolo Araneta supplies her lettuce, Jejo Jimenez supplies tomatoes (“Just as sweet as Italian ones, it’s incredible!”) from Tagaytay; she also sources from a couple who run a company called Fresh Start Organics, and another supplier, GP Fresh from Bukidnon.

Wide-eyed and with a dreamy gaze, she says, “It’s so nice because 25 years after, its going back to where I started and I’m looking at it with young, fresh eyes again.”

* * *

There was a moment in the middle of our interview when I noticed that she kept mentioning random moments in her life that inspired some kind of work she is doing today. I told her I was reminded of Steve Jobs’ commencement speech in Stanford when he said: “You have to believe that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” She literally jumps out of her seat in excitement, and says “It’s funny how God brings you to these places and you realize the wisdom comes out later on!” Gaita has this essential vibrancy, much like that of the Italian culture she has come to love, talking passionately with hand gestures to prove a point or tell a story. She shows us that looking back is just as important as moving forward. For those who have ever felt like their life is just a series of random experiences, or that life has lost its element of surprise, there is much inspiration to be found in Gaita and her life. “It’s been a quarter of a century and at this point, I feel there’s so much to learn and so many new things to do.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/796650/gaita-fores-food-life-lessons-learned

10 Things You Should Know About Direk Lauren Dyogi

The realities of Direk Lauren Dyogi

In the world of TV viewing, he became a celebrity when he went on cam as one of the judges on the ABS-CBN talent search, Star Circle Quest. The show’s viewers became fans not only of the contestants (Sandara Park was the second placer) but of the director-judge whom teen girls described as a “hottie.” In the world of TV production, he is known to be a perfectionist, a good mentor, and it has been said that if you survive being under him, you will go a long way. Here are 10 things you should know about director Laurenti Dyogi.

1. He is not Big Brother.

“Big Brother is a composite of people,” Direk Lauren says about the persona of the famous, faceless Kuya. He has explained season after season that the voice of Kuya is an announcer’s, not his. “He is actually a real person, and we made him appear real because you can’t project a person on television without making people believe that he’s real.”

Of all the controversies the reality show has been involved in, he considers those from the first season to be the most difficult to deal with. “At that time may e-mail na kumalat, claiming that the show was rigged, that we’d chosen the winners, and that it was Sam (Milby), Cass (Ponti) and Uma (Khouny),” he recalls. Aside from that, it was also a controversial intimate kiss on air between Sam and co-housemate Chx (Alcala) that got the show suspended from airing by the MTRCB. He says, “During that time we were cursed, we were lambasted to be the most walang value, walang katuturan show.” But every season, despite all that, he says that it surprises him how many thousands of people still line up to audition. “If it’s a useless program, why do people believe in it?”

2. Direk Lauren worked his way up the ranks from production assistant to writer to researcher to associate producer to director to the title he now holds, business unit head.

His TV work was a gag show on Channel 13 called O Sige as an on-cam talent (he was a former model) and writer, and had a short stint as a writer for Martin After Dark. When that wrapped up, he applied to a couple of producers at ABS-CBN but got rejected. It was David Fabros of Dick and Carmi who gave him his break as a production assistant looking after Roderick Paulate and Carmi Martin during recordings. He became a researcher for Cafe Bravo, was given an opportunity by Mr. M (director Johnny Manahan) to direct, and eventually became producer. He went on to produce shows like Tatak Pilipino and Mel and Jay, and went on to direct shows like Ang TV, Gimik, and Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay and movies like Calvento Files, All My Life, and And I Love You So. It was in 2006 that he headed his own unit, currently handling all reality programs of the network (among which are Masterchef and Biggest Loser) and a number of drama series as well. “Inaral ko talaga lahat yan, kailangan mo mapagdaanan yan,” he declares.

3. He graduated valedictorian from Letran, did not pass the entrance exam to his dream school, Ateneo, but graduated cum laude in UP.

During his high school graduation, he was the third highest in terms of academics, but because he was so active with extra-curricular activities, he was named valedictorian. “We put up the student council, I was editor in chief of the school organ, I was in the glee club even if I couldn’t sing; I just wanted to expose myself,” he shares. He didn’t get into Ateneo, and so he went on to take up broadcast communication in UP where he graduated cum laude. “I was meant to go to UP to meet my wife, that was the reason!”

4. On his wife Liza, daughter Lian, and the demands of his job: “If your family is not supportive, mabubuang ka. It is important that they understand.”

He met Liza back in UP when he was a chairman of the membership committee and she was one of the recruits. It took a long time before they got together because according to direk Lauren, “Ayaw niya talaga ako,” and fast-forward to today, they are 19 years happily married. “I was the first and only boyfriend of my wife,” he says, beaming. How many girlfriends did he have before that? “Less than 10,” he says laughing.

Direk Lauren shares that 18-year-old Lian once had a phase when she felt that her friends weren’t authentic enough to be interested in her, but because she was the daughter of someone in showbiz. She was able to overcome that, and in fact, at her high school prom, both her parents were in the parent’s committee. And she was cool with that.

Despite his hectic schedule, he reveals, “kapag anak ko at asawa ko, I cannot not make time.” Liza’s birthday, Lian’s birthday and their wedding anniversary are the untouchable dates.

5. Direk Lauren was born out of wedlock, and is the only child in his father’s third family.

“Yung style ng tatay ko, he first introduced all the boys, then when I was 12, I was introduced to his first family,” he reveals. He says that there were good times and bad times, and that it was difficult to cope and to be accepted, as an “outsider” trying to get into their family. “I really needed to work hard to get attention, acceptance, recognition… kapag illegitimate child ka, you really feel you have to prove your worth to a lot of people, to yourself, to your family,” he opens up. It wasn’t a conscious effort at that time, but he realizes now that it is probably because of the circumstances he was born in that he worked hard in school (he was a scholar throughout grade school and high school) so that his father would not be ashamed of him.

His father passed away in 2010, and both mothers of the first two families have also passed away. He now remains close to his mom Cely and has become close to his half siblings, one of whom calls him the “velcro” of the Dyogi clan because he is the one who is able to get everyone together. “I do it in honor of my father and the martyr women who my father fell in love with.”

He talks fondly of his father Laurentino, as he remembers him, saying though his father didn’t finish high school, he was extremely madiskarte and was able to produce a diploma to apply to a multi-national company, taught himself how to drive a jeep, and gained knowledge and a command of the English language by constantly reading Reader’s Digest. Direk Lauren says he is still saddened when he meets people who share stories of how their fathers abandoned them. “In fairness to my father, we’re 11, pero wala siyang tinalikuran. Lahat kami pinaaral niya at lahat kami nabibisita niya,” he says.

6. Direk Lauren in numbers:

27: Age when he married his wife Liza, who was then 26.

23: Years he has been with ABS-CBN.

6: Number of movies he has directed. “I said before I’d like to do a hundred movies,” he says with a chuckle. “Now I’d like to support new directors.”

500-plus: Total number of staff members under direk Lauren’s unit.

100,000-plus: Total number of auditioners he has met and screened personally through the four editions of Pinoy Big Brother (PBB). On what makes an auditioner get a call back: “It’s gut feel. It’s very hard to explain. You don’t even have to do anything. You stand there, and if you’re a standout I’ll be able to pick you. It’s that X factor.”

7. He has what he calls a five-year cycle in his career where he feels restless. More than once, he was already all set to leave and work abroad.

“I was tired of production. I was supposed to work for the Singapore Broadcasting Company as a director and producer. I was all set, I had an office, and I flew there to do the ocular,” he reveals. At that time, his wife Liza was having a difficult pregnancy, which made him decide to stay. Still restless, he spoke with bosses Gabby Lopez and Charo Santos-Concio about the possibility of studying again, and they granted it. Just a few years ago, he felt that restlessness all over again and was looking forward to working abroad or moving network. “I didn’t know if I was in the right place. I was tired of doing PBB. Siguro that’s the artist in me. You need to get some validation if you’re still liked, loved and valued.”

8. On artists and creatives transferring networks: “There’s no perfect family. There’s no perfect corporation. I realized I could be part of the solution.”

“Lahat yan may problema. Kung bahay yan, butas butas yan. At kung butas ang bahay mo, sino bang mag-aayos niyan? Tumulong ka na lang sa pag-aayos,” he opens up. He admits that there was a time he thought about an offer to move to another network. But being in the network felt like being in a family, where he would not hesitate to share his problems, and the people he works with would not hesitate to help him as well. If he did move network, he would still do the same job of fixing things, but with people he has no relationship with yet.

“My father-in-law would always say, ‘Money should be your last consideration when getting a job,’” he shares. “As an artist, marami ka lang hinahanap na areas of growth. In the end, novelty lang yung malaking sweldo.”

9. Rundown of stars he helped develop:

1. Sam Milby (housemate from PBB Season 1): “He was not the usual Amboy na mayabang, he was grounded. He is malambing, maamo, mabait, physically fit, and he charmed the public.”

2. Kim Chiu (big winner of PBB Teens Season 1): “Kim was a surprise for me. Kasi nung nag-audition, ang laki ng mukha, nakasalamin, not the type you’d say would be a star. But she was amiable, likable, and she proved that she had that hunger to succeed.”

3. Gerald Anderson (third big placer, PBB Teen Season 2): “He was an obvious choice. He was energetic and full of life. He was Bisayang Kano, meron siyang peculiarity, that was his appeal.”

4. Bea Alonzo (breakout role in Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay): “Be a has the classic features of a movie star. She’s also very talented. She was only 14 at that time.”

5. John Lloyd Cruz (lead role in Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay): “John Lloyd is really a great actor. At that time he already showed potential. He’s guapo, but not the typical hunk. Alam mo naman katawan niya, and he’s proud of it. That’s what makes him endearing. At angst, malaki ang pinanghuhugutan.”

10. He believes reality TV in the Philippines has a bright, long future ahead, and that in time, we may be the ones to sell program formats from Asia to the rest of the world.

Some people may say that local reality TV is on its way out, but direk Lauren disagrees. “We still experiment, we still try to outdo ourselves every season, we still learn, we still fail,” he admits.

He believes the Philippines is a good creative hub for creating new concepts because we have a grasp of the Asian market. And in the years to come, hopefully we can turn the tables and instead of buying franchise programs from Europe and the US, we will be selling our programs. “They transferred to us the technology and knowledge, and now it’s time for us to do original concepts.”

* * *

I’ve been close to direk Lauren for the past six years, but I had no idea how teleserye-like his life is. From his being born out of wedlock to excelling in school, to working himself up the ranks from PA to big boss, to now helping develop the people who work under him to rise up the ranks themselves, his life seems to be perfectly unscripted. “Some people drown in life’s problems, some people get the courage to overcome struggles,” he says. Maybe he was destined to handle the reality shows of the network. He has that gift and knows what it takes to make a reality show work, because I have no doubt that given different circumstances, if he had joined Pinoy Big Brother, he would end up being the big winner.

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/794403/realities-direk-lauren-dyogi

10 Things You Should Know About Jun de Leon

Jun de Leon: This Bad Boy is hot!

He has never been late to a shoot, not even once, because for him it is a sign of respect. He has a notorious reputation for being hot-tempered and shouting on set, because he says he is not articulate.

He was once looked at as the “Bad Boy of Photography” with his salt and pepper hair, white shirt and jeans look, women, drugs and his flaring temper. He has been at the top of his game for 39 years and counting. He is a well-loved man who has only the highest respect from everyone he has worked with. Here are 10 things you should know about the master, Jun de Leon.

1. His passion for photography began in his college years as a photojournalist for the Philippine Daily Express. On his very first assignment, he had to do an investigative report on drug users and prostitutes, and he went as far as taking the drugs himself.

“I had to work and study at the same time to pay for my tuition,” Jun recalls. He was a fine arts student in UST and initially wanted to study architecture (“but I was so bad at math”), tried out painting (“but I was so lousy”), then settled on advertising, where he encountered photography. It was then that he started to balance going to school during the day and, armed with a second-hand Pentax from his mom, he covered the police beat at midnight. He would just take catnaps in the bunk beds at work, only to be woken up to shoot mostly dead people. “Can you imagine? I’m a slave to beauty, but then I had to photograph people getting killed or Carriedo being bombed. For me, violence is ugly.”

He says he took his first assignment as a challenge, saying that he felt his superiors at the Daily Express didn’t think he could do it. He was tasked to do an in-depth documentation on drug users and prostitutes in Olongapo and when he got back to Manila and submitted the photos, they told him, “Never do this again.” In his portfolio, there is one shot taken by one of the drug users where Jun is down, after having been given a dose by the users themselves. To be able to take photos of them, he decided to blend in. “Tinurukan nila ako. Bagsak ako, di ako addict eh. I had to get their trust.”

In his almost decade-long stint with the publication, Jun received two Photojournalist of the Year Awards. “I owe a lot to that experience, whatever I’m doing now was sharpened by news photography. Instinct mo na yan dapat. Your camera becomes your extension.”

2. Before photography turned digital, he used to burn all his negatives at the end of every year. Yes, all. “I have no attachment to the past,” he claims.

“The problem with me is if you ask me about the past, I have no attachment to the past.” He says that if you ask any of the senior models, they will confirm that because it was such a hassle for him to compile all his negatives neatly, he would just burn them all. From shots taken in his Daily Express days to his first editorials, and even to portraits of Marcos. To this day, he shares that his work has never overwhelmed him and that he is not his biggest fan. It is the creation of the photo that he loves and gets a high from, not after achieving the image. “Mas excited ako to go forward,” he explains.

3. On the move from news photography to fashion photography: “Obvious naman that I love women.”

He recalls that his move to fashion happened during the time that now-STAR Lifestyle editor Millet Mananquil

gave him the chance to shoot for Express Week, the Sunday magazine of the Daily Express. “I love women, I love their quirks, their temper, their smell, lahat,” Jun declares with a sly smile. So between taking photos of women versus killings, the choice became obvious.

Even when he had no coverage, he remembers his editors would tell him, “Jun, kailangan namin ng babae,” to be then put on the front page of the paper as a sort of break from all the hard news. “I discovered Alma Moreno on the street,” he reveals. “I saw her, I said, ‘I find you beautiful, can I take your photo?’ I shot her and she was put on the cover. The next thing you know, San Miguel endorser na siya.”

4. The word “father” has meant a lot in Jun’s life. His father died when he was five; he admits to being an “absent” father himself at some point in his life; but he’s learned from his mistakes, and is making up for them, all of which inspired him to do the book Our Father.

Jun has eight children whose ages range from 35 to 10: Christine, Patricia, Oliver, Timothy, Katrina, Nikkolo, Isabella, and Irijah. He admits to being a much better father figure now than he was with his older kids. “When I got separated, I knew it was going to be painful but not that painful.” He admitted to immersing himself even more into photography, getting heavily into drugs, and having an angry phase. “I realized that after so much absence, I cannot be a father anymore, that I should be a friend.” Now, as a family, they go bowling, wake boarding, and do all these other activities like barkadas would. He drives his youngest son to school every morning. He even shares that when his daughters go through a breakup, they always go back to “the original boyfriend,” their dad. “It was only after Isa that I realized I can be a good father,” he opens up.

Though he describes growing up without a father as “very difficult,” Jun says he was ambitious and driven. The second of four kids, he recalled that his dad, a lawyer/policeman/ TOYM awardee, had a huge library with a big sign that read, “I crave for respect.” “How do you get respect? You give it first,” he simply says.

Fast forward to 2008, it was his daughter Katrina’s graduation, and when she asked him to go to her graduation, he insisted that he doesn’t go to events. “Dad, I just need to talk to you. Don’t wear your white T-shirt, but you can wear your rubber shoes,” he recalls her saying. So he went. They called the surnames under letter “D”; nothing. Letter “L”; still nothing. Until it reached letter “X” and Jun decided to have a cigarette outside. He remembers thinking to himself, “Baka di grumaduate kaya she has to talk to me.” Until the emcee of the graduation called onstage all the parents of the Top 20. “Eh crybaby ako eh!” Jun says of that proud moment with tears rushing down his face. “Habang sinasabitan ko siya ng medal, she said ‘Dad, bear with the silver, walang gold this year.’” It was then he realized that he had to finish his book, Our Father.

He was inspired to do a book on fathers wherein he would shoot every father that would enter his studio, along with sons or daughters. “I’d shoot for 10 minutes, the coffee time was two hours,” he recalls. From fathers with regular jobs, to businessmen, to celebrities, to lieutenants — he shot them all. “Thirty-two lang yung target ko, naging 52. And everyone had a story to tell,” he shares.

5. He proposed to his wife Abbygale Arenas in the most unromantic but most real manner: by showing his assets, liabilities, strengths and weaknesses.

It started from him taking her photo. “You have to understand that photographers are human beings too, and I love women, and gaganda ng mga kinukunan ko,” Jun shares. He had something of an image then of being a womanizer and a bad boy when they got together, and he remembers the whole fashion industry being against the relationship. (Their age gap is over 15 years.) He now jokes, “I thought we were friends!” They eventually got together, and two years into the relationship, his daughter Patricia told him, “Dad, if you can’t make this relationship work, you’re not capable of any relationship.” Egged on by the threat, he said, “Okay, let’s buy a ring.”

He shares that he has learned from his mistakes in the past; that he had to put together what Abby wanted and what he could offer in order for it to work. And he proposed marriage to her with these words: “Here’s my savings, here’s what I own, here’s what I spend to support my family, here’s my earnings. I want to marry you. Don’t say yes, think about it. I want to be a choice, not an option.”

The deal was to not see or talk to each other for a week, but on the third day, she gave her answer. “Yes, I want to marry you. Ang guapo ko! Feeling Aga Muhlach!”

He made Abby choose between a nice wedding or a honeymoon every year. She chose the latter (of course.) Jun made a grand plan wherein he had a shoot in Dubai, got Abby as his model, but they flew two days earlier, and held their wedding at a Christian church with all of seven guests.

“I thought I had everything, and then I met Abby. It has been the best 15 years of my life,” he says with a big smile while holding up his hand to show his wedding band.

6. Jun de Leon in numbers:

120: Square meters of his current studio in Bonifacio Global City.

3: Number of times a week he works out, plus he spends one weekend a month in Cam Sur to go wake boarding.

20-plus: Cigarettes he smokes a day. “But I never finish one whole, patay sindi ako.”

150: In millimeter s, his favorite lens to use.

13: Books published in total, the latest one being the Coke: 100 Years of Happiness coffee table book where a majority of the concepts were done on the spot by him and PR maven Keren Pascual. “We shot 104 people in eight days.”

7. He has remained relevant through almost four decades because he has invested time, effort and money into the best equipment and training. And he dreams of having a critic.

Every year, he goes to the Palm Springs Photo Festival to attend the one-week mentorship program with the masters (he has learned from the likes of Graciela Iturbide, Vincent Laforet and Andreas Bitesnich). “From the moment they wake up to the time they sleep, you just observe them,” he shares. On top of that, he also researches and invests in top-of-the-line equipment for his work. (He currently uses a Phase One medium format camera system.) “I never stop. Photography for me is horizon after horizon after horizon.”

On critics: “That is one thing we need in this country, legitimate critics.” He differentiates personal opinion from a professional critic who can really tell you why a photo is bad. “People say I’m good but I don’t believe it. Never believe your own press release,” he declares.

8. On the influx of DSLR users and the overuse of Photoshop: “If you are a photographer, do not rely on Photoshop. When you shoot it, make it true to your vision.”

He says that there is nothing wrong with anyone who has a camera shooting pictures, but being a photographer is different. “I have no condescending attitude towards anyone who wants to be a photographer. You can shoot, get hooked up with magazines, that’s so easy now. It’s staying there that is another thing.” He even shares that funny saying, “Wala sa pana yan, nasa Indian.” He says that having started with analog photography, he and the other photographers of his time know how to light properly. He says that in this “torrent generation,” a lot tend to forget about the romantic component of photography. “It’s your pride as a photographer, you want to see it right without having to rely on Photoshop. My 10-year-old son can Photoshop, so how do you separate the men from the boys?”

9. He has never been late to a shoot, not even once, because for him it is a sign of respect. He has a notorious reputation for being hot-tempered and shouting on set, because he says he is not articulate.

He is one photographer who comes on set three hours before the actual shoot to set up, so that when the people get there, everything is ready. And one must never be late to his set, or else they will hear it from him. “You don’t rob people of their time, like I don’t want to be robbed of mine. I want to make it as easy as possible for my subject,” he says.

Many people have told him that his reputation precedes him, and he says that some people do not understand how he works. The night before the shoot, everything is set. The lighting design is planned, the final vision for the shoot is clear in his head, down to what he will wear to the shoot being laid out on his bed. “Precision,” Jun says.

“I’m a visual person, I think in pictures. I’m not articulate which is why I have that temper, because I cannot express what I see,” he reveals. In some hot-tempered bouts years ago, he would go as far as throwing clothes if they weren’t ironed, and even throwing his camera. “The hardest language to articulate is photography. Paano ko mae-explain lahat ng nakikita ko? I see it in my mind, its clear, naka-frame. My mind is exploding, I want the vision done, and I don’t have the words to explain it.”

10. For him, he has photographed everyone he has wanted to photograph.

 “I’ve done all the presidents from Marcos to P-Noy. If you’ve gone from Gloria Romero to Kathryn (Bernardo) and Julia (Montes), Ninoy Aquino to Baby James, what can I expect? I’ll handle it tomorrow,” he says, yet again looking forward. When the late President Corazon Aquino was already sick, she graciously requested him to take what would be their last family portrait. “And before her death, she showed that picture we took and said, ‘This is how I want to look,’” he reveals.

A project he still dreams of doing? A book on the different shades of white. To be shot in Antarctica.

* * *

It is rare to see a man with so much passion for what he does that the line between his work and his life blurs. He has earned so much respect in the industry because he has so much respect for his craft and for other people, that it is unthinkable to not accord him the same level of respect. At 56 years of age, despite all that he has achieved, he has never praised himself; instead the praise is given to him by others. “I just keep on shooting. I wanna die shooting, and on my death bed, naka-duct tape and camera sa kamay ko. I will shoot my last frame,” he says. While we all dream that such a moment will be far from now, Jun’s almost-maniacal zest for life continues. “I love life! I live and learn, live and learn, live and learn.”

http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/792685/jun-de-leon-bad-boy-hot