My second love...

Not many know that i am also an actor. I was trained by the likes of Peque Gallaga, Lore Reyes (in photo, right), Gina Alajar, Laurice Guillen and Leo Martinez with the Actors Workshop Foundation way back in the late 80s.

My foray into TV acting was brief but memorable having appeared on tv from bit roles until i moved up to character guest roles: Wakasan, VIVA Love Stories and Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang, etc., etc., etc. My so-called acting career was cut short when i became a network executive over at ABC Channel 5 in the 1990s. But every now and then I appeared in guest roles in the Maryo J. delos Reyes-directed sitcom "We R Family" which starred Gabby Concepcion and Alice Dixson, or in some public affairs talk shows.

But before acting on TV, i was already a trained theater performer under Ms. Chingay Lagdameo and was even a member of the Metropolitan Chorus for a brief time. I've done plays at UP Theater, MET Theater, Meralco Theater and even the AFP Theater. From musicals to dramatic one-act plays.

I became an actor because i have always wanted to act as far as i can remember. I remember spending hours as a young boy in our front yard pretending that i was a tv host or acting a scene. As i grew older i developed a great respect for the craft. Indeed, after teaching, acting is my second passion.

But it is not a mere jealous mistress. Acting has provided me vast insights into the discipline of teamwork. The creative process is never the work of a single person. As an actor you learn to work with people, many people. Great people, small people. And you learn to respect them all. I have been able to share lessons i picked up as an actor to many of my students through the years. Humility, hard work, professionalism, persistence, diligence, creativity and teamwork are just some of the values the world of acting is steeped in.

I was recently invited to do a bit part in TV5's Midnight DJ, now on its 8th season. The multi-awarded director, Lore Reyes, is a friend from way back when i was an editor for a management magazine, Executive's Digest. Lore was our Production Manager who, perhaps, had his sights for bigger, more challenging things: like, say, becoming a part of some of Philippine cinema's unforgettable films.

After two decades i found myself on familiar ground. The call time was 6:30 a.m., somewhere in Antipolo. When my driver finally found the location, it was 7:00 a.m.! Great, i was thirty minutes late for my "comeback"!

And there it was. The set, the cameras, the lights, the crew. The actors waiting for their cues, working on their scripts. PAs shuffling back and forth. The catered food. Ah, the sights and sounds. And i was taking it all in. I felt like Norma Desmond incarnate except for the fact that i did not get to sing "As if We never Said Goodbye". Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

My role was short and sweet. It took all of 30 minutes to shoot my two sequences and before i knew it i was done for the day! The best part was i got paid for it, too!

But real actors do not really do it for the money. Show me a working actor who does it for the dough and i'll show you a ham. It is not uncommon to hear actors working on projects for less or even waiving their fees all for their love for the craft. For them, acting is their passion!

Finally i got to watch the Midnight DJ episode "Demonyong Hunyango" tonight. My family was chiding me for not having asked autographs from Oyo Boy Sotto and Desiree del Valle. I think they were more excited to know that i got close enough to the two stars than my onscreen performance.

True to form, there i was. At least it sounded like me, looked like me and moved like me. But hey, i was trained by the best, so NO ACTING, PLEASE! i was simply 'being' my character and loving every minute of it... all of the three minutes of it!

Direk, i'm ready for my close up!