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As a celebrity, Martin del Rosario has never been the most exciting.
He doesn't talk about his personal life a lot and he hasn’t gotten into any feuds with his fellow stars. He has gotten himself involved in some controversies, but he doesn’t let it define his work as an actor.
This is because he is also one of the most dynamic actors working onscreen, both on television and on film today.
“Passion ko ito eh,” the 27-year-old actor says.
It’s the most generic thing an actor could say. After all, would an actor ever say acting is not his passion? But this generic statement cannot be avoided, because it is true.
He explains, “Gusto kong paniwalaan na actor ako. Kasi 'yun 'yung love ko, 'yun 'yung passion ko. Kapag nagpupunta ako ng shoot, sobrang saya ko. Masaya akong ina-analyze yung character ko. Masaya ako sa harap ng camera.
“'Yung pagiging celebrity ko, siyempre pinasok ko 'yung pag-a-artista. Pero kapag tatanungin mo ako, mas gusto ko yung acting side of it.”
That should also explain why he is starting off the year with a bang.
Martin is nominated in the Best Leading Male Performance - Digital category at the 24th Asian Television Awards.
His nod is for his performance as Barbs in the series “Born Beautiful,” which aired on Cignal TV. (The first five episodes of the series was edited and released as a movie in theaters in January of last year).
The list of Filipinos who have won at the Asian Television Awards is an illustrious one. They include comedians Michael V and Roderick Paulate and thespian Nonie Buencamino. His fellow nominees are no slouches, too. Nominated in the same category as Martin is Thai actor Teeradon Supapunpinyo, who has starred in the 2017 hit movie “Bad Genius.” “Napapanood ko lang siya dati. Ngayon, kasama ko siyang nominated,” Marting says, obviously thrilled.
So being nominated is, indeed, already an achievement.
This isn’t Martin’s first time to be nominated for a major acting award. In 2015, he won a Gawad Urian — an award given by notable film critics, considered as among the country’s most prestigious—for his role in the film Dagitab.
Still, the Asian Television Awards nomination is quiate a feat. “Nakakatuwa kasi na-recognize ako sa Asia. First time ko magkaroon ng nomination internationally. So, nakaka-proud kasi pinaghirapan ko yun.”
Martin says he is happy to be nominated. “The nomination is enough already,” he says. “Ever since naman talaga, I don’t expect. Happy na ako.” It’s a showbiz cliche, he admits, but it’s true. “Very proud na ako na na-nominate ako.”
He also isn’t shy to admit that his role in “Born Beautiful” is his most difficult to date. It’s another showbiz cliche. But the role is difficult on many levels, making his nomination even more fulfilling and, perhaps expected.
In “Born Beautiful,” Martin plays Barbs, a transwoman who is dealing with her transition. The series is the sequel to the 2016 hit movie “Die Beautiful” about the life and death of transwoman Trisha, played by “Eat Bulaga” host Paolo Ballesteros.
Barbs is Trisha’s loyal and lovable best friend, originally played by actor Christian Bables, who broke out in the role. In “Born Beautiful,” not only did Martin have to play a role that required him to look like a woman in most of the scenes, he also had to take over for Christian, who won a Gawad Urian for Best Actor for his portrayal.
The themes tackled in “Born Beautiful,” too, are very complex. Here, Barbs is in love with two men and had gotten a girl pregnant. The end of Born Beautiful’s theatrical version hints at a bisexual polyamorous relationship between Barbs and three other characters.
“Actually, ‘Born Beautiful’ yata yung pinakamahirap na nagawa ko sa paga-artista ko,” he said. “It was my first time to do a complex role like Barbs. Lahat 'yun bago sa akin,” he says.
Obviously, with an Asian Television Award nomination as proof, he pulled it off.
Martin joined Paolo Ballesteros and Christian Bables in “The Panti Sisters,” which was part of the 2019 Pista ng Pelikulang Pelikula (PPP). They play three estranged gay brothers who are asked by their dying father to produce a grandson for him. For his portrayal of the gay K-Pop-inspired cutie Daniel Panti, he won the Best Actor award at the festival, besting both Paolo and Christian.
“Na-surprise ako. Kasi feeling ko, kaming tatlo talaga nagdala ng movie. Nung na-receive ko yung award, gusto ko siyang i-share kay Paolo and kay Christian. Iba-iba kami ng binigay,” Martin shares. “Happy ako and proud na I won Best Actor but gusto ko siyang ibahagi sa dalawang sisters ko.”
Of his Best Actor award at the PPP and nomination at the Asian TV Awards: “Lalong nakaka-inspire. Minsan may mga times na naiisip ko kung tama pa ba ginagawa ko. So, the fact na may nakaka-recognize, na nagsasabi na magaling ka, nakaka-inspire na mas pagbutihan pa yung ginagawa ko.”
“Mas lalo kong minamahal yung acting,” Martin adds.
Conventional showbiz wisdom would say that Martin runs the risk of being typecast. His Gawad Urian-winning role in “Dagitab” is complicated; in the movie, he has an affair with Eula Valdez’s character, but he also entertains the sexual tension he has with a fellow male writer. “Hindi pa siya sure sa sexuality niya,” Martin describes his role in the movie.
And yet, movie scribes are quick to write off the role in Dagitab as a clear-cut “gay character.”
Martin does not want to be bothered by the opinion of people who think he does a lot of “gay roles.”
“Bakit naman malilimitahan yung craft ko dahil lang feeling ng ibang tao, andyan lang ako, pare-parehas na lang lagi? Ako, ang trabaho ko na lang is gawin kong magaling—and, at the same time, hindi pare-pareho—yung atake ko,” he says.
He also points out that, actually, he has also done a lot of May-December affair roles, too — and yet no one seems to bother him abotu that. He has also proven he can play the romantic (straight) male lead (as in the 2016 romantic movie “Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B”) and a straight-up bad guy (in the ongoing primetime drama The Gift, he plays Jared, the antagonist to the show’s lead star Alden Richards).
“Siguro mas napansin lang 'yung gay roles ko,” Martin says. “Pero ako kasi, hindi kasi ako nag-aalinlangang tumanggap ng gay roles kahit sinasabi nila na baka ma-stereotype ako. Kasi I see to it na iba-iba yung atake ko. Kumbaga, kapag pinagtabi mo si Barbs at si Daniel Panti, kahit parehas silang parang babae, magkaibang-magkakaiba yung characters nila.
“And for me, as an actor, gusto kong i-prove na I am very versatile. Kahit na nakailang gay roles na ako, wala kang makikitang parehong atake sa mga ginawa.”
He adds, “Ultimately, ang goal ko is mabigyan ng kahit anong role.”
Of course, because he has played a number of high-profile gay (and transwoman) roles, Martin is constantly hounded by questions about his sexuality. He is no longer bothered by it. Again, why would he let showbiz intrigues affect the work that he loves so much?
“Wala talaga. Hindi na ako apektado. Kunwari itatanong ulit, hindi ko na sasagutin kasi paulit-ulit na. And hindi na talaga ako naaapektuhan. And sa dami ng artistang 'yun din ang binabato, parang part of showbiz na yata talaga yun. So, wala. Hindi ako affected,” he says. “Actually, hindi ko nga matandaan na pumatol ako sa basher, even on social media? Never kong in-erase, never kong blinock. Kasi kapag ginawan mo ng action yung isang bagay, kapag nag-react ka, lalo silang matutuwa.
“Mas na-motivate akong mas galingan sa roles kong hindi gay roles to prove na kaya ko. I see to it na kapag may ginagawa akong roles, kaya kong patunayan na kaya kong gawing magaling 'yung performance ko du'n.”
He may be starting the year off on a high, but he doesn’t want to let it get into his head. Acting, he explains, is a process that requires him tp start from scratch every time he does a new project.
“Learning process ang acting, e. Lagi yan. May bago akong natututunan sa lahat ng ginagawa ko. Kunwari, sa TV, dapat taasan ko yung acting ko ng konti. Sa movie, mas maganda yung very subtle acting. I explore the different levels of what I can do,” he says.
For 2020, however, he does want to do more. There’s a sequel to “The Panti Sisters” in the works.
He enjoys playing the kontrabida in “The Gift” and would love to do other antagonist roles in the future.
“Bad guy ulit pero ibang klase. Gusto kong i-challenge sarili ko. Mag-try maging jologs or leader ng drug cartel. Gangster. Pero feeling ko kaya ko. Feeling ko kaya kong gawin kahit wala sa itsura ko 'yung ganun,” Martin says.
But he also wants to do a romantic role, in a TV show or in a movie.
“Gusto kong magpakilig,” he says. “Gusto ko rin gumawa ng sobrang kilig-kilig na project. Gusto ko mag-romcom. Feeling ko kaya ko rin yun.”
He also says: “Gusto ko rin magkaroon ng movies na iikot sa maraming festivals around the world.”
“Gusto kong gawin lahat,” Martin says, in jest. It’s a showbiz jest, the desire to do everything, but it seems Martin really means it. Given the chance, he probably could.
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