From Mr. Suave to SupahPapalicious

Author: Manila Standard Today
Column: Life & Entertainment

Ask Vhong Navarro why he's getting choice roles such as those as Gagamboy, Mr. Suave (inspired by the hit song), TV's Lastikman and now the title role in Star Cinema's comedy-romance SupahPapalicious and he'll tell you frankly, "I don't."

You can only guess that it must be because,

1.) He's a good comedian

2.) He's a good dancer (with Streetboys)

3.) He's a good actor, and

4.) All of the above.

When Vhong shifted from dancing to acting, starting as a sidekick to action stars (Cesar Montano, etc.) and as "support" of comedy icons like Dolphy in the ABS-CBN sitcoms, people predicted that he would not last long. After all, no dancer has attained a considerable status as an actor, right? Wrong, Vhong has turned out to be the big exception.

"I learn from my idols," said Vhong by way of explaining, even only partly, his enduring power. "I don't take things for granted. For me, every role, every assignment, is a challenge and I can hurdle the challenges only by constantly growing. You grow by observing and learning from the pros. Besides Dolphy, my favorite comedians are Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler. I watch their movies and I learn a lot from them."

In SupahPapalicious, directed by Gilbert Perez, Vhong plays, as the title implies, a ladies man who appears "super-delicious" to women. In fact, the character he's playing is named Adonis (so nobody misses the point), an orphan who grows up in an orphanage and, in the "outside" world, falls in love with a "supah delicious" girl who's a single mom, played by Valerie Concepcion (with Makisig Morales as her son). Inside the orphanage, Adonis would play make-believe with his fellow orphans by creating their own imaginary families from cut-outs of magazine pictures and from their own.

Makisig's one demand for any man aspiring to win his mom's heart is for him to come from a big family, so Adonis creates an imaginary family by assuming different characters--Tita Barbara, Lola Paulina and cousin Apol Dayap, etc.--with the help of a prosthetics artist, played by Pokwang. Thus, with his disguises, he makes Valerie and Makisig believe that he does come from a big family.

"I can identify with my character," said Vhong who, like Valerie who's a single mom in real life, has two love children, one aged 11 and the other one aged nine, "I consider Adonis one of the most interesting characters I've ever played."

Like Adonis, Vhong has the reputation of a playboy as most comedians are. He has been romantically linked to several girls, including Desiree del Valle, Diana Zubiri and Bianca Lapuz, among them.

Source: Manila Standard Today