Something terrible happened to Jericho Rosales recently. He was filming a movie in La Union with his wife Kim Jones when an intruder forced his way inside the house they were staying in and stole a few of their personal items, including their mobile phones and tablets.
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"I had to get a new phone and a new sim," he tells me over brunch at a quiet café in Quezon City about a week after the incident. "I couldn't get into my Facebook and Twitter for a time."
But at least you guys are safe, I tell him.
"Yeah that's the thing," he says. "The robber had a gun."
It turns out, something much worse could have happened if things went another way.
PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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"We finished pre-prod at past 1 a.m.," Rosales says between sips of black coffee. Besides the couple, the film's other crew members were staying in the rental house. "I woke up because my dog barked. I wanted to check the time, but my phone was missing. My iPad was also missing. And I was like, 'Am I dreaming? Was I sleepwalking again?'"
Rosales checked the bathroom where he remembers leaving his stuff. He went downstairs looking for his phone and climbed back up and did it four more times before he realized they'd been robbed.
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"I stepped out of the house and saw my bags (scattered) everywhere.," he says. "I was like, 'Okay nanakawan kami.'"
This was around 3:45 a.m. Rosales says he closed the gate and went back inside the house to wake up one of the staff members. Later on, when they checked the CCTV, they saw that the robber actually left the premises at 4 a.m.
"So while I was going around the house, he was still there," he says. "He had a gun. A .22 caliber. If we saw each other, and he freaked out, he could've done something."
The robber got caught, though, thanks to the phone's Find my iPhone feature. All the things he stole were still there, but Rosales says they're still with the police and were being kept as evidence.
Actor/writer/director
Most people would get understandably shook up at the thought of someone breaking into their home while they're sleeping, but Rosales seems unperturbed, or he's gotten over it by now. For him, the midnight robber is just a side anecdote to the bigger story of why they were in La Union in the first place: filming a movie.
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But it's not just any film. His wife, who wears many hats in the creative industry—stylist, designer, photographer, writer, fashion influencer, digital creator—wrote a full-length movie and took it upon herself to direct it herself. Of course, her husband was only too happy to work on the project with her as the film's producer.
PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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"We were working with nature," he says. "Kim wanted as much natural light as she could get. We were just having so much fun. And I was like, wow, after filming, I just kept thinking I really love this, you know? We love this. I can't go back."
"Back," in this case, refers to Rosales' old slate of projects that mostly involved soap operas and teleseryes. He may have started out as the gangly teenager who smiled and winked his way to the title of Mr. Pogi on noontime variety show Eat Bulaga in 1996, but, after having starred in a slew of drama series for his home network of ABS-CBN since the early 2000s—classics such as Pangako Sa 'Yo, and Sana'y Wala Nang Wakas—there's no denying that teleseryes were the vehicle that helped catapult him to superstardom.
And—make no mistake—Rosales is a superstar of the highest order, not just in the Philippines but in many other places around the world, thanks to the global popularity of the soaps that he starred in. During a summer study program in Germany in 2009, the first thing colleagues from African countries like Tanzania and Kenya told me when they found out I was from the Philippines was, "Ah yes, Jericho Rosales, we know him! He's handsome!"
A surreal moment
Rosales says he first knew he had become famous when people started recognizing him as he took the bus to and from the Eat Bulaga studios after he won Mr. Pogi. But it was a whole 'nother level of popularity when he got invited to perform at a concert in African countries like Ghana soon after the success of his ABS-CBN soaps.
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"I didn't want to go at first," he says. "I thought it was too far. But we went and when I landed at the airport, people were calling, they were shouting my name: Angelo or Christian (his characters' names in Pangako Sa 'Yo and Sana'y Wala Nang Wakas. "When we looked back, it was the staff, the airport crew. Locals there in Africa. They were calling my name. In the car, people were running after us. It was super surreal."
At the concert, there was not one Filipino in sight. It was all locals singing along with him and constantly yelling out his name. It was an experience the actor won't soon forget.
"I was like, 'So 'eto pala yung feeling ng to be known like that,'" he says. And it wasn't just Africa. Rosales has been invited and made appearances in places like Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and many other places. "It's just crazy," he adds.
Jacket by Craig Green; trousers by A.P.C., at Univers. PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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Even now, Rosales is still identified with characters that he played in those teleseryes that first aired over two decades ago. And people constantly ask him when they'll see him in his next drama series. But, tragic news for those waiting for him to pop up on primetime TV: it's not going to happen anytime soon.
"It breaks my heart because I'm really looking to do something else," he says.
It's not because he's done with teleseryes, or he's dissing them as a lesser art form unworthy of someone of his stature. On the contrary, Rosales is grateful for his time doing the soaps, and aware of the impact he has had on people who grew up watching him.
"When I travel, or when I perform abroad, people come up to me and they say, 'Look, I really like your show, because it gave me hope.' Or they'll say they really liked my character because they'll see the challenge that he went through and it's the same challenge they're going through. So it's like magic because…the writer created this and I'm playing the character. Things were born. Collaboration happened. Whatever the character was going through, it was real for someone else out there.
"That was so rewarding," he says.
But then he started to feel something else—the longing to create something for himself, to fulfill some of his own dreams rather than someone else's, and to unleash something within him that's been raring to come out for years. It manifested on when he insisted on squeezing in time to attend a cinematography class with acclaimed lensman Neil Daza in between putting in those backbreaking hours shooting his scenes for the teleseryes. It exhibited itself yet again when he flew to New York recently to attend acting workshops with a teacher who also helped him get reacquainted with the artist within himself, buried under years of indifference and neglect.
And it's manifesting, yet again, now that he's actually in the process of writing his own film, with plans to produce it with his wife.
"It's called Eliseo," he says. "It's action-suspense slash horror-thriller. Half of it is written by Kim and I'm finishing the other half. I'm having a hard time because I'm not really a writer. But I'm doing it my way. I'm going to the locations and writing there. Writing as I fly."
Rosales says he's directing it himself, inspired by someone who told him that no one else will be able to do justice to something that springs forth from your own mind and heart.
"It's not going to be easy, but it's fun," he says. "The goal now is really to just push forward with the stories I want to tell, and push forward with the characters I want to play. Produce my own films. And work with the best here and abroad to produce my own stuff."
La La Land
"Working with the best" means finding kindred souls on the same wavelength and exploring opportunities beyond what's readily available here at home. For the Rosales couple, that means flying to the U.S. to be closer to where the action is. The New York trip to attend acting workshops was only just the beginning. Rosales says he initially went there to support his wife, who was attending shows for Fashion Week. They invested in property there, and, for a time, enjoyed living as typical New Yorkers: buying groceries, taking the subway, doing typical New York stuff.
But on a recent trip to the West Coast, Rosales realized Los Angeles is where they should be.
"We're spending the same amount of money in Manila as in L.A.," he says. "Sometimes we're even getting better things, like in terms of transportation, food, organic stuff. And ultimately, where's the hub for arts? For TV and film? Obviously in LA. It may have started in New York. Kim was doing a lot of Fashion Week stuff there and all the meetings happen there, and we just feel so alive there. We really love New York.
"But now we're like, wait, hold on. I think we have to be in L.A. because the agents are there, the studios are there. The creatives are there. So bagay, especially for Kim."
Jacket by Raf Simons; trousers by Junya Watanabe, at Univers. PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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More than convenience, Rosales says it's more an accessibility thing—to be in the global capital of entertainment and creativity; to meet with leaders and decision-makers and to be in their radar increases the chances of perhaps striking it big.
"They're not going to adjust for us," he says. "You have to be there so that when an opportunity comes to meet with the right people, we're just one cab ride away. You have to be there where the action's at. Kim and I have learned to be proactive like that.
"It's funny how, nowadays you can do that for yourself," he adds. "Make a decision like, I want to be an actor, I want to write my own film. And direct my own film. And you can do it. That's just what we did. That's where the decision came. Ultimately the decision came from the calling inside."
Knowing what he wants
But even before making the big decision to relocate—albeit temporarily—in the U.S., Rosales is already attracting the kind of projects he's been dreaming about. In March this year, the Hollywood trade paper Variety announced that Rosales was cast in Sellblock, an international co-production between ABS-CBN International and BlackOps Studios Asia. It was an easy yes for the actor, who, given his new outlook on his career and life in general, says he's become pickier than usual about the projects coming his way. He tells me about a couple of offers that he's had to regretfully decline, and for a moment, he outwardly displays an internal struggle—appreciation for the work that keeps entertainers like him afloat, and the desire to pursue something deeper and more meaningful.
"I'm being offered these projects and I feel restless," he says. "I'd say yes initially, but then, something's wrong and then I pull out. Or I say no. I've been going through this super hard time. I'm so happy to be receiving offers and projects. But what is it about me that I can't do these things…
"I know kasi what I want now," he adds.
PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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Rosales understands that he can afford to pick and choose his projects based upon a position of privilege—something that many working actors and actresses in the entertainment business do not yet have. He reveals that he even went so far as to sell properties during the pandemic. Jobs were scarce, but he didn't want to compromise and accept whatever offers came his way.
"I'm proud of that," he says. "You save, you save, and you save, and you invest, invest, invest, so that when things like that happen, you have something."
Pleasing people
It's been almost two and a half hours since we started our little chat, but the celebrity in front of me is showing no signs of restlessness or fatigue. Maybe it's the two cups of coffee and the corned beef hash he just had for brunch, but maybe he's being real when he says he likes people and likes talking to people. I remember when he insisted on scheduling another day and time for the interview outside of the time allotted for the photo shoot. He wanted to focus on the conversation and didn't want to feel rushed or distracted by the goings-on during the shoot.
Conversation turns to Instagram, where the 42-year-old has 2.1 million followers and counting. He appreciates the direct connection he gets to have with his fans on the social media platform and would even reply to comments on his page.
"Instagram works so hard for me," he says. "If I want to say something, that's my channel. For example, if I wanted to write about myself, or like a video, I can post it on my Instagram and say hey, I did an interview. I can really reach people there."
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PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
That's not to say that he hasn't had his issues with social media. He tells me about this one time he almost deleted his account.
"Boredom?" he says, when I asked why. "Maybe boredom and guilt. You know how you post something, and you want to delete it after? Because you're like, 'Do I need to be sharing this?' And then I started archiving my family, and every post about my mom, my friends and family, or anybody. I don't really post about Kim or like any kind of personal stuff that we do. Because that's like the luxury that we kind of want to have. Privacy."
A quick scroll through his Instagram reveals mostly travel snapshots, quirky selfies, and fun OOTDs. In recent years, Rosales has become known for his trademark style, standing out in a sea of sameness, and unafraid to wear pieces that are unlike anything else seen from his contemporaries. Even now, during this interview, he's wearing a loose, off-white shirt, flowy denim jeans with a tie in front, and a military-green jacket. He's also carrying a canvas tote bag. He credits his wife for nudging him toward the "good" side of style and forever putting his "worst-dressed" days behind him.
"I watch a lot of period films and I like old Hollywood style," he says. "That's what I like: high-waisted, worker style, utility, military, dressy but mixed din. Medyo quirky stuff. Very street, although I like being a gentleman and dressing up at times when I go to events. I enjoy that.
"Over the years, I learned shapes, how to mix colors," he adds. "I used to be really, really odd."
PHOTO: SHAIRA LUNA
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His Instagram feed reflects that, and might come in handy for anyone looking for tips on how a contemporary, stylish gentleman dresses these days. But Rosales is no slave to the 'gram, or at least, he's aware of its limits, the function social media serves, and how it definitely shouldn't be used as a gauge of anybody's personal relationships. He's well aware of society's obsession with the platform and the utter scandal that would erupt if, for example, he unfollows a fellow celebrity or anyone of note.
"I don't care about that," he says. "Because I know that's not the measure of my life and friendships. I would really, genuinely text my friends and ask how they're doing. Ganun sya.
"But I just don't want to hurt their feelings now…" he trails off as he heaves a sigh of resignation.
Twenty-six years since he first burst onto the scene, Rosales is still trying to please people. And that's likely not going to change anytime soon. But what's different now is an awareness and determination to leave something for himself and those closest to him. He may be embarking on a new journey that might take him to new places and lead him to new experiences, but for Mr. Pogi, Echo, the Prince of Teleseryes, Jericho Rosales—the most exciting adventure is one where he's finally found himself.
Produced by Paolo Chua Sittings by Anri Ichimura Photographs by Shaira Luna, assisted by Lance Von Luna Styling by David Milan, assisted by Nida Maru Grooming by EJ Caro Shot on location at Furnitalia
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