the man most likely to shine

If there is one among the Men of Manila who will most likely succeed in the entertainment business, it’s going to be Nelson Valencia, a BA in Theatre graduate from the California State University of Northridge, and has done stage plays and commercials (Hershey’s and Hollister) in Los Angeles, where he was born and raised.

Nelson was in Manila for what was initially a short vacation in December 2012 when a talent manager spotted him while he was touring the ABS-CBN complex. The manager asked him to try showbiz, Philippine style, and live in the country for good. He was persuaded to stay and gave it a try.

But luck was elusive.

To his dismay, the entertainment industry, which has been generous to a lot of Filipino-Americans before him and gave them the chance to shine, was hard to please. Even if he has a good singing voice honed by countless voice lessons and can act really well, he was criticized for his Filipino.

“I have been criticized for my Filipino. They don’t like my diction. They say it is slang. When I sing a love song like Ikaw Ang Lahat Sa Akin, the people behind those TV programs just laughed,” he says, obviously baffled by such double-standard. The industry, after all, has launched a lot of Filipino-American stars that could hardly sing, act, nor speak in Filipino.

Leaving it all behind and just go back to the US, however, is far away from his mind.

“I never wanted to quit. Many times I was frustrated, but I never entertained the idea of quitting. I just want to keep on going, improving my singing talent, learning how to speak Filipino fluently,” he says.

To support himself while searching for that elusive break, Nelson is working at a call center at night. Asking for financial help from this parents back in the US never entered his mind, says the independent-minded Nelson, who left home at 17 and lived in his car for a year so he could pursue his college degree.

Fortunately, things changed and his luck improved. He auditioned for Men of Manila and got accepted right away.

“I like to entertain people. I like to inspire people. I like singing. I took up a lot of lessons to improve my singing,” he says. “I want to be both a singer and actor. It will be difficult to become an actor here because of my poor Filipino language skills. But I will keep on trying and improving myself.”

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