Pinoy movie star Coco was ex-waiter

MANILA Everybody knows he’s the new face Max’s Restaurant. But not many people know that 14 years ago he lost his job as a waiter at the same resto for having been away a long time without official leave.

“It was my fault, actually, for I went AWOL,” said Coco Martin, who’s arguably the busiest and most bankable actor these days--not only in his home network ABS-CBN but also in the entire tinsel town.

But no, the almond-eyed Mr Martin has not replaced Piolo Pascual as Max’s endorser, according to the resto’s management. He’s just an addition to the resto’s many endorsers.

These days Mr Martin, the star of ABS-CBN’s ‘Juan dela Cruz’, a fantaserye (fantasy TV series) where he plays a superhero, has no regrets about the career path he has taken. He says that while he lost his job at Max’s, it was in the same restaurant that the door to show business was opened for him.

A talent scout had discovered him there, and told him to give him a ring if would one day want to be in the movies. He did call up that talent scout, although he decided to delay joining showbiz even after passing an audition with flying colours.

The reason? His father had wanted him to finish his studies. And so he went to graduate in hotel and restaurant management, and went back to fulfil his ardent desire to be an actor.

Despite his being very amiable, polite, and willingness to always answer questions from the media, Mr Martin doesn’t want to talk about his rumoured son with Katherine Luna.

“Maybe there’s a right time to talk about this, but not now,” he told the tabloid Pilipino Mirror in a recent interview.

In the meantime, the actor is busy supervising his dream house. He spent the past two years working closely with the engineers and architects involved in the designing and building of his house, which he says continues to eat up a big chunk of his savings.

Now that’s reason enough for him to work harder.

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