If you follow Marimar on the Kapuso network, most likely you are familiar with James Blanco. And if you’re a little older than this gadget-crazed generation, you’ll remember him as the guy taking a shower in the Lifebouy commercial a little over a decade ago.
For quite some time, Blanco has become obscure, and then re-emerged and starred in some shows on GMA Network and ABS-CBN. Now, he seems to have found his niche as an actor, playing roles in a couple of Kapuso shows including Yagit, the afternoon drama, and now as a guy obsessed with Bela/Marimar in the current local reboot of the Mexican telenovela that catapulted Thalia to international stardom and Marian Rivera to a major GMA Network star when the network did a re-imagining of Marimar in 2007. The new remake stars former Miss World Megan Young and Tom Rodriguez. Blanco’s role is significant as he is the man in between Bela/Marimar and Sergio.
Blanco says, “I don’t mind not playing the lead role, after all, I’m no longer the matinee idol that the sensational Lifebouy commercial made me into.” But still, he insists, he doesn’t let his age catch up on his look. Admitting keeping in shape is a difficult especially if you’re married with kids, he says, “It wasn’t easy because I love to eat. But with a lot of core and circuit training, a balanced diet of fish, chicken and vegetables… and less alcohol… I was able to lose the last few pounds I had to get rid of and tone up.”
Blanco is married to Tanya Precy Creighton from New Zealand whose mother is a Filipino. They have two kids –Joseph Iñigo and James Sebastian – teenagers now.
His wife works with Joseph, a luxe ready-to-wear brand with a stand-alone shop at SM Aura and also with Calvin Klein Elite, the luxe brand of the Calvin Klein Group, also at SM Aura.
The couple is unfazed by intrigues prevalent in show business. “She knows the business, as she used to be a runway and print model. She’s aware of the gossips and intrigues she would only laugh at them when she heard something concerning me. She trusts me very well that’s why she allows me to be back in something I have loved since that commercial,” Blanco says.
While no longer hopeful his return to television and hopefully the movies, Blanco can only wish he would have assignments that could earn him decent money to support his family. Well, he actually doesn’t bank on that too much because he has other concerns that allow him and his family to live a comfortable life.
But, while he is in it, he hopes for the best that it could give him and his family. That’s how he sees his renaissance on TV. And it seems everything is working just how he imagined it.
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AlDub interview in KMJS dominates Twitter, nationwide ratings
The phenomenal love team AlDub once again dominated Twitter and the nationwide ratings after the interview of Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza for the first time with Philippines’ most awarded broadcast journalist Jessica Soho.
Household data gathered by the industry’s most-trusted ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement showed that Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’s episode on Dec.13 registered an overnight household rating of 28.6 percent in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement); winning over Rated K and Your Face Sounds Familiar Grand Showdown, which posted 19.4 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.
In the said episode, Soho featured the phenomenal Kalyeserye pair and their take on why AlDub became a huge hit among Filipinos here and abroad.
Mendoza a shared more about herself, revealing even her insecurities and her decision to get out of her comfort zone when she joined the showbiz industry.
Richards, on the other hand, talked about the on-screen chemistry between him and Mendoza and how the “spontaneity” of their banter in the Kalyeserye has made their love team successful.
KMJS interviewed Mendoza in July after the Dubsmash Queen joined Eat Bulaga as Yaya Dub. A few days after the interview, the AlDub tandem came about.
Using the hashtag #KMJSALDubYou, the Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho episode featured Ms. Soho asking the kalyeserye pair about their take on why AlDub became a huge hit among Filipinos here and abroad. The said hashtag became a top trending topic that night in Twitter worldwide and in the Philippines.
Four other AlDub-related hashtags also became trending topics on Twitter that Sunday. #SPSFUNtasticBaby and #AlDubonSPS trended in the Philippines and worldwide after Mendoza appeared for the first time in Sunday Pinasaya in which Richards is one of the hosts. She even joined one of the show’s regular segments where the other Sunday Pinasaya hosts were carried away by the sweetness between the Kalyeserye pair.
The hashtag #AlDubonVDK, on the other hand, trended after the AlDub pair was the guests in Vampire ang Daddy Ko with Vic “Bossing” Sotto. The tandem is also with Sotto in My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore along with Ai Ai delas Alas.
It was an Aldub-filled Sunday as AlDub was also featured in GMA TV’s Reel Time, making the hashtag #ALDUBonReelTime one of the trending topics on Twitter, as well.
In October, the hashtag #AlDubEBTamangPanahon broke Twitter record with 41 million tweets posted from Oct. 23 to 25. It broke AlDub’s previous record of 26 million tweets on Sep. 26 with the hashtag #ALDubEBforLOVE and crashed the 35.6 million tweets recorded by World Cup semi-finals match between Brazil and Germany in July last year.