Showbiz neophyte Beaver Magtalas was quick to defend his looks in the sci-fi action-fantasy Genius Teens, which was shot in 2019 or before the entire world was brought to an abrupt halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beaver, now 16 years old and has a matinee idol bearing, was around 13 when he was cast in the multi-chapter film, which was originally planned to be a six-episode mini-series.
“I would have to warn you, you might not recognize me in the film because I was too young when we shot it,” Beaver, who flashes his sweet smiles while talking, told Manila Standard Entertainment in an interview.
“But it is still me,” Beaver, who lists Belle Mariano as his celebrity crush and Donny Pangilinan, Kathryn Bernardo, and Daniel Padilla as his showbiz idols, quickly added.
Beaver considers entering show business a dream come true for him. Coming from a political family, the teen actor said that his acting debut was a product of his commitment to pursuing his goal to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry.
The ABS-CBN Star Hunt artist plays the guitar and the piano. He writes songs and hopes to release an album one day.
“I have a few unreleased songs which I want to share with the audience. I do a lot of covers but having your own songs gives people an idea of how you think as a person or how you express your emotions through the lyric of the song that you wrote,” the aspiring artist, who is also a Kumu streamer and a YouTube vlogger, shared.
Born on November 11, 2005, Beaver, whose real name is Ernest Jejomar, is the eldest son of Alvin and Filipina Mercado-Magtalas. His dad is the newly-elected councilor of Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, where Beaver’s family hails from.
Beaver’s parents had no idea that he wanted to enter showbusiness. When he was young, there were offers for him from some talent agencies but since Nueva Ecija was four hours away from Manila, his parents rejected the offers.
His parents were convinced to give their full support when he auditioned for Star Hund the second time. He failed to advance to the third level of auditions during his first attempt.
“Entering showbiz was my own decision. And I’m very fortunate that my parents are just so supportive. They let me do the things that make me happy,” he said.
In Genius Teens, Beaver plays one of the leads Hopper, a teenager who is capable of teleportation. The film had its premiere at SM Megamall on June 25 and will be streamed on KTX starting July 15.
“I’m very thankful that I was one of the talents who was taken in. There were around 100 young talents who auditioned and only 20 of us were cast. We started shooting in 2019, before the pandemic. Filming was halted when the virus made it impossible for us to shoot since most of the cast members are teenagers,” he recalled and added that they were able to resume production only this year.
“Doing this film was very exciting for me. I didn’t expect that it will be this good. It really exceeded my expectations,” Beaver proudly said.
Directed by Paolo Bertola, an Italian VFX designer and owner of Your Post Production, the film tackles how humans protect the earth that we call home. It also showcases what exactly means to be human and how each character becomes a hero by discovering their ability and power.
The movie is written and produced by Mario Alaman, who has published in several magazines.
