Guji Lorenzana of Star Magic Batch 16 was formally introduced to the public through a segment on ASAP aired on August 2008.

The 26-year-old singer-actor actually has showbiz roots since he is the nephew of former OPM singer Joann Lorenzana. He is also a DJ for Mellow 94.7, with radio shows every Saturday and Sunday.

"My real name is Gregory Jr. and my nickname when I was growing up was Guji," he revealed during a previous interview with PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal). "I was born in Long Beach, California and I grew up in San Francisco."

Both his parents are Filipinos and he can speak and understand Tagalog but with a noticeable accent.

PEPPER'S ROSES. The sixth book of Precious Hearts Romances to be adapted for television is titled "Pepper's Roses." It will be topbilled by Guji and Roxanne Guinoo.

Guji described his working experience so far with his leading lady. "We did this workshop wherein I'm looking at her eyes...We did a scene where we were holding each other's hands and looking at each other's eyes. And, wala lang, parang there's electricity, you know. There's something going there, chemistry. So I think she's very helpful, ‘cause she knows I'm a Fil-Am so ‘yong Tagalog ko medyo...She's very helpful and she's very malambing."

What is the plot of their series?

"Our fathers are best friends but they had a falling out. Yung dad ni Pepper, medyo sad na. So what Pepper decides to do is to call me up and asks me to pretend that we're together so they can make bati. Pero for me, my character doesn't like her. But we fall in love in the process."

Guji says that their Bud Brothers episode might start airing on ABS-CBN during the latter part of June.


ASPIRING MUSICIAN. Guji tried launching his singing career in the United States but even though he joined American Idol three times, he was not fortunate enough to make the cut.

"I started out wanting to be a singer kasi I auditioned for American Idol in the U.S. After that, my Tita Joann, who used to be a singer here in the Philippines told me, ‘I think you should give it a shot.' So I brought my new tape to the Philippines, the first person to hear it was Kuh Ledesma. She said to me, ‘With your writing and your singing, I think you can make it.'"

Kuh's words encouraged Guji to try his luck in Philippine showbiz. 

He narrated his struggles to make a name for himself in the music scene. "I released two independent albums [a self-titled album and another one titled Without Your Love]. You have to be multimedia, you have to be on TV, you have to do it all. So after doing several commercials, I went to showbiz."

Viewers can look forward to seeing Guji perform on the Kapamilya Sunday variety show ASAP ‘09. 

"For now I'm singing for ASAP, I'm with Boiz Boys, it's a new boy band that the show started. We were launched on Wowowee last May 23," he recalled.