Fresh from the success of the recently concluded musical West Side Story, singer Christian Bautista has been very vocal in expressing his desire to pursue an acting career.
Last night, November 6, at the MYX Mo! event held at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, the 27-year-old balladeer declared, "I wanna be an actor!"
Christian already dabbled in acting before the camera, like in ABS-CBN's primetime series Kampanerang Kuba back in 2005 and Regal Entertainment's 2006 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Mano Po 5. Yet he still sees the importance of formal training, like acting workshops, since he still needs to learn a lot about onscreen acting.
"I have to train myself pa to act on TV," Christian told PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal). "On a camera kasi iba ‘yon, e, sa stage. So gusto ko sanayan din ‘yong sarili ko. Pero sa ngayon I know I need to learn a lot pa. I hope I can then tapos we'll see if it's for me or not."
FRIENDS WITH SITTI. Christian's frequent collaboration with bossa nova artist, Sitti, has raised speculation on whether or not a romance is going on between the two singers. Christian and Sitti did a duet of the song "Captured," which is in his third studio album carrying the same title released early this year. Christian returned the favor when he guested in Sitti's latest Christmas album titled Ngayong Pasko. They rendered a duet of the song, Baby, It's Cold Outside.
At the launching of Ngayong Pasko held in Red Box at TriNoma Mall in Quezon City last October 29, Christian dropped by to personally hand Sitti a bouquet of flowers as a gesture of support.
Christian clarified, however, that he and Sitti are only friends and that they enjoy working together. The fact that they're both under Warner Music Philippines only made things much easier for them to collaborate on some projects.
"Sitti and I are friends and we like singing together kasi ‘yong music namin medyo pareho ng konti, hindi kami masyadong loud, easy lang."
But the possibility of elevating the friendship to something more is always open admitted Christian: "Well Sitti's taken pero if she is single, you know, anything can happen. Pero right now we're very good friends."
At this point, Christian enjoys the single life after his relationship with fellow singer, Rachelle Ann Go, fell through. Christian, who popularized the song "The Way You Look At Me," courted Rachelle Ann for two years before publicly announcing that they were officially together in 2006. The pair broke up late last year citing "misunderstandings and differences that we couldn't work out up to now" as the reason behind the split.
Christian has obviously moved on, as he told PEP: "I'm enjoying singleness. Okay naman and I'm learning. You can also be happy when you're single and mas marami kang puwedeng gawin."
He and Rachelle Ann remain good friends as they continue to work together every Sunday in the musical variety show, ASAP ‘08. "Rachelle and I are friends," smiled Christian in closing.