John Arcilla

Romeo John Gonzales Arcilla (born June 24, 1966) is a Filipino actor. He became the first Filipino and the first Southeast Asian actor to receive the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival (2021) for his performance in On the Job: The Missing 8. That role also earned him Best Actor at the Gawad Urian Awards (2022).

Arcilla has appeared in various film and television roles, including Antonio Luna in Heneral Luna, Hagorn in Encantadia, Carlos Fiero in Dirty Linen, President Eleazar Sagrado in Pamilya Sagrado, and Renato Hipolito in FPJ's Ang Probinsyano.

John Arcilla was born in Quezon City, Philippines, to Dominador Gil Alemania Arcilla and Eustaquia Gonzales, a descendant of former President Manuel L. Quezon. After the martial law declaration in the Philippines in 1972, Arcilla and his family moved to his mother's hometown of Baler, Aurora. He began to show an interest in acting at the age of seven. [ 11] [ 12]

He was a member of the community-based Philippine Educational Theater Association - Metropolitan Teen Theater League (PETA-MTTL).[ 13] [ 14] In 1986, he graduated from Saint Joseph's College of Quezon City (SJCQC). He was also an acting scholar of the Actors Workshop Foundation under Laurice Guillen, Johnny Delgado, and Leo Martinez from 1987 to 1990.[ 15]

Arcilla was a member of Dulang Universidad in the Philippines from 1988 to 1989 and was trained by the stage director and National Artist for Theater, Tony Mabesa.[citation needed ] From 1989 to 1990, Arcilla worked as a casting director for Foote, Cone & Belding.[ 16] [ 17]

From 1991 to 1997, Arcilla was a resident actor and senior member of Tanghalang Pilipino Actor Company, the resident theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. At the Cultural Center, he played lead roles in several productions, including Orosman and Zafira, Walang Sugat, and Ryan Cayabyab's Rizal musical trilogy: El Filibusterismo (1993), Noli Me Tángere (1995), and Illustrado (1996).[ 18] [ 15] Arcilla was also part of the main cast of Rama at Sita, a 1999 Filipino musical adapted from the Indian epic Ramayana. In 2000, Arcilla became a guest actor with Repertory Philippines, playing Valentin in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Arcilla has also been in various television commercials for brands, including Tide and Gold Eagle, as well as for companies such as the National Steel Corporation and the Development Bank of the Philippines.[citation needed ] Arcilla became widely recognized after appearing in a 1994 commercial for Purefoods with the slogan "Coffee na lang, dear " ("Just coffee, dear"). This led to his involvement in more projects outside of the theater. [ 15]

Arcilla appeared in various television shows in 1987, including the variety show Goin' Bananas as a "gag artist," as well as in the drama anthologies Lovingly Yours, Helen and Star Drama Theater Presents.

One of Arcilla's early film appearances was as a photojournalist covering the release of political detainees in Lino Brocka's Orapronobis (Fight for Us, 1989). Arcilla had a larger role in Raymond Red's first full-length feature, Bayani, in 1992, where he allegedly played the role of General Mariano Noriel, a member of the War Council that oversaw Andrés Bonifacio's case in 1897.[citation needed ]

In Sakay (1993), Arcilla allegedly played General Leon Villafuerte, the chief of staff in Macario Sakay's Tagalog Republic. Arcilla's film break might have been in Sa 'Yō Lamang (1995), where he played Hector, the elder brother of Andrew (played by Richard Gomez). He possibly could have won Best Actor at the 1996 Manila Film Festival for his role as Lino in the film Mulanay. A year later, he starred in Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin and was allegedly nominated for Best Supporting Actor Award at the Gawad Urian.[citation needed ]

From 1998 to 2005, Arcilla starred in several supporting roles in film and television, including the 2000 drama series, Pangako sa 'Yo, the 2003 action-crime drama, Basta't Kasama Kita and the 2005 fantasy drama, Sugo. He played the lead role in the film adaptation of Tony Perez' play about infidelity, Sa North Diversion Road. Arcilla and co-star Irma Adlawan had also performed in the theatrical version. They were each nominated at the 2006 Golden Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Actress in a Leading Role (Drama) respectively.[ 19]

In 2006, Arcilla starred in the film Compound.[ 20] He was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama) at the 2007 Golden Screen Award and earned a nomination for Movie Actor of the Year at the Star Awards for Movies. In 2009, he earned his third Gawad Urian nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the film Manila Skies.[ 21]

Arcilla has starred in three films in 2010: the indie film Halaw, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival,[ 22] Amigo, an American-Filipino drama film based on the Philippine–American War, and Petrang Kabayo, a comedy-drama. He returned to television in 2010 in the suspense drama Magkaribal. In 2011, he played supporting characters in two television shows, Machete and Mana Po. That year, he also appeared in two films, Thelma and No Other Woman.

Arcilla had a cameo role in the 2012 spy thriller The Bourne Legacy, playing the head security guard.[ 23] He also played Mariano Trias in the Emilio Aguinaldo biopic, El Presidente. Arcilla was also in the cast of Lilet Never Happened, which won the Best Cast Ensemble at the 2013 International Film Festival Manhattan.

In 2013, he starred in the British-Filipino independent film Metro Manila which was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. Arcilla earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 16th British Independent Film Awards.[ 24] Metro Manila won the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards.

In 2014, Arcilla was allegedly part of the cast of Muslim Magnum .357: To Serve and Protect. He also starred in episodes of Magpakailanman and Maalaala Mo Kaya.[citation needed ]

In 2015, Arcilla played General Antonio Luna in the historical biopic film, Heneral Luna. To prepare for the role, he analyzed the positive and negative sides of Antonio Luna's personality, taking note of his temper and vulnerability.[ 25] [ 26] The film became the highest-grossing Filipino historical film.[ 27] For his performance as Luna, Arcilla won the Best Actor Award at the 34th Film Academy of the Philippines. He also received a Best Actor nomination at the 10th Asian Film Awards. Owing to the popularity of his role as Antonio Luna, Arcilla would later reprise or parody his role as the general in various television commercials.[ 28]

In 2016, Arcilla was part of the cast of Mikhail Red's Birdshot, where he played the senior police officer Mendoza. For his role, Arcilla won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2018 Film Academy of the Philippines. Birdshot was the Philippines' entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. He also starred in the short film Supot, directed by Phil Giordano.[ 29] [ 30] Arcilla allegedly won the Craft Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 2017 First Run Festival, in New York.[citation needed ]

From 2017 to 2022, Arcilla played Renato "Buwitre" Hipolito, a power-hungry and corrupt government official and the main antagonist in FPJ's Ang Probinsyano.[ 31]

In 2019, Arcilla allegedly made two horror movies, Second Coming and Kuwaresma.[citation needed ] He also starred in the comedy film The Panti Sisters,[ 32] where he played Don Emilio, the stern father of three gay sons. Arcilla was also part of the main cast of the Filipino adaptation of the Korean film Miracle in Cell No 7, where he played the prison warden Johnny San Juan.[ 33]

In 2020, Arcilla played the lead role of Fernando Suarez in the biographical film Suarez: The Healing Priest. He was nominated as Best Actor in a Leading Role for the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival and won Best Actor of the Year at the 37th PMPC Star Awards for Movies.[ 34] He then went on to receive the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role as the journalist Narciso "Sisoy" Salas in On the Job: The Missing 8 (2021) directed by Eric Matti .[ 35]

That same year, Arcilla appeared in Big Night!, a dark comedy about the war on drugs in the Philippines. He also appeared in A Hard Day, a Filipino adaptation of the 2014 Korean action-thriller film of the same title. Both were selected for the 2021 Metro Manila Film Festival, where Arcilla got nominated for Best Supporting Actor for both films. He received a Best Supporting Actor Award for A Hard Day from the 24th Gawad Pasado in 2022.[ 36]

Following that, Arcilla starred in the suspense thriller film Reroute (2022) and was also in a romantic comedy, 'How to Move On in 30 Days' (2022), a TV series streamed via the YouTube Channel of ABS-CBN Entertainment. Arcilla played Carlos Fiero, the main antagonist in ABS-CBN's 2023 drama series Dirty Linen and he also starred in Jun Lana's mystery-comedy film, Ten Little Mistresses.[ 37] [ 38] [ 39]

In September 2023, Arcilla became the host of the TV5 game show SpinGo.[ 40]

In 2024, Arcilla played the father of a gay wrestler in Fuchsia Libre from Mavx Productions.[ 41]

Arcilla has earned numerous acting awards and nominations in the Philippines and abroad. In 2013, Arcilla received his first international acting nomination as Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for the film Metro Manila. In 2016, he earned a Best Actor nomination at the Asian Film Awards for Heneral Luna.

In 2017, Arcilla received his first international Best Supporting Actor Craft Award from the First Run Festival for the short film Supot. In 2021, Arcilla received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in On the Job: The Missing 8 becoming the first Southeast Asian and Filipino actor to win the award.

Arcilla received a Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in the film Ligaya Ang Itawag Mo Sa Akin from Gawad Urian in 1997. Director Jerrold Tarog cast Arcilla in the leading role of his Heneral Luna movie after seeing his performance as the devil's advocate in Anino, and in Metro Manila.[citation needed ]

Arcilla was awarded the Dangal ng Aurora (Filipino: Aurora's Honor) by his home province in 2005 for his work in theater, film, and television.[ 63] In 2009, he also received an Outstanding Citizen Award from the municipality of San Luis, Aurora for his achievements in the field of performing arts.[citation needed ]