Long before he became one of ABS-CBN’s prime stars, Coco Martin was a talent at GMA-7?
Those who watched the “Isla Chikita” season of Daisy Siete in 2007 might remember.
But who would remember that one of his first TV appearances was in 2002 as a guest in episode 17 of GMA-7’s youth-oriented series Click, second batch.
Coco played the role of Wesley or Yumyum, the ex-boyfriend of Mimi, played by Chynna Ortaleza.
Although the Yumyum character was first introduced in batch 1 of Click in 2001, he was not shown in any of the scenes and was only mentioned in phone calls.
In the show’s second batch, Coco’s first scene was with Chynna, Angel Locsin, Alessandra de Rossi, Tricia Roman, Sherwin Ordonez, and Richard Gutierrez, who currently plays one of his antagonists in FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.
In the show, Richard, as Enzo, and Chynna were love-team partners, with Coco’s Yumyum character coming in to complicate their budding romance.
Coco’s participation ended in the same episode when Yumyum was jilted by Mimi, who chose Enzo over him.
The episode has been recently uploaded on GMA-7’s YouTube channel.
Three years later, in 2005, Coco was launched as an independent film actor via Masahista. Two years later, he returned to television as Rochelle Pangilinan’s love interest in Daisy Siete presents La Isla Chikita.
In 2008, Coco transferred to ABS-CBN, and became part of Ligaw na Bulaklak as Roxanne Guinoo’s villainous brother.
Coco got his big break on television when he was picked to play Ramon in ABS-CBN prime-time series Tayong Dalawa, which was led by Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson, in 2009.
Since then, he top-billed teleseryes in ABS-CBN such as Nagsimula sa Puso (2009), Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo (2010), iDOL (2010), Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin (2011), Walang Hanggan (2012), Juan dela Cruz (2013), and Ikaw Lamang (2014).
Currently, Coco still headlines FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, which started airing in 2015 and is now in its sixth year on air.
In 2020, 18 years after Click, Coco and Richard reunited when Richard joined the show as a kontrabida.
Click launched the careers of actors and actresses who made it big in showbiz— Roxanne Barcelo, James Blanco, Chynna Ortaleza, Angel Locsin, Richard Gutierrez, Jake Cuenca, Valerie Concepcion, Iya Villania, and Drew Arellano, among others.
