Raymart Santiago

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Raymart Santiago
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1973|7|20
birth_place = Manila, Philippines
death_date =
death_place =
education =
occupation = Actor/Comedian
spouse = Claudine Barretto
parents =
children = Sabina Natasha (May 2004)(adopted)
Rodrigo Santino (July 2007)

Raymond Martin (Raymart) Santiago (born July 20, 1973 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino actor and comedian who belongs to one of Philippine showbiz's most recognizable families.

Personal

He comes from a prominent Philippine showbiz family --the Santiagos. His parents are the late director Pablo Santiago Sr. and former actress Celeste Legaspi. He is the youngest among the Santiago siblings. He and two of his elder brothers are also known in their respective fields in show business --them being Randy Gerard (or Randy Santiago) who is a singer/actor/host and Rowell who is a director/actor. Their other brother is Reilly Pablo Jr., who was married to another local actress Sherilyn Reyes.

He married actress Claudine Barretto married on March 27, 2006 in Tagaytay Highlands in Tagaytay City, Cavite [http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/sb/sb003934.htm] . Their wedding was attended by ABS-CBN and GMA executives, their families (except Gretchen Barretto, who at the time of the wedding was estranged with Claudine), their showbiz and non-showbiz friends. Claudine gave birth to their son on July 19, 2007 --a day before the couple’s birthday. Rodrigo Santino http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=77548 Inquirer - Baby boy is birthday gift for Claudine, Raymart, 19 July 2007] joins big sister Sabina Natasha(b 2004), whom they adopted at 2 months old in July 2004 [http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/sb/sb003391.htm Barreto is feuding with Gretchen; adopts 2 mo onld girl] .

howbiz Initiation

Raymart started testing the showbiz waters in 1989 when he was introduced in Viva Films' youth-comedy flick "Estudyante Blues" (Student Woes). Among his contemporaries at that time were Gelli de Belen, Keempee de Leon, Dingdong Avanzado and Vina Morales. After "Estudyante Blues", Raymart became Viva's contract star and started to become visible before the public. While some of his fellow Viva contract stars were given regular TV shows aside from movies at that time (most of them were on "That's Entertainment"), Raymart opted not to overexpose himself and instead only did TV guestings. He also started to concentrate on his studies until he finished high school in De La Salle Greenhills while doing movies on the side. In the movies he appeared, he was mostly paired with Gelli de Belen.

From Junior Comedian to Action Prince

Raymart endeared himself to the public early in his career with his comic timing, which was at par with some veteran comedians he worked with. Among the comedy movies he appeared in were "Wooly Booly: Classmate kong Alien", "Wooly Booly 2: Ang Titser kong Alien" and "Paikot-ikot". Not long after, Viva launched him as a junior comedian in the movie "Rocky en Rolly" where he shared top-billing with Jimmy Santos. The movie was a success, and he was given a follow-up movie entitled "Tootsie Wootsie", where he worked with Herbert Bautista and Keempee de Leon. However, destiny had other plans for Raymart as action director Deo Fajardo, Jr., who discovered Robin Padilla, took a gamble on him and was repackaged as an action star in 1991. Soon after, Raymart was launched in his first action flick, "Noel Juico, Batang Kriminal" (Young Criminal). The movie was both a critical and commercial success. Soon after, Raymart became an in-demand junior action star. Among his memorable movies were "Magnong Rehas", "Pita: Terror ng Kalookan", "Angelito San Miguel: Batang City Jail", and "Dillinger ng Dose Pares". Raymart sustained his popularity as an action star for almost a decade, until Philippine movies started to decline.

The TV Comedian

In 1998, Raymart signed up as a contract star for GMA Network who gave him his first action-sitcom, "Kool Ka Lang" (Be Cool). The sitcom was initially directed by his brother Randy who gave it up after signing up as lead host of ABS-CBN noontime show "Magandang Tanghali Bayan". But "Kool Ka Lang" lived on as Raymart and his gang led by Joey Marquez was able to make a mark among Philippine viewers. The sitcom became a hot Tuesday viewing habit from the time it was aired from 1998-2003. When "Kool Ka Lang" signed off, Raymart teamed up again with Joey Marquez, Richard Gomez and Benjie Paras in "Lagot Ka Isusumbong Kita". Unlike in "Kool Ka Lang" where the action star image was still stuck with him, "Lagot Ka" presented a different side of Raymart who explored more with his comedic abilities.

Raymart recently starred in his third sitcom with GMA, "Who's Your Daddy Now?" where he essayed a father role for the first time opposite newcomer Alynna Asistio. The show ran for only 13 episodes (a minimum timeframe for a Philippine TV show). Despite the axing of the sitcom, Raymart has been signed up to do a primetime TV series opposite Dennis Trillo and Marky Cielo. The series will be entitled "Pulis Pangkalawakan". He was previously offered a role in the hit Philippine drama Bakekang, but turned down the role, the role went on to be played by Victor Neri.

On August 17, 2007, PEP said that Dennis Trillo, Marian Rivera and Judy Ann Santos will star in Regal Films' "When I Met You" to be directed by Regal's Joel Lamangan, but he will not make it with Angel Locsin. Dennis is now doing "Kulam" with Judy Ann Santos for Regal Films also. On August 21, Dennis started in taping his new "fantaserye" of GMA-7's "Zaido", where he stars with Raymart Santiago, Marky Cielo, Aljur Abrenica, and Lorna Tolentino, at a studio in Marilao, Bulacan. [ [http://www.gmanews.tv/story/57143/Dennis-Trillo-Marian-Rivera-Juday-to-star-in-Regal-films GMA NEWS.TV, Dennis Trillo, Marian Rivera, Juday to star in Regal films] ]

Controversy

On July 13, 2007, Santiago and his wife Claudine Barretto, admitted they did not know that Francswiss Investment—which accepted their money—was involved in a pyramid scam. Their lawyer, Ellen Veza, told NBI agents that the Barrettos had invested in Francswiss, but declined to say if they recruited other investors. Francswiss duped Filipinos of almost P1 billion. [http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news4_july13_2007 Manila StandardToday - Claudine, Raymart also victims of online scam] , 13 July 2007]

Film and Television Shows

References

External links

* [http://www.igma.tv/profile/raymart-santiago Raymart Santiago] at [http://www.igma.tv/ iGMA.tv]
*imdb name|1403402