Child actor Martin Delos Santos has appeared in a hollywood movie

CHILD ACTOR Martin de los Santos got good reviews playing the title role in the Cinema One film, “Tsardyer” (he charges cellfones in the lowlands for Muslim rebels in the mountains) and as the Muslim boy who wants to have a good education in “Patikul”. He now plays Bea Binene’s younger brother in GMA-7’s new soap, “Pahiram ng Isang Ina”, that starts airing on Monday after “Eat Bulaga”. At its presscon, we were surprised when he approached us: “Thank you po sa mga magandang isinulat nyo sa’kin.” At this point that we’ve been writing about showbiz since 1976, this is one of the rare times someone acknowledged having read what we wrote about him and even thanked us for it.

Martin deserves all our good reviews of him as he’s really a good actor. In “Tsardyer”, we thought he’s a real Muslim boy as he spoke all his Tausug lines convincingly. Martin has also appeared in a Hollywood film that got good reviews, “Mammoth”, which starred Michelle Williams (“Brokeback Mountain”) and Gael Garcia Bernal. It’s about a video game author (Bernal) and a female doctor (Williams) who leave their his kids under the care of a Filipino nanny (Marife Necesito) in New York. Martin plays Marife’s son. “When we were filming it, doon po namatay si Heath Ledger, asawa ni Michelle Williams noon,” he says. “Dahil sa nangyari, natigil po ang shooting namin ng two months.” How did he become part of the movie? “Nag-audition po ako sa Makati. Swedish po yung director namin at nag-shoot po kami sa Sweden.”

Martin started acting when he was 5 and has appeared in other GMA soaps like “Super Twins”, “Kamandag” and “Asero”. He also played Marvin Agustin’s neglected son in an acclaimed episode of “Angels” directed by Dingdong Dantes. An only son and now in grade 6, his parents both work in England and he lives with his lola who accompanies him to work.