With a star studded cast, Netflix's The Adam Project is currently trending on the Top 10 watch list. The sci-fi film stars some of Hollywoods biggest actors Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo and more, but Fil-Canadian Alex Mallari Jr. also shares the spotlight in the full length feature as Christos. Mallari's character, Christos is an old colleague of Adam (Reynolds) and Laura (Saldana) who's now a ruthless security enforcer. Let's take a look at his journey and career with these 5 facts about the Fil-Canadian actor.
1. Alex migrated to Toronto from Lubao City, Pampanga
He moved to Toronto or Scarborough, Ontario to be exact at 4 years old with his Inang (grandmother). He became a Taekwondo athlete, rising to the national level as a third degree black belt. He studied criminology at University of Toronto until he decided to chase his entertainment dreams.
2. He started acting after a sports injury
As a Junior Canadian National Taekwondo champion, he had to give up that dream at 13 years old. Although he then turned to basketball, his athletic career came to a close because of an injury and had to find a different avenue. While attending the University of Toronto, he heard an ad looking for models or individuals interested in acting. Luckily for us, Alex gave them a call and the rest is history.
3. Alex looks to take on more roles on film than TV
Although he got his big break on the Syfy series, Dark Matter, Alex's credits extend to other series like Nikita, Beauty and The Beast, Designated Survivor, and Netflix's Ginny and Georgia where he plays a Filipino Texan private investigator with the deep Texan accent. Many of the roles he auditions for are open ethnicity roles, but luckily the few Filipino characters he's auditioned for he got! Alex hopes to see more representation and help others recognize that Filipinos exist in the world.
"In films, you can work on a scene until you get to the emotional part of storytelling. I want to do more movies as it fulfills my artistic needs."
4. He gave a small nod to Filipinos in The Adam Project.
While making the film, Alex had one request for the stunt coordinator, Jim Churchman. He wanted to use the baston or arnis sticks which are traditionally used in Filipino martial arts. Luckily Alex was able to persuade the stunt coordinator and squeeze in 2 arnis sticks during the fighting sequences in the film.
5. Alex can go from action films to playing a rom-com leading man
He's set to star in a Canadian digital series, Hello (again) created and co-produced by Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings star, Simu Liu. The series will be a combo of rom-com and a little bit of a k-drama. It's about an overworked line-cook (Mallari Jr.) who rescues a supernatural girl. He'll try to break out of a time loop after traveling back in time to say "hello again" to an ex-girlfriend. Watch out for the series as it's set to drop March 25th on CBC Gem.
Cover Photo Credit: Alex Mallari Jr. Twitter
Han Han, an emcee and operating room nurse from Toronto recently had her song, Be Iba on the NBC series Nurses. As audiences are captivated by her spoken word style and rapping skills, her music is described to "grapple with social issues and her experiences as a woman and an immigrant." Her songs tend to use both the Tagalog and Cebuano dialects, but in the song, Be Iba she uses Tagalog specifically.
Her debut album, Han Han was released in 2014 and was recognized by Huffington Post and more. Her single, ‘World Gong Crazy’ was nominated for "Best Song" in the 2017 Berlin Music Video Awards, which also lead her to a publishing deal with EMI. This opportunity brought her further exposure in TV and international radio plays.
"Sabihin man nila na ika’y isang baduy
Be Iba
OK lang kaibigan, totoong tao ka naman
Iwasan ang mga plastik,
Mga ahas sa dilim
Silang mga matapobre ay huwag mong pansinin"
She recently released a new single, "Babae Ka" from her sophomore album, Urduja (2020). Catch new episodes of Nurses Tuesday nights on NBC.
