The Secret's Out

This article is reprinted from Chalk Magazine by Nana Caragay, October 2004 ish!

Brent Javier (Aka Lee)

People call him Francis. "I actually get mistaken for Alvin (Francis in the tv ad) sometimes. I don't know if he gets mistaken for me though." He does get called Lee from time to time. "But to be honest, more people knew me as Brent, even before the commercial."

He would have been a baller. It's the reason he came to the Philippines in the first place. "I wanted to try playing here." Unfortunately, he broke his right wrist before leaving Canada. "It never healed right, and I was still in rehab, so I never made the tryouts." Instead, he was approached by agents who asked him to try modelling, and the rest is history. "I still love basketball though. I try to play three times a week, four if I'm lucky."

He takes public transportation. Yup, just like in the print ad. "I ride the MRT, I hide myself really well though, I'll wear a cap and pull it down really low." So the nest time you find yourself sitting to a cute, vaguely familiar guy in a cap on the MRT, take a good look. It just might be him!

He knew all along. "We shot the second part the very next day. They just told everyone I was really bad at acting, so they had to re-shoot me. I'm not a great actor, so they believed it." True to his character, Brent can really keep a secret. "I'm pretty quiet and mysterious. But once you get to know me, I'm an open book."

If he were your secret admirer, you would never know. "I'm attracted to girls with humor, kindness and patience. She has to be smart." And if he likes someone, "I'll be nice to her, but in a teasing way so that she could never be sure. Keep her interested, but at a distance." He has done the secret admirer thing, minus the great reveal. "I'll write a note and put it in her book, or leave an anonymous page in her voice mail. But I'd never admit it was me. Well, maybe five years later."