For Marc Nelson, the world is a field of dreams - CONVERSATIONS with Ricky Lo

The world is an apple to some people. But as far as Marc Nelson is concerned, the world is a field of dreams whose every nook and cranny has to be explored and enjoyed.

That’s why Marc travels – a lot. Now, he’s here; the next moment, he’s somewhere else. Now he’s in this end of the world; the next moment, he’s at the other end.

For the time being, until first week of April, Marc, (a true "citizen of the world") is making the Philippines his home. He arrived first week of February the way he left in May last year, saying goodbye sans tears to his fans who religiously followed him on ABS-CBN’s Keep on Dancing which he co-hosted with Charlene Gonzales, Troy Montero and Franco Laurel – without fanfare, that is, almost surreptitiously. It’s his second "homecoming" actually, having returned for a quick and brief vacation in August last year.

A Valentine Baby (like Kris Aquino, Rico Puno, Donna Cruz and Sen. Johnny Ponce-Enrile), Marc turned 29 last Feb. 14 in bed, nursing a terrible cold and the flu. Not many people (except his friends) knew that he’s here until he showed up at Richard Gomez’s Goma Cup in Boracay with bold star Patricia Javier, (still?) his girlfriend.

A few days ago, Marc sat for this Conversation at a cozy corner of Moomba Restaurant. Like the seasoned traveller that he is, Marc came carrying his ubiquitous backpack which, he revealed, contained his toothbrush, his medicines, his vitamins, his running shoes, his flashlight, his water jug, his personal ID’s and other personal effects.

He walked with such confidence, his "almost six feet" frame stretched ramrod straight, that other Moomba habitues couldn’t help but take a second, serious look. Breaking into his bedimpled, friendly smile (he looks very much like Rock Hudson, doesn’t he?), Marc checked if we made our orders before he made his own. "I’m allergic to sea foods," he said, so he ordered veggies and some meat rolls, downing them with three glasses of iced tea.

Are you here to stay?

"As much as I want to... No, I’m here just for a short vacation. I arrived about a month ago, supposed to leave last week yet, but I decided to stay for a few more weeks. I’ve been having a really, really good time and I was really looking for an excuse to extend my stay. Well, I was dancing with Dyan Castillejo and her sister Jackie on Keep on Dancing the other week and Dyan invited me to guest on her show (Sports Unlimited) which was doing an episode on climbing and diving, and I accepted it. Four episodes to be shot in Bacolod, Davao, etc."

You love sports, don’t you? Is that how you keep your beautiful body?

"Oh, yes, I’m a sports person. How do I keep my, as you said, ‘beautiful body’? Gee! Constant workouts, I guess. Wherever I am, the first place I look for is a gym. If I’m in the States, I go wakeboarding; in Canada, snow boarding; here, rock climbing or scuba diving. I’m an incurable sports lover."

You’ve been travelling a lot; you’re always moving, shuttling between countries. Are you doing it for business or for pleasure?

"Sometimes for work, sometimes for pleasure. Actually, I’ve been travelling since I was a kid. What usually happens is, I go somewhere for pleasure and if, on the side, I find work, I stay there for a while. I travel alone, usually."

Is Patricia Javier one of the "excuses" for extending your vacation? Or did you come purposely to visit her?

"Of course, of course! Patricia and I... We’re such close friends."

Only close friends? Not sweethearts?

"Not anymore! Actually, we split up sometime ago but we’ve remained very close, very good friends. She’s one of my talagang barkada. It was a friendly kind of break-up. We still spend a lot of time together, going out and watching movies with friends."

How long did the romance last?

"The romance? It lasted... a while. Let’s just say... years. I met her about four years ago when I arrived in the Philippines, while we were doing a commercial together (for Sunsilk). Long, long time ago. The first thing that attracted me to her was, of course, her looks. And then I got to know her better. I discovered that she’s such a sweet person, a bit shy, a real person with a kind heart. Some girls have a facade, but not Patricia. She’s actually a simple girl; what you see is what you get."

Did you live together?

"No, we did not."

You didn’t have any kid, did you?

(Smiling) "No, no kids."

Was the break-up caused by a third party?

"No, no third party. It was due to some personal reasons. Anyway, what’s important is that we’re still friends."

Your fans thought that you left with a broken heart.

"No, I didn’t. We had broken up long before I left. I left for work, not to mend a broken heart. (Smiles again) I left in May last year but I did come back for a brief vacation in August. Nobody knew, except my friends. When I left in May, I went to the States. I had a job there, in a computer company. It had nothing to do with showbiz. It was a complete change for me, a bit of a shock to my system having to get up early for (computer) training. But it was a nice job. I made several friends who made things easy for me, who made my adjustment period easy."

Didn’t you miss TV work?

"Oh, yes, I did... terribly! But it was a pleasant change to work and be respected for your mind."

Why, aren’t you respected in showbiz for your mind, but maybe only for your, ehem, body?

"I have to be honest. The reason why I’m in showbiz in the Philippines is not because of my mental ability but because people like what I look like. Hey, I’ve no objection, it’s very flattering. But it’s nice to exercise your brain every now and then. When I was in showbiz, I did miss that mental challenge."

Was your mind stagnating while you, well, kept on dancing?

(Laughing) "Don’t get me wrong. Maribeth (Bichara) and her VIP Dancers and everybody in Keep on Dancing kept my mind working overtime trying to remember all those (dance) steps." (Seriously now) "But apart from my showbiz friends, I have other (non-showbiz) friends with whom I can discuss politics and other issues. I keep myself posted on what’s going on around the world by reading Time magazine."

Aside from Patricia, who are your showbiz friends?

"Joey Mead. She’s like my sister. We met when I was just modelling. We just clicked. It’s just coincidence that Joey also spent several years in Australia. Another friend is Cody Moreno (a US-bred upcoming singer). Of course, there’s Troy (Montero) and Charlene (Gonzales)."

The first time you came here four or so years ago, was it for business or for vacation? Or, was it for adventure?

"I came here for scuba diving, actually. I was then living and working in Canada; I was managing a restaurant there. I’ve always loved the Philippines so I said, ‘Hey, let’s go back and do some diving for a month or two and decide what to do next.’ When I came, one thing led to another... I started doing modelling."

How did you get into modelling?

"I met a couple of (female) models at a party and they said. ‘Hey, why don’t you try modelling?’ I reacted by laughing and laughing. ‘You’ve got to be kidding!,’ I told them. It was the first time I ever got such an offer. They told me, ‘We’re serious! Go to our agent and do a VTR.’ For commercial modelling, you know. So I did commercial modelling before I did fashion modelling. It was Renee (Salud) who discovered me as a ramp model. The first commercial that I did was for Sunsilk - with Patricia."

And how did you "dance" your way into television?

"I should really thank Joey (Mead) again. Besides being a veejay, she also had a segment on fitness on Alas Singko y Medya (ASYM). She needed a guy to help her explain the exercises, so she got me. And then, somebody suggested that I apply as co-host of Keep on Dancing (which had then just moved from ABC Channel 5 to ABS-CBN). I said, ‘Oh, no, I can’t dance!’ If I go to a club, I dance, all right, but I didn’t think I could do it on national television. I was nervous in the beginning, until I learned all kinds of dancing on the show, including ballroom dancing."

Didn’t you have any showbiz background before KOD?

"None whatsoever. I never entertained any thoughts of going into showbiz. I thought it wasn’t my turf."

You’re not an only child, are you?

"No, I’m not. I have an older brother and a younger sister; they’re both in Sydney."

How much of you is Australian and how much is Filipino?

"Believe it or not... neither! I’m neither Australian nor Filipino. I was born in Australia and I’m an Australian citizen. But like most Australians, I come from somewhere else. My heritage is predominantly English and Burmese. I know everyone thinks I’m Filipino because I look very Filipino but I don’t have Filipino blood at all. When you think about it, the Filipino blood is already halu-halo. It’s a mixture of Malay, European and Chinese. I’m really the same. I have Malay blood, my Burmese side; I have European blood, my English side."

You have so many kinds of blood running in your veins. Does that make you more passionate, "hotter" than other men?

"I don’t know about that... But how I wish, how I wish!"

Which side of you is Burmese?

"Both sides. My Mom is Burmese, English and Scottish. My (biological) Dad is Burmese, Thai and Chinese. No, in case you want to know, I don’t speak Burmese or Chinese or Thai. I speak English."

You must be Catholic, like most Australians.

"Well... non-practising. Actually, Australia is a real mix. There are all sorts of religions in Australia. Although I was born in Australia, I didn’t grow up there. I left Sydney, where I was born, when I was 7. I went to Tanzania in East Africa with my parents. After a few years, we went to Kenya and then we lived in the Philippines for four years. I studied in I.S. here."

Was all the travelling in connection with maybe your father’s work?

"Yeah. When we were here, he was working for the ADB (Asian Development Bank). In Africa, he was working for the United Nations. We were here during the People Power (I). I was still a teenager then. I have such fond memories of the Philippines that I want to keep coming back. From the Philippines, we went back to Australia and then we went to Hong Kong and then back to Australia. My parents went back to Africa. After university in Australia, I told myself, ‘Hey, you gotta travel some more.’ I took my backpack and told everybody, ‘I’ll see you in a few years!’ And off I went."

What have you learned from all this travelling? Didn’t you experience any culture shock along the way, staying in so many different countries?

"I’ve been doing it since I was a kid so it’s a lot easier for me to adjust to every country, every culture. It’s also very educational. By travelling, you learn a lot more than what you can expect to learn in school. You learn to deal with all kinds of people; you learn to accept different people and different views and opinions; you learn to appreciate the diversity and learn from it. You learn to accept people for what they are."

What course did you finish in college?

"A science degree and Human Geography which is something like Social Anthropology. It’s a study of political systems, societies, cultures. In the States, people know it better as Social Anthropology. I originally studied Computer Science but then I changed my major because I didn’t really enjoy it. I realized that my real love was visiting different countries and discovering different cultures, the subjects I was doing very well in."

Is that what you really wanted since you were a kid – travelling?

(Smiling widely) "Yeah. Travelling, travelling, travelling!"

What did you want to be when you were a kid?

(Thinking awhile and then smiling again) "I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I guess I’m still confused about that. My attitude in life is to take things as they come, see what will happen next, leave myself open to good opportunities. I like to think that with all the travelling, I can adapt very well to any situation, to any place, to all kinds of people."

Of all the places that you’ve visited, where do you feel most at-home in? The Philippines, I suppose.

"Actually, yes! The Philippines. That’s why I keep coming back. I love the people; they’re very friendly. I’m not saying that people in other countries are not friendly; it’s just that in other countries, especially in Europe, it takes people some time to open up. Here, it’s easy to talk to people, everybody is always smiling and willing to talk to you. I like the Filipino attitude towards life."

Do you have a girlfriend in every port, like most travellers?

(Pretends to cough) "No, none."

And who are the better lovers, Filipino women or European women?

(Blushes a bit) "It’s not a nationality thing. Everyone is different. All I can say is that in the Philippines, people are more romantic."

If you have to settle down with your own family, what country would you choose?

"To be honest, I don’t know. There are still so many places that I’ve not been to. So far, I’ve been to only about 35 countries and there are still more than a hundred other countries for me to explore. Believe it or not but I haven’t even been to Burma (Myanmar). I’ve been to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, England, many others. But I haven’t been to South America."

What’s your favorite city?

"It really all depends. For the nightlife? Manila. No other city can compare with Manila as far as the nightlife is concerned."

What’s your guiding principle in life?

"The Golden Rule. Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you. Be good, don’t hurt other people."

You learned to be independent early on.

"Yeah, you’re right. Once I finished high school, my father was already overseas. Actually, he’s my stepfather but I look up to him as my real father because I grew up with him. He and my Mom are now living in Vietnam. I learned to be independent, to live alone, early in life. I learned how to do things myself. I love to cook. I adore cooking, I cook a lot of pasta. I do beef stroganoff, tiramisu, lasagna, beef rice, curry rice - I cook anything! That’s why I managed a restaurant in Canada."

So what are your plans from hereon? Are you here to stay?

"The longer I stay, the more tempting it is for me to stay."

You could be a bold actor (after all, you once posed near-nude for a glossy magazine).

"Don’t laugh now, but I have had several offers to do bold movies. I have a few friends who do bold movies but I don’t think it’s my line."

Patricia is doing bold movies and you can have love scenes with her. You don’t need any rehearsals.

(Blushing) "You see, I’m sweet and innocent; I don’t know anything about that." (Seriously now) "I don’t know but it’s just not me. I don’t mind doing photo shoots that are a bit risque. I’m not ashamed of myself or my body. But, I don’t know, it’s just that doing bold movies is not me. Drama-acting, maybe I can try - but try only."

What do you really want to do?

(Eyes lighting up) "See more of the world. Travel some more. I guess that’s what I really love to do. Explore the four corners of the world."

(Note: Marc’s website: www.marcnelson.homepage.org)