What makes Leo Martinez the actor’s actor?

Everyone knows him as a comedian, and a fine one at that. He’s given us characters like Don Robert in the defunct Ober da Bakod, the balikbayan Uncle Leo with the colorful barong in the Ponkana commercial, and the famous Congressman Manhik-Manaog.

We may see his talent for comedy as natural, but according to Leo Martinez, it’s something he has to work at because even when he’s doing comedy, he sees himself as an actor playing a comic role first, and not necessarily a comedian. For this same reason, Leo has nixed offers to host various radio programs and/or talk shows as everyone’s favorite Congressman.

Manhik-Manaog – so named because all he ever does is go up and down, as in, manhik-manaog lang sa puwesto tuwing may eleksyon – is like any other role Leo takes on. Whether it’s a comedy role or a straight dramatic part, he approaches it with the same intensity and amount of preparation as he would give to any other acting assignment.

"It’s really flattering that a character I created is so popular, but that’s just it – it’s a character," says Leo. "When I was offered the radio show, I told them, ‘I’m not a radio commentator; I’m an actor.’ I’ve even been asked to run for elective office, but I’m an actor, not a politician. Besides, why complicate my life?"

Leo’s roots as an actor have all but been obscured by his success with comedy. Leo has been teaching theater and acting with Peque Gallaga since the mid-’60s. Leo was also one of the original founders of Repertory Philippines. He did over 120 plays with Repertory some of them serious roles in plays like Equus and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He stayed with Repertory Philippines for 10 years, then left to give way to the younger batch of actor-directors like Freddie Santos and Miguel Faustmann. Then he joined Stage Seven, a group that mounted dinner-theater presentations.

"My theater work has all been serious. And I love theater, because it’s really an actor’s medium, compared to TV, which is a sponsors’ medium, and film, which is a director’s medium," notes Leo, current head of the Actors’ Workshop Foundation. Leo took over from Johnny Delgado and Laurice Guillen when they went on their self-imposed sabbatical from showbiz. Established in 1984, the Actors’ Workshop was originally a project of Fernando Poe Jr. when he was head of the Actors’ Guild and Johnny, then head of the guild’s Education Committee. When FPJ’s term ended, they decided to keep the workshop going for the benefit of their colleagues in the industry.

Leo invests as much time in the Actors’ Workshop as he does in his own career for two reasons: one, he takes acting seriously, and two, he believes in the value of continuing education. "What we have is actually a school for film and TV acting," explains Leo. "The problem with the industry is that there are so many who think that just because they have a theater background, they can act. Those are two different things. On stage, you need tension and you have to magnify your acting. In film and on TV, you cannot have that tension because you work mostly with close-ups. You cannot really act when you’re doing film and TV because when you’re acting, halatang halata. Stage and film/TV are two different mediums, so you have to treat them differently."

Among the classes they teach are Film and TV Acting for adults and Improvisation for Kids. This summer, Gabe Mercado will handle classes in Comedy Improvisation. Aside from Leo, the other actors who are helping out with the foundation and teaching classes are Gina Alajar, Ann Villegas, Toby Alejar and Dante Olnedo.

Leo brings his vast theater experience and his film and TV work to bear on his job as an acting teacher. He is seen every week on two shows – Idol Ko Si Kap with Bong Revilla and the gag show ISPUP, which just celebrated its third anniversary on the air. He also recently renewed his contract with Ponkana, which is tapping him anew to play the familiar role of Uncle Leo. He also came out in a series of print ads and an audio-visual presentation for the Social Security System (SSS) encouraging overseas workers to remit their SSS contributions when they send remittances to their families in the Philippines.

Speaking of the Philippines, one of Leo’s pet projects is what he calls a "pride campaign." An extremely nationalistic person – besides being a true actor – Leo wants to bring back that sense of pride in being a Filipino, using showbiz as the launch pad. "I want to encourage talk shows and variety shows, instead of having these inane interviews over and over again, they should ask ‘Taga-saan ka? Ano ang maipagmamalaki mo doon? That way, people will realize that there is so much to be proud of about our country and people."

Leo Martinez, too, is one man we can proud of. He is a man whose heart burns for his profession and his country, a rare quality indeed.