Sexy but wholesome

MANILA, Philippines - Fate has a strange way of intervening in Rocco Nacino’s life. Years back, the star of GMA 7’s Gumapang Ka sa Lusak was looking forward to working as a nurse before taking up medicine.

“I wanted to please my parents,” the dutiful son recalls. So he finished college in Singapore, where his parents worked and where they stayed for 10 years before the family decided to return to Manila for good. When friends egged him to audition for GMA 7’s StarStruck V, Rocco didn’t drop everything and run. But his friends persisted, saying his moreno looks will make Juan dela Cruz root for him. That, they went on, can be his key to stardom, they told Rocco.

So Rocco tried his luck in the reality show on the very last day of auditions.

 “I was 78th on the list,” he recalls. “I waited in line for half a day.”

But once he was in, Rocco made sure viewers sat up and noticed. He danced his way to their hearts. He played the drums. And text votes in his favor started pouring in. Rocco found himself being proclaimed the Second Prince.

As part of his prize, GMA Artist Center signed him up to a management contract, for which he is now a regular of Party Pilipinas (aside from Gumapang). He has also guested in other GMA shows.

Intrigues have started to hound him. Did he court Jennlyn Mercado, his Gumapang co-star (no, he did not)? Is he attracted to Lovi Poe (yes, who wouldn’t be?)?

Now, Rocco is so hooked on showbiz he has decided to kiss plans of becoming a nurse good-bye.

“I love tapings so much I don’t even notice that we’re already done with 25 scenes!” the 21-year-old Rocco gushes.

Now, nursing has become his second choice, his fallback position.

“I will do everything to make it in the business,” he admits.

Comments that he can be another Marvin Agustin because he shares the senior actor’s dusky looks, flatter Rocco.

“He’s a good actor, and he has lots of restaurants,” Rocco reasons out. “I want to put up my own business, too.”

But first, he has to work hard to save enough money. That’s why love has to take a backseat.

Rocco would rather go to the gym and lift weights “so I look good on screen.” Who knows? Cosmo Magazine might make his dream come true and choose him as part of its elite set of bachelors.

GMA Artist Center’s big plans for him push Rocco to go for broke. “I want to become a lead actor, not a supporting player,” he relates. “And I don’t want to follow in anyone’s footsteps. I want to establish my own identity; make a name of my own,” he declares. “I know there are so many actors and I have to stand out.”

Workshops with director Maryo J. delos Reyes will help. But they can only go so far. Rocco knows he has to play the showbiz game right.

“I want to be known as a sexy but wholesome hunk,” he states.

Read: Rocco will let your imagination run wild, but he won’t show everything. He can give you the come-hither look, but he won’t let you go further.