Avery a true-blue Pinoy

When some people first meet Avery Paraiso, they tend to become quite intimidated by him. Why? Because he looks foreign, they think he speaks only English and doesn’t know any Tagalog. On the contrary, the 19-year-old aspiring actor — who was born in Hawaii to an Irish mother and a Filipino father — was raised in the Philippines since age three and is as Pinoy as Pinoy can be.

He even speaks flawless Tagalog. “I have only been to the US twice in my life, once when I was three years old, and when I was seven years old,” clarifies Avery, “and I don’t remember much about it.”

What he does remember about his younger years is how much he wanted to be in show business. Even at a young age, says Avery, he would always watch television and wonder what it would be like to be in front of the camera and be a household name. That he is now in showbiz means he’s one step closer to fulfilling his dream. Avery is being managed by Backroom. He may not be a household name yet, but at least he’s on his way there.

Avery, who graduated from the Montessori Integrated School of Antipolo and is studying Mass Communication in La Salle Antipolo, has been working since he was 14. When he was 16, he got into commercials, and began acting at 17. Recently, he did a commercial for a telecommunications company, and in what could potentially be his biggest career break yet, is doing a movie, Once a Princess, in which Erich Gonzales plays the lead role. Avery has a featured role as a bully. It’s not a major role, and it’s only his first movie, but he’s very excited by it, such that he doesn’t mind the long hours spent on the set, or anything else that others might find inconvenient.

“Besides waiting and having to kill time, I face no challenges in my career because I love doing what I do. Even if I have to wait forever (it’s okay),” he says. “I have always wanted to be in show business. I want to perfect my craft in acting and be given the most challenging roles and prove to myself and everyone that I can pull it off.”

Avery appears regularly in a variety show in PAGCOR, called Not Your Ordinary Variety Show. It is staged in different PAGCOR casinos around the country and features the Not Your Ordinary Boys and Girls members in specially-mounted production numbers where they get to show off their dancing and hosting skills. They also do some ramp modeling, something that Avery is very familiar with.

These are not to be taken lightly, says Avery. “We have shows numerous times in a month and lots of practice and preparation go into them.”

Avery is willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to succeed in this business, including changing his name to something more masa-sounding, if need be. And even if the opportunity to move to the US permanently should arise, he thinks he would still choose to stay in the Philippines.

He has plans of going back to the US, but only for vacations. “The Philippines has given me so many opportunities and the people are so polite, and this is where I want to spend the rest of my life,” he says.