The Man Behind “Ok ka ba tiyan?”

Meet Gabe Mercado. An established television, movie, and stage actor. Born on December 24, 1972 in Makati City Philippines, he is the sixth of seven children. Since the gap between him and his youngest sister is eighteen years, he practically grew up as the youngest child in his family.

Despite having many siblings, Gabe recalls spending most of his younger days playing alone. In school he was always the smallest, so he would never get picked to play on any team for any game. The way he got around it back then was to bring the ball or the shato sticks so they would feel compelled to pick him for their team.

“People thought I was good looking in high school. I used to appear in school plays and in plays for Fr. James B. Reuter and I would actually get strange calls from girls who saw me in some plays and wanted to be phone pals with me. Unfortunately, the moment I graduated from high school and put on quite a lot of weight (and not a lot of height), nobody wanted to be phone pals with me anymore.”, he muses.

Gabe finished his elementary and secondary education in Southridge. In college, he entered Ateneo de Manila University and took up Interdisciplinary Studies. He spent his college years appearing in plays like Waiting for Godot, The Importance of Being Earnest, Murder in the Cathedral, A Light in the Village and the Inspector General for Tanghalang Ateneo. While in college, he also directed the Isagani Cruz modern zarzuela Halimaw which subsequently went on a tour of the US East Coast.

He actually started his television career playing Gary Lising's sidekick in the Fr. Reuter produced Sta. Zita and Mary Rose in the late 1980's. Nothing happened to his career back then. He tried his luck again a decade later and has since played Richard Gomez's sidekick in "Minsan Minahal Kita", Aga Muhlach's sidekick in "Narinig Mo Na Ba Ang L8st?", and Robin Padilla's sidekick in "Videoke King."

In 1996, he became the lead vocalist of the pop novelty band Dapulis! They released two albums under Sony Music Philippines, producing the hit songs “Mahirap Talaga Maging Pogi” (a bitter-sweet autobiographical song he co-wrote), “Paa” (as in “…Mukhang Paa, boyfriend mo…”) and “Remember M, Remember E” a duet with the legendary Bobot Mortiz. Dapulis! won two Katha music awards for Best Comedic Song and Best Performance in a Comedic Song in the year 2000. “That was before people rather mysteriously stopped watching our gigs”, he quips.

In 1998, he appeared in a play for Tanghalang Ateneo. Someone from ABS-CBN watched and then invited him to be a part of their Talent Center. He took the offer and feels lucky to have regular work with them.

Gabe’s notable television roles include Mr.Abunado in the Robin Padilla-Redford White Sitcom "Puwedeng-Puwede", and JP in the "Eto Na Ang Susunod Na Kabanata". He was also one of the hosts of Studio 23's show "Points of View" which won the KBP Golden Dove Award for Best Talk Show in 2002.

Apparently, even advertisers see Gabe’s potential. He appeared clad only in bathroom tissue in an endorsement for Kimberly Clark’s Joy Bathroom Tissue in 1999 and is currently the endorser for Yakult (Ok ka ba tyan?) having done seven commercials for them.

Aside from being one of Pinoycentral TV’s (a new channel under ABS-CBN Global) resident VJ’s, Gabe is also a contributing editor of Jessica Zafra’s FLIP Magazine, and a somewhat in-demand host, doing events for some of the country’s top corporations. Mura daw kasi siya.

He also performs regularly with SPIT (the Silly People's Improv Theater) one of Manila's first improv groups, which he and his wife set up in 2002 after training with the acknowledged father of improv and legendary Second City founder Paul Sills at the Wisconsin Theater Game Center.