Case 1

There are now two Jennings — both half-British — in Pinoy showbiz and their hybrid-looks can make them pass for siblings. But they have no blood kinship at all between them, as far as they know.

One is actually a newcomer: Geraldine Jennings, 20, born in the Philippines but was brought by her parents to UK in 2009. She has an all-girl siblings of three. They still live there. Her family is very well-off and she is in showbiz only here in the Philippines. She’s both singer and actor. Very talented, eh!

The other Jennings, as if you don’t know yet, is Anthony Jennings, 23, the actor teamed up with Maris Racal, 27, ex-girlfriend of rocker Rico Blanco, now 51 but only 49-going-50 when they were dating.

Geraldine is currently in the Philippines to promote her new single “If I Will Ever Love Again,” composed by Ogie Alcasid.

“It’s about loving someone and the feeling of heartbreak which I’m sure a lot of people have experienced. But I wanted to add a sense of empowerment towards the end of the song that you will be able to love again,” Jennings said

It is now available on various digital streaming platforms, while its music video has been uploaded on Star Music’s official YouTube channel. A music video for the song will be launched soon.

Geraldine has done a film here in the Philippines but the movie has no playdate yet: Isla Babuyan, which she top-bills with Jameson Blake and Dave Bornea. It’s meant to be a skin flick as there’s a yarn that it is inspired by the popular Spanish film, Jamon Jamon, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Badem and directed by Spanish director Bigas Luna. Cruz and Bardem eventually became husband and wife after some more movie pairings.

Isla Babuyan is independently produced. ABS-CBN Star Cinema has nothing to do with it. The film is directed by Abdel Langit who has been helming heavily sex-oriented movies streamed by Vivamax. It seems, though, that the movie has not been booked nor submitted to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

It’s actually hard to book in theaters a movie top-billed by a little known actress. Jennings’ family is among the producers of Isla Babuyan.

Prior to releasing her debut single, Jennings showcased her talent in Teenstar UK, where she was the youngest finalist in the British singing competition. She also won the future music development award in the Open Mic 2020 competition.

When asked which she prefers between singing and acting, she stressed that she “likes them both,” as she had experiences with them when she was young.

For some reason, Geraldine speaks English without the well-known clipped British accent. She says the family lived for some years in Los Angeles, California, but her English enunciation also hardly sounds American. Her English sounds Pinoy!

She revealed at her media launch, hosted recently by ABS-CBN Star Music at a 10th floor pub near the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City: “I was a singer when I was younger. That was my first love. I joined singing competitions in London, in UK, but when I moved to Los Angeles, I took up acting… so that’s where I learned to love the craft. I took acting classes in West Hollywood– so I would say both. And they’re quite similar, so both.”

Geraldine currently studies at the University of London, where she has two more years to go before she finishes college. She has chosen two other songs to record for her next releases. She has been signed up as a Star Music artist.

Case 2

Meanwhile, as a follow-up to their much-admired pairing in ‘the ABS-CBN digital series Can’t Buy Me Love, Anthony Jennings and Racal are teamed up anew in the forthcoming ABS-CBN action series Incognito, which was mainly shot in Italy. By the time they flew to Italy, Racal had mightily announced that she has broken up with Blanco.

In Italy, being both far away from people they are individually close to, Jennings and Racal became cozy with each other even off camera. When not filming, they have been noted to be twinning in their outfits. It is believed that lovers love twinning!

Jennings’ non-showbiz girlfriend for five years has been noticed for posting cryptic message for losing her boyfriend to a girl whom the boyfriend swore would never be a cause of worry between him and the girlfriend. They are “blind” postings with no names mentioned but nosy netizens whose main leisure and pleasure is social media have declared that it’s a confession of the girlfriend that she has lost her boyfriend.

Jennings and Racal have not categorically announced any romance between them. But to stretch an old saying, if they flap and quack like ducks together, honey, they are happy ducks in love with each other.

It’s about loving someone and the feeling of heartbreak which I’m sure a lot of people have experienced. But I wanted to add a sense of empowerment towards the end of the song that you will be able to love again.

The Iconoclast cast seems to be in Italy yet as of this writing. The series’ stars include Richard Gutierrez, Ian Veneracion, and Baron Geisler.

Racal is actually a well-rated actor on her own. Her film Sunshine has begun to do a round of international film festivals, kicking off at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Racal plays the titular young rhythmic gymnast who dreams of joining the national team but she finds out that she was pregnant days before her tryout. The film is directed by the highly-esteemed Antoinette Jadaone.

Meanwhile, Jennings has never shied away from telling people their family was so financially problematic that they had to keep changing residence so he ended up attending school only up to grade 2 and unable to read and write.

When he realized how disadvantageous it is to be illiterate, he taught himself how to read. Yes, only to read. Even now he tells people he can’t write. Most likely though he can write on the keyboards of mobiles and computers.

Jennings has maintained his good looks despite an impoverished childhood. At 18, when he turned up at the ABS-CBN studio in response to an invitation to audition, the legendary starbuilder Johnny “Mr. M” Manahan, asked the young man to smile at him up-close so he can see the tisoy’s teeth, Mr. M decided to accept the guy to be part of the then-network’s stable of young stars. The young man was healthy and warm (and possibly already somehow “wealthy” these days).

Jennings’ stayed on in the ABS-CBN yard when Mr. M moved on to GMA 7 where Jennings was rejected some years ago when he auditioned.

Jennings describes himself as “madiskarte sa buhay kahit di nakapag-aral. (Street-smart in life and have not gone to school yet).”