MANILA, Philippines – Billionaire Manny V. Pangilinan launched his talent agency on Thursday, May 2, and presented historical film GomBurZa star Cedrick Juan as its “first marquee signing.” 

In a press statement, Pangilinan’s MediaQuest Group announced that Juan, who began his career as a theater artist, signed an Exclusive Talent Management Agreement with MQ Artists Agency (MQAA) on Thursday. Representing MediaQuest was Jane Basas, president and CEO of MQuest Ventures.

MQAA is the new in-house talent management arm of MQuest Ventures (MQuest). MQuest was launched in 2023 and is described as the “content creation hub” of the MediaQuest Group “combining film and TV production, talent management, and live events.” 

Juan portrayed martyred priest Padre Jose Burgos in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 movie GomBurZa helmed by young director Pepe Diokno. He won MMFF Best Actor in the critically acclaimed movie. GomBurZa won 2nd best picture in the MMFF and took home 5 other awards including Best Director for Diokno. The movie is now showing on streaming site Netflix.

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“I’m extremely excited to be part of the MQ [MediaQuest] family,” said Juan after the signing. “I would like to thank [MQAA head] Sir Jeff [Remigio], Ma’am Jane, and Boss MVP [Manuel V. Pangilinan] for this great opportunity.”

Juan told TV5 he’ll be doing teleseryes and films for MediaQuest. He said he also wants to try different genres including comedy, and he plans to brush up on his dancing and singing.  

“I was a dancer before I became an actor, tapos yung singing, kailangan ko lang aralin ulit (and then I just have to learn to sing again),” he said.

Juan went right to work on Thursday by appearing as a guest entertainment news reader on TV5’s flagship news program, Frontline Pilipinas.

Basas said MediaQuest already produces entertainment shows but without its own talents, so it decided to launch MQAA. 

“Ang daming lalabas na bagong mga teleserye, mga bagong films. We’re going to try to vie for the MMFF again. It would be really, really good kung talents na natin yung mag-fufuel dun sa mga palabas na yun,” she told TV5.

(There will be many new teleseryes, new films coming up. We’re going to try to vie for the MMFF again. It would be really, really good if it’ll be our talents who will fuel those shows.) 

“Now is the time to harness the talents of these gifted performers,” she added. “The entertainment industry has never been more vibrant. We’re happy to give these artists the platform from which they can work their magic.”

“We’re delighted to have Cedrick onboard,” said MQAA head Jeff Remigio. “He has proven himself as a star who can accomplish much in creating the impactful films that MediaQuest wants to produce. He will be joined by several others over the next few months. Our hunt for more exciting new talent continues.”

Aside from Juan, 12 other artists now with MQAA are: Marimar Tua; Mark Rivera; Marius Tolentino; Daytona; Sam Coloso; Butterfly Repking; Tyler Lopez; Carmela Lorzano; Kenneth Aniban; Dani Porter; King David Gonzales; and Gianna Huelgas.

Among the major talent agencies in the Philippines are GMA Network Incorporated’s Sparkle Artists, ABS-CBN Corporation’s Star Magic, and the Del Rosarios’ Viva Artists Agency.

Big-name celebrities such as Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla, Belle Mariano, Andrea Brillantes, Joshua Garcia, Donny Pangilinan, Ivana Alawi, Kim Chiu, and Gerald Anderson are with Star Magic. Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis, Sarah Geronimo, Nadine Lustre are with Viva. Alden Richards, Barbie Forteza, Gabbi Garcia, Heart Evangelista, Michelle Dee, Paolo Contis, Ruru Madrid, Sanya Lopez are with Sparkle.

Theater artist

Prior to GomBurZa, Juan had been in various theater productions. 

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A post shared by Cedrick Juan (@cedrickgjuan)

Juan also starred in two films in the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, Oro and Die Beautiful. He was nominated Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bong in Oro. 

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A post shared by Cedrick Juan (@cedrickgjuan)

He has also appeared in teleseryes such as Ilustrado on GMA, Til I Met You by ABS-CBN and Dreamscape, and Paano ang Pasko by TV5 and the Idea Company. 

Among his recent projects are Mula sa Buwan produced by Barefoot Collaborations, and his first Cinemalaya film, Huling Palabas, directed by Ryan Machado.

Juan started his acting career in Dulaang UP shows, and landed his first lead role and theater award in Sakuntala: Ang Singsing ng Kapalaran, in 2017, where he won Aliw Best Actor for a non-musical play. 

MediaQuest is MVP’s company for his media assets ranging from broadcasting, cable TV, radio, film, and print. Aside from TV5, it includes Radyo5 on the FM band; digital and cable channels One News, One Sports, One PH, Buko Channel; broadsheets Philippine Star, BusinessWorld; and MQuest Ventures, among others.

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In 2023, MQuest Ventures signed a joint venture with showbiz veterans Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon’s TVJ Productions to produce Eat Bulaga! on TV5. It also co-produced GomBurZa with the Jesuits’ JesCom Films. 

Last week, TV show host Willie Revillame returned to TV5 where he will have an evening show. 

He signed a joint venture with MediaQuest Holdings and its subsidiary, MQuest Ventures, where he will serve as “creative director.” 

Revillame revealed during the signing that TV5 was looking for artists who want to be on the Kapatid channel. 

TV5 has pivoted into a purely entertainment and news channel, dropping its coverage of live PBA Games which it passed on to RPTV, a partnership with RPN 9. – Rappler.com

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