Janhilly "Jan" Manual (born January 13, 1986) is a Filipino actor and comedian. He made his first showbiz appearance on the fourth season of the Philippine reality show StarStruck where he finished as an avenger. He was a contract artist of GMA Artist Center. He is also the nephew of Survivor Philippines Season 1 Castaway Rob Sy.
Manual is known for being a mainstay in longest-running gag show Bubble Gang.
On September 3, 2006, GMA Network formally announced the return of their reality-based talent show now titled StarStruck: The Next Level (aka StarStruck 4), a new and improved edition of the popular show. Hosted by the same hosts and headed by The Council members' Lorna Tolentino, Louie Ignacio and Douglas Quijano, the show had its pilot episode on December 4, 2006.
In the 4th year of the reality-talent search, the age bracket for star wannabes was adjusted from 15 to 18 in previous batches to 16–21, a milestone in StarStruck History.
Unlike the previous batches which launched 14, this batch were trimmed down to twenty, dubbed as the "Top 20". Also, four winners were picked in this season — Ultimate Sweetheart, Ultimate Hunk, and Ultimate Loveteam.
Just like in previous seasons, voting is via the internet and mobile phones and this constitutes 50% of the total scores of the survivors.
Jan made it through to the Top 14 but was eliminated. At the Final Judgment, he received an award for Dats Entertaining Award along with Dex Quindoza for Male with the Most Dramatic Exit, Stef Prescott for Female With the Most Dramatic Exit, and Jesi Corcuera for the Best Taktak Award.
Jan had some offerings which were sexy roles but he refused because he thought that he was too sexy to be in it, "sexy of fats".
While celebrating the KapusOlympics Watermania 2008 in Golden Sunset Resort, the torch accidentally fell onto Jan's face and to some part of his body. He stayed in hospital for three weeks and couldn't do anything but to rest while fighting for his life thinking that it was his end. After three weeks of medication, Jan back to work and there were no marks that made by the accident. That experience for him is considered as a miracle.[1][2]
Jan was included in I Laugh Sabado.[3] that served as his biggest break as he was one of the main hosts. According to him in an interview, he said he could be free from the shadows of his character in Startalk who is "Pacboy".[4] He joined the casts of Wally Bayola, Paolo Paraiso, Janna Dominguez, Gee Canlas, Alfred Marquez and Archie Alemania.[5]I Laugh Sabado was directed by Bibeth Orteza. In the said show, he also said that he was able to show his other abilities as a comedian.[6]
Aside from his stint in I Laugh Sabado, he was seen more often in some shows of GMA as an extended cast such as The Last Prince and in Panday Kids. Jan appeared in Take Me Out, a TV dating game show hosted by Jay-R. Being a comedian, Jan also served as guest in Bubble Gang where he admitted he wanted to be part of the country's best gag show.
In 2011, Jan was cast in the country's first epic-serye and the most expensive project GMA has done yet before Indio — Amaya starred by Marian Rivera and Sid Lucero.
In 2012, Jan was part of the early prime time show, My Daddy Dearest as Jing.
In 2013, Jan was expected to be part of a new series to be led by his StarStruck batch-mates, Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal. The title of the series was Prinsesa ng Buhay Ko. Aside from his then upcoming prime time series, in July 2013, Bubble Gang revealed that Manual is part of the show's search for a new batch of comedians.[7] Their search is called "Bagong Gang The Search for New Recruits".[8] However, Manual shared that he might eliminate himself in Bubble Gang because of the possible schedule conflict with his Prinsesa ng Buhay Ko role,[9] although he said that nothing was definite yet as of that moment. In the end, Jan was able to finish his soap and at the same time, winning the competition in the gag show.[10]
In early 2014, Jan had his first movie project via Basement. He portrayed the character of Migs, the nurse of Pilita Corrales' character. The said film was released on February 12, 2013, making it as the Valentine movie offering of GMA Films.[11][12][13] By the end the first quarter of 2014, Jan had his first starring role via the Lenten season offering of The 700 Club Asia's Tanikala, My Sister, My Lover. He starred opposite Sheena Halili, another StarStruck alumna.[14] Jan played the character of Art Duyan, a gay before who got married and eventually getting a family. Art is now a pastor. Jan is a no stranger to gay roles as he played several gay roles before. According to him, his role in My Sister, My Lover is special to him because the show has a different purpose which is not just to entertain. He also said that he accepted the role because he knows that that show would do something good and there would be a lot of viewers who would be able to relate to the story.
[15][16] According to CBN Asia's website, Tanikala (Shackles) is their annual TV drama special that airs nationwide in the Philippines every Holy Week. It "features true-to-life stories of Filipinos who fought their way out of the darkness of their lives, and found the light of the truth in Jesus".[17] After months of not having an acting project aside from his Bubble Gang stint, Jan becomes part of the weekly drama anthology, Seasons of Love, where he is in the second installment entitled "I Do, I Don't" which starred by Louise delos Reyes, Geoff Eigenmann and Mike Tan.[18] His character's name is Badoy, the best friend of Mike Tan's character, Gary.
Personal life
Jan has stated that he wants to concentrate on comedy. He said that Michael V.[6] and Jim Carrey are his idols when it comes to make people laugh. He has plans in relocating to the United States if his showbiz career does not work out.[19] Though Jan is most interested in comedy roles, he still hopes to do drama series as well.[6]