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DEREK RAMSAY
IS FINALLY HOME
After years of hard work, Derek Ramsay is comfortable with what he is, what he has achieved, and how he lives his life. With a move to a new network, the Filipino-British hunk is ready to take on fresh challenges while taking things full circle.
By MARGARET CLAIRE LAYUG, GMA News
Photos by IYA FORBES
April 4, 2019
DEREK RAMSAY HAD JUST GOTTEN BACK from his 10th trip to Bali, Indonesia, which would explain the tan line peeking out of his orange t-shirt. He has been to so many places around the world — he once even shared a game of golf with Zac Efron in Australia — but his favorite place still remains his home.
He paid close attention to every single detail of the lovely Alabang place — even the señorita steps that make it easier for his parents to climb the stairs whenever they came over. For the building’s grey-toned splendor, a pop of color would be noticeable here and there.
The decorations include a mix of exotic fixtures and solid lines with a noticeable ode to wildlife. We also mean this in the literal sense; he takes care of six adorable dogs and a turtle called Michelangelo.
Derek chooses each house plant. He goes the extra mile just to bring something back from a trip, including the Lazy Susan he stubbornly brought home from Italy.
He picks the artwork in the house, which were created mainly by local artists, including a large painting by good friend Solenn Heussaff.
Derek stands a shade below six feet. but with his confidence and posture, he might as well be 10 feet tall. When he wants to, there is enough intensity in his gaze to toast a piece of bread.
But on a quiet Friday afternoon, Derek was content to simply pull up a dining room chair to relax and tell stories.
“I’m just very comfortable with what I am, what I’ve accomplished, and where I am now. I’m very, very happy,” he tells GMA News Online.
“So ang kapal naman ng mukha ko if I’m gonna complain pa with all the blessings that I’ve been receiving. I have great parents, great family, I live a very comfortable lifestyle, so I can’t complain.”
EVEN THOUGH HE WAS born in Enfield, England in 1976, Derek has always identified more as a Filipino. His English dad was a role model, but his Pinay mom was always his protector.
His dad, a former police officer, used to take him to school in a cop car — which is fitting, considering all those “Pare, pulis ako” memes (he enjoys them) that have made him immortal on social media. To this day, Derek enjoys watching true crime stories.
As a kid, Derek was, in his mom’s words, a “very naughty” kid. He was never the one to keep still. Golf, basketball, frisbee, rugby, soccer and football are only some of the sports he played. And just like in sports, Derek always seemed to be “chasing something” in life.
His family moved to the Philippines where his dad started an electronic security agency. “I wanted to go down that route, so I would take over the company. But, like I said, I can’t be that kind of guy that sits down. A desk job? No way.”
If younger Derek had been one to settle, he probably would have ended up far from the camera, having grown up as a shy kid. He thinks he would have ended up being a teacher.
But even then, he knew that he needed to step out of his comfort zone.
“I was in Cheltenham College, where I realized that this is not healthy for me, where I can’t even, you know, talk to a large body of people. I’m always shy when it comes to photos and stuff like that,” Derek says.
“So I challenged myself by enlisting myself in the school play and I remember it clearly: It was the Postmaster. I told myself, if I’m gonna do this, I’d go for the lead role, so I went for the lead role.”
ONCE HE GOT OVER HIS SHYNESS, it would not take long before he became a star in his mother’s homeland.
He was sensational playing the sculpted lothario in steamy romance movies. He has kissed some of the most beautiful women in Philippine cinema and has stayed at the top of the casting wish-list for “attractive leading man.”
But there came a point when he got tired of the sexy spiral of “kabit” movies, usually involving two girls fighting over him.
“It’s weird because that’s not how I am in real life, but it got me to where I am. But s’yempre, you get sick of doing the same thing over and over again, you know? And that’s why I ventured into doing different roles,” Derek says.
He blew away fans with his turn as a tormented lover to Jennylyn Mercado in the 2017 film ”All of You,” for which he won Best Actor at the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Gabi ng Parangal.
Derek takes extra pride in the fact that he reached the milestone without having to take his shirt off.
“It’s a weird feeling when they say, ‘Oh Derek, tanggalan ng shirt ‘yan!’ ‘Maghubad na ‘yan!’ you know? I wanted to prove na there’s more to (me) than just taking off my shirt,” he says.
“Like, people are just thinking I’m a piece of meat. So I wanted to focus on more challenging roles and I got to do that and it paid off,” he adds.
“I got to use my own relationships to bring life to that character because, you know, all relationships go through turmoil and has its downs and ups.”
Derek doesn’t hate playing a hunk with a lot of bed scenes. But he believes that movies, before anything, should tell a captivating story.
“It was more of like it would annoy me na parang, I’d get scripts na they were just f—ing ridiculous,” he says. “You know, you don’t need naman to be six-pack abs and all of that to be sexy. You really don’t.”
AS THE YEARS PASS, sports remain a passion for Derek.
“I don’t work out so that I’ll look good on a scene where I’m gonna take off my shirt. I work out so that I can compete against these kids, and the bonus there is that you get a fit body,” he says.
The one time he misses his body from he was 18 usually comes the morning after games.
“As an athlete, that’s the hardest part. The aging. You can still keep up with these young guns, but after the game, you’re like ‘Go home, ice your knees, eat, rest and, hopefully, nothing hurts the next morning,” he says.
“I have wear and tear everywhere, you know? Slipped disc, even though I maintain a healthy lifestyle, those things you can’t avoid, especially when it’s just mileage that you’ve just racked up,” Derek says.
It was that slipped disc injury, which kept him in bed for three days, that took a major toll on Derek.
“This one really got me depressed. It wasn’t as long as the other injuries I had but… I never got that scare na I might never get to play again,” he says. “It’s totally different when your spine just feel helpless, you have no power, you feel like you’re over a hundred years old.”
All things considered, though, Derek can’t complain.
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t seen the difference from 30 to now except for, like, a little bit of aches and pains,” he says.
WHAT IS TRUE IN SPORTS is true for everything else in Derek’s life. Success comes as a result of hard work and sacrifice.
“I thought that before: Wow, artista. Lot’s of money, fame, easy life — it’s not. It’s a lot of hard work,” he says.
“For these young guys, you really have to put in the work. Gone are the days na you’re just a pretty face. It’s not, it doesn’t work anymore, there’s so much talent out there.”
For Derek, part of the price he paid was the time he had for himself and his family.
These days, however, Derek gets to enjoy those things he had worked so hard for all those years. He is seeing his teenage son, Austin, through school.
“I’m not the type of parent that requires him to be an A-student,” Derek says. “Just give me your best effort. That’s what my parents always said: Give me your best effort. If they don’t see my best effort, they’ll say something.”
He also takes care of his partner Joanne Villablanca’s little girl Sophie, getting the hang of being a dad himself.
“It’s all new to me. I love kids,” he says. “Now I get it when I got into trouble. Kids can say the nicest things that melt your heart but they can say the most hurtful things, but I guess it’s just part of it.”
MAKE NO MISTAKE about it: Derek is not through taking on fresh challenges.
He signed with GMA Network on April 3, officially becoming a certified Kapuso. His first project, fittingly: a series with sexy Kapuso actress Andrea Torres.
For Derek, it is a homecoming. Few people may remember, but he once delighted audiences as a guest host on Eat Bulaga many years ago.
“That’s where I started,” he says.
“It’s perfect that I started my career sa GMA and I will end my career — you can put that — I will end it sa GMA. I think that’s just the perfect thing to do and the right thing to do. So all good things come to an end, and I want it to end in GMA.”
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