#JOSHUA DELA CRUZ TV#

My mom was a nurse, who just retired this year. My mom and dad essentially grew up in the Manila area. They immigrated from the Philippines to the Middle East. My dad’s name is Roger and my mom’s name is Adelfa.

Josh (center), Blue (left) and their pals in “Blue’s Clues & You” Our Q&A with Josh: Can you talk about your Filipino roots? So, we’d go over her house, switch the channel to Nickelodeon, and watch ‘Blue’s Clues’ with my cousin Gabby.” “I still remember my Tita’s (aunt’s) pink rug, because she was the only one with cable. “My little sister was 4 at the time, so that would put me around 7 years old when I watched it with her,” Josh recalled, smiling. The Dubai-born son of homegrown Filipino expats said he has vivid recollections of watching “Blue’s Clues” as a child. Suddenly, it’s like, anything is possible!” Just looking back at where I came from-my family immigrated to the States when I was 2 years old-and now, this. “So, when I came into this opportunity, I felt so honored. “But it didn’t cross my mind that I could be a television actor because I never saw characters who looked like me on TV! It was always caricature- as a villain or a foreigner. I became a theater actor because I saw people onstage like Lea Salonga and BD Wong, so that’s why I thought, ‘OK, I could be a theater actor.’ “I studied theater (he has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Montclair State University).

#JOSHUA DELA CRUZ TV#

Let’s just move on.’ Then, my agent sent me an email about a final callback, and they said, ‘Oh, by the way, they had just auditioned over 3,000 people.’ So I got really excited-I was like, ‘OK, looks like I’m doing well!’ But then, I was terrified because I never thought I’d ever become a TV actor! I didn’t hear back from them for a month, so I thought, ‘Oh, it’s over. “I found out in the middle of my auditions that they saw so many people for this. I got this audition from my agent, and I was like, ‘This is amazing! The show’s coming back on its 25th anniversary!’ I used to watch this with my little sister! “The opportunity to represent Asians, Filipino Americans and Filipinos around the world is so special to me,” Josh admitted to us. So you can imagine how thrilled we were when ViacomCBS agreed to help Inquirer Entertainment arrange this exclusive one-on-one interview with Josh last weekend via Zoom before the episode’s March 14 telecast.Īnd it couldn’t have started better than seeing a beaming Josh greeting us with “Hello, Kuya (older brother)!”-instantly demonstrating how Pinoy tradition has been heartwarmingly instilled in the value system of this handsome new face in children’s entertainment! In the episode, he and his clue-loving female pooch Blue whip up the Pinoy delicacy before his Philippine-based lola (Carolyn Fe) comes for a visit! on Friday (channel 33 on Cignal channel 45/105 on Sk圜able)-by acknowledging Josh’s Filipino roots and Asian American identity. In fact, Nickelodeon is commemorating International Family Day in the series’ upcoming “Bibingka” episode-at 9 a.m.

Joshua dela cruz