• Home
• /
• Entertainment

Campos on the comeback trail

HE WAS thought to be one of more promising newcomers until he quit showbiz for reasons he is only now disclosing.

“Well, I guess you could say that showbiz simply lost interest in me,” says the tall and good-looking Mikel Campos. Mikel, son of ex-commercial model Susan Campos was launched as part of the third batch of teens on GMA-7’s youth-oriented show Click about four years ago.

His batchmates then included Railey Valeroso, Richard Gutierrez, Jolo Revilla, AJ Eigenmann and Drew Arellano. When Viva, which managed his career, had a falling-out with GMA-7, the company pulled out all its artists from the network. Mikel found a new home in ABS-CBN where he was paired with Sarah Geronimo in Sarah, The Teen Princess. They also appeared in Viva’s Metro Manila Film Festival entry, Filipinas, top-billed by Maricel Soriano and in Captain Barbell.

Before he quit the business, Mikel was seen on the reality dating show Qpids where he was paired with Paw Diaz of Star Circle National Teen Quest. He also had a cameo role in the network’s youth-oriented series Let’s Go, which also served as the launching pad for the careers of Eda Nolan, Bangs Garcia and other promising newcomers.

Then all of a sudden, just when people were expecting his star to shine, Mikel’s career seemed to dry up. It didn’t help that his then-girlfriend Jowee Ann Marquez-ironically the daughter of Joey Marquez and former actress Brenda del Rio-became jealous and possessive and demanded that Mikel quit the business. When she herself decided to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become an actress, he was puzzled.

“I was confused,” he says now. “She would tell me to give up showbiz because it was too messy, and that I should just concentrate on my studies instead; but then the next thing I knew was that she was wanting to go into showbiz as well.”