Daniel Kenji Silva Matsunaga (born November 28, 1988) is a Brazilian model, actor, professional footballer, host and businessman. He became known in the Philippines by appearing in ''Cosmopolitan Philippines''’ September 2009 "Cosmo Men" supplement. He was scouted in the Philippines as an actor and was first given TV drama projects on

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

. He also joined

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

's reality TV show ''

Pinoy Big Brother ''Pinoy Big Brother'', more popularly known by its abbreviated title ''PBB'', is the Philippine version of the '' Big Brother'' reality game show franchise. The word ''Pinoy'' in the title is a colloquial term for the Filipino people. Is a Phil ...

'' and was declared as the PBB All-In big winner in 2014. As a footballer he has played for Team Socceroo,

Pachanga Pachanga is a genre of music which is described as a mixture of son montuno and merengue and has an accompanying signature style of dance. This type of music has a festive, lively style and is marked by jocular, mischievous lyrics. Pachanga o ...

and

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...

in the United Football League (UFL) which was the top-flight football league in the Philippines during its existence. He will play for Maharlika Manila in the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Foo ...

starting the 2020 season.

Early life

Matsunaga was born in Brasilia, the capital of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. His mother, Gerarda Silva, is a Brazilian of Portuguese, African, and Indigenous descent, while his father, Paulo Mitsuo Matsunaga, is a Japanese Brazilian born and raised in

. He has a brother and a sister.

Career

Modelling and acting

Matsunaga started his career when he became a model for ''Cosmopolitan Philippines'' 'Cosmo Men' supplement. His debut series on screen was on GMA-7's top rated drama series ''

The Last Prince ''The Last Prince'' is a 2010 Philippine television drama romance fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Mac Alejandre, it stars Aljur Abrenica in the title role and Kris Bernal. It premiered on January 11, 2010 on the network's ...

'' with co-stars

Aljur Abrenica Aljur Mikael Guiang Abrenica (born March 24, 1990) is a Filipino actor, dancer, model and singer. He appeared on the fourth season of '' StarStruck''. Early and personal life His father, Alfonso Abrenica Jr., was a musician, and his mother, Am ...

and

Kris Bernal Kristine Ann Tan Bernal (born May 17, 1989) is a Filipino actress who became known for winning the fourth season of the reality-based talent search '' StarStruck'' of GMA Network. Bernal rose to fame as the other half in her loveteam with A ...

. In 2012, he moved to TV5 for more TV shows and projects like ''Game N Go'', ''Enchanted'' and ''Misibis Bay''. He went to

to be one of the celebrity judges for '' It's Showtime''. On 17 May 2014, Matsunaga entered the ''

'' house on Day 21 as the fourth celebrity and eighteenth official housemate of the '' Pinoy Big Brother: All In'' season. On 24 August 2014, he was declared as the big winner of ''Pinoy Big Brother: All In''. In May 2017, Daniel Matsunaga was introduced as the first male endorser for Avon Philippines' Men's Club during the "Confidence is the New Sexy" campaign launch. He was chosen to be the endorser because he "reflects the Modern Gentleman who is a man of style, adventure, and confidence".

Football career

Matsunaga started playing football during his childhood and aspired to play for the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

before he got involved in showbiz. He played for clubs in his native Brazil as well as in Hong Kong before playing in the Philippines. In the Philippines he had played for Team Socceroo,

, and

. He played in the now defunct United Football League (UFL) starting in Division 2 playing for Team Socceroo in 2011 playing with fellow model actor Fabio Ide. He then moved to Division 1 club Pachanga Diliman during the

2012 UFL Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, before eventually moving to Stallion for the 2013 season. For the 2014 season he moved to

. In street football, he played for Team Naxional who secured qualification as the Philippine representatives at the Neymar Jr's Five Football Tournament by winning over Tondo in the final of the Philippine qualifying leg. The world final held in Brazil was contested by 53 other countries with Romania emerging as champions. Matsunaga also became involved in the

7's Football League The 7's Football League (7s FL), also known as the AIA 7's Football League due to sponsorship with insurance company AIA Philippines, is a seven-a-side football league in the Philippines. Established in 2018, the league already had four seasons ...

as a player. He returned to domestic football, when he signed in to play with

newcomer Maharlika F.C. in August 2020. Although he was not part of the final lineup for the 2020 season for undisclosed reasons.

Personal life

Daniel Matsunaga is a Christian. He obtained

permanent residency Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...

in the Philippines in December 2014 and had expressed intention to petition for Filipino citizenship.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsunaga, Daniel 1988 births Living people Brazilian male comedians Brazilian expatriates in the Philippines Brazilian people of French descent Brazilian people of Japanese descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian people of Spanish descent Brazilian male film actors Brazilian footballers Brazilian male television actors Brazilian male models Male actors from Brasília Footballers from Brasília Star Magic Pinoy Big Brother contestants Big Brother (franchise) winners ABS-CBN personalities TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities Kaya F.C. players Team Socceroo F.C. players Stallion Laguna F.C. players Association football midfielders Male actors of Japanese descent Maharlika F.C. players