HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Marvic Valentin Castelo Sotto (; born April 28, 1954), professionally known as Vic Sotto, is a Filipino actor, singer and comedian known far and wide for his various television and film projects on the major Philippine television networks GMA, TV5, and
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
. He is one of three pioneer hosts of ''
Eat Bulaga! ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...
'', which is the longest-running Philippine noontime variety show. Sotto is also a veteran actor and host in the entertainment industry. He owns the film and TV production company M-Zet Productions. Sotto won four consecutive titles for Philippine Box Office King from 2004 to 2006 awarded by the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation Awards, and received three nominations for Best Actor at the
Metro Manila Film Festival The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is an annual film festival held in Metro Manila, Philippines. The festival, which runs from December 25 (Christmas) through New Year's Day and into first weekend of January in the following year, focuses on ...
.


Early life

Vic Sotto was born as Marvic Valentin Castelo Sotto on April 28, 1954. He is the youngest son of Marcelino Antonio Ojeda Sotto Sr. and Dr. Herminia Castelo. He studied at
Colegio de San Juan de Letran The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, (transl: College of San Juan de Letran) also referred to by its acronym CSJL, is a private Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution owned and run by the friars of the Order of Preachers i ...
.


Career


Early career

He started his career as a folk singer and guitarist. During these years, Sotto was also the lead vocalist of the disco funk band
VST & Company VST & Company (commonly abbreviated as VST & Co. or simply VST) was a Filipino disco band from Manila, Philippines, founded by Vic Sotto, Spanky Rigor, and Tito Sotto. Hailed as one of the most successful Filipino bands of the late 1970s, the g ...
. He produced such songs as "
Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko "Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko" ("You Sing and I'll Dance") is a disco song by the Filipino group VST & Company. Although released only as a B-side of the ballad "Ikaw Ang Aking Mahal" ("You Are My Love"), it is one of group's biggest hits in the count ...
", " Rock Baby Rock", and "Kung Sakali". He joined his brothers Tito and Val in the early 1970s gag show ''OK Lang'' under IBC 13. This is where he met another comedian,
Joey de Leon Jose Maria Ramos de Leon Jr. (born October 14, 1946), professionally known as Joey de Leon, is a Filipino comedian, actor, television presenter and songwriter. He hosts the noontime variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'' He is a member of the comedy trio ...
, who invited the brothers to join him. The trio of Tito, Vic and Joey (TVJ) was thus formed, casting in ''
Iskul Bukol ''Iskul Bukol'' is a Philippine situational comedy show that aired on the IBC-13 network from October 1978 to 1988. It starred Filipino comedians Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon. The show centered around student life in the fictional Wanbo ...
'', ''TVJ (Television's Jesters)'', ''Rock and Roll 2000'' and hosting ''
Eat Bulaga! ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...
''.


Tito, Vic and Joey

In 1976, the Sotto brothers
Tito Tito may refer to: People Mononyms * Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman * Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journ ...
, Vic and Val were invited by former ''OK Lang'' co-star Joey de Leon to co-host an episode of
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 ...
's late afternoon variety show ''Discorama'' hosted by Bobby Ledesma. Only Tito and Vic accepted de Leon's invitation. The newly formed trio began to do comedy newscast segments interspersed with Top 40 hit-song parodies. Originally, the trio's appearance was supposed to be a one-off invitation as ''Discorama'' was set to be axed but after getting good feedback from the viewers and ratings were high, the show was given a new lease on life by GMA management. The trio was later invited to become part of the noontime show ''
Student Canteen ''Student Canteen'' is a Philippine television variety show regarded as the first afternoon variety show on Philippine television. Over a 32-year period, it was broadcast through three different networks: ABS-CBN (1958 to 1965), GMA Network (1 ...
'' as they released 12 albums based on their ''Discorama Tough Hits'' segment. The
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Iskul Bukol ''Iskul Bukol'' is a Philippine situational comedy show that aired on the IBC-13 network from October 1978 to 1988. It starred Filipino comedians Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon. The show centered around student life in the fictional Wanbo ...
'' that gave them nationwide fame as comedians. Soon after, other TV and movie offers came knocking on the trio's door. In 1979, Tito, Vic and Joey began hosting the noontime show ''
Eat Bulaga! ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...
'', which was pitted against the more established ''Student Canteen''. Not long after, ''Eat Bulaga!'' toppled ''Student Canteen'' from the ratings. The trio is still active on both Holy Week Dramas every Lenten Season and also on comedy variety show on ''Eat Bulaga!''.


Later career

In the last three decades, he has done sitcoms and television shows for three networks,
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
,
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 ...
and TV5 (most of which were for GMA).


Personal life

Sotto has five children from various relationships. He also has seven grandchildren (two from Danica, four from Oyo, and one from Paulina). Sotto confirmed his engagement to ''Eat Bulaga!'' co-host
Pauleen Luna Marie Pauleen Luna Sotto (born Marie Pauleen Javier Luna; born November 10, 1988) is a Filipino actress and television personality. She appears on GMA Network, particularly as one of the regular hosts of the long-running Philippine variety sho ...
in September 2015. The couple married on January 30, 2016, at
Ayala Alabang Ayala Alabang, in terms of land area, is the third largest barangay in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines. A large portion of it came from Barangay Alabang. Its land area of includes Alabang Town Center, Ayala Alabang Village, El Molito, Ma ...
,
Muntinlupa Muntinlupa, officially the City of Muntinlupa ( fil, Lungsod ng Muntinlupa), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the ...
. On May 6, 2017, Sotto announced on ''Eat Bulaga!'' that he and Luna were expecting their first child together.


Controversies


Pepsi Paloma gang rape case

In 1982, the 15-year old actress
Pepsi Paloma Delia Dueñas Smith (July 17, 1966 – May 31, 1985), better known as Pepsi Paloma, was a Filipino-American dancer and actress in the Philippines. She was one of the popular Softdrinks Beauties introduced in the 1980s along with Sarsi Emmanuell ...
accused Sotto and fellow comedians
Joey de Leon Jose Maria Ramos de Leon Jr. (born October 14, 1946), professionally known as Joey de Leon, is a Filipino comedian, actor, television presenter and songwriter. He hosts the noontime variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'' He is a member of the comedy trio ...
and
Richie D'Horsie Ricardo Reyes (September 13, 1956 – April 17, 2015), professionally known as Richie D'Horsie (), was a Filipino actor and comedian. Early life Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines on September 13, 1956. Career Reyes rose to fame as a sidekick ...
of gang raping and taking photos of her on June 21 in a room at the Sulo Hotel in
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
. On July 31, Paloma's manager Rey Dela Cruz lodged a formal complaint with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile. On August 18, Paloma filed charges of rape and acts of lasciviousness against the three television personalities before the Quezon City fiscal's office. The crime of rape at the time, carried the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in the Philippines, and to prevent his brother from being sent to the
electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...
,
Tito Sotto Vicente Castelo Sotto III (; born August 24, 1948), professionally known as Tito Sotto, is a Filipino politician, entertainer and athlete who served as Senate President from 2018 to 2022. Before that, had two stints each as Senate Majority Lea ...
quickly went to see Paloma while she was still securing the services of Atty. Rene Cayetano. According to Paloma, Tito Sotto pressured her into signing an "Affidavit of Desistance" to drop the rape charges against his brother and cohorts—Tito Sotto had allegedly placed a pistol on the table in front of Paloma when he went to talk to her. In exchange for the dismissal of the charges of rape, Vic Sotto, de Leon and D'Horsie issued a public apology to Paloma: Despite the suspects' earlier apology, Tito Sotto has maintained his position against any involvement in the whitewashing of the rape case and alleges that the scandal was a gimmick by Paloma's party for publicity. Again, in spite of a live apology issued to the people, Sotto said that he was not involved as a perpetrator in the rape of Paloma and he denied using his position in government to influence the court decision. Sotto became Vice Mayor in
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
in 1988 before being elected as a Senator in 1992. In 2018, Sotto requested ''
The Philippine Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded broa ...
'' to remove published articles available online mentioning the Pepsi Paloma Case, claiming them to be "fake news" (though clearly was not the case), and damaging to his current reputation as a Senator. In May 1985, Paloma was found dead in an apparent suicide, though evidence suggests this was actually murder in order to prevent her from testifying against Sotto in court. Dela Cruz was murdered years later.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sotto, Vic 1954 births Living people ABS-CBN personalities Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni De La Salle University alumni Tagalog people Filipino television variety show hosts Filipino game show hosts Filipino male film actors Filipino male television actors 20th-century Filipino male singers Filipino male comedians GMA Network personalities Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation personalities Manila sound musicians Radio Philippines Network personalities
Vic Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...
20th-century Filipino male actors 21st-century Filipino male actors