Johnny Manahan

Early life and education

Manahan was born on February 11, 1947 in Quezon City, Philippines. His parents were Dr. Constantino Perez Manahan and socialite and television host Elvira (née Ledesma) Manahan (Two For The Road). Manahan attended high school at the Ateneo de Manila in 1964, and finished his studies at the University of California, Berkeley, AB Art History, in 1969.^[1]

Before becoming the director-manager, Manahan was first a visual artist, painter, and sculptor. In fact, he received the "Special Citation" award at the Paris Biennale of Art in 1979.^[1]

Career

Manahan began his career directing for television soon after his studies around 1971. He was a freelancer and directed shows for the various local channels such as Two for the Road, For the Boys, The Big Big Show, and Kaluskos Musmos. Right after BBC-2 re-opened in 1986 and became the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, he was appointed as a resident director at the network. He directed the leading shows of the history of local television, such as Chika Chika Chicks, Palibhasa Lalake, Tonight with Dick and Carmi, and Abangan Ang Susunod Na Kabanata.^[4]

In April 1992, Manahan, then the program director, and Freddie Garcia, then ABS-CBN executive vice president and general manager, formed the idea of creating a stable of new stars exclusively for the network.^[5] This gave birth to Talent Center. In its early years, the Talent Center's project was Ang TV. The show auditioned thousands of people and accepted chosen ones into the program. The series soon led to mall shows, live concerts, and record albums. It also became a springboard for the careers of Claudine Barretto, Jolina Magdangal, Camille Prats, Victor Neri, and Paolo Contis among others. The Talent Center continued its search through the launching vehicle Star Circle in 1995.

While he was busy discovering and developing new talent, Manahan continued to direct television shows, movies, concerts, and specials. In particular, he directed the first collaboration of Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano, a major concert in September 2009 at the Mall of Asia concert grounds, as well as foreign celebrities' Barry Manilow, Diana Krall, and Andrea Bocelli's concerts in the Philippines.^[6]

He is the man behind the Ms. Earth pageants, the Christmas and anniversary specials of ABS-CBN, celebrity weddings and debut specials, election specials, and many more. In addition, he also managed the grand world tours and concerts outside the country which includes ASAP '05 in USA and Japan, Wowowee in Las Vegas, Chicago, Hawaii, Star Magic World Tour in Canada and USA, among others.^[7]

Throughout his career, Manahan's career expanded and he held different positions in the network management. He was the Director in the Talent Center (1992-1994); Program Director in the Production Department (1994-1996); and Vice President in the Talent Development & Management Center (1996-2003); Senior Vice President of ABS-CBN's Star Magic (2003-2007). He retired in 2007, but remains as the Head and Consultant of Star Magic.^[7]

Pre-resident director

from 1971-1986

As a Director

Films

Television series

Variety shows

Specials

As an Actor

Films

As a Writer

Works