Cesar Montano

Montano acted in stage productions at the University of the Philippines. He worked as a stuntman early in his career.[5]

Montano's first action movie, directed by Toto Natividad, is Leonardo Delos Reyes: Alyas Waway (1993). The two latter collaborated on such movies as Utol (1996), Biláng na ang Araw mo (1996), Pusakal (1997), Sanggano (1997), Kasangga Kahit Kelan (1998), Warfreak (1998), and Type Kita Walang Kokontra (1999).

He played national hero José Rizal in the historical biopic José Rizal in 1998. In 1999 film Muro Ami, he played Fredo, the boss of child laborers in the illegal fishing industry.[6] The film won thirteen awards at the 1999 Metro Manila Film Festival.[6]

Montano produced, directed and starred in the 2004 film Panaghoy sa Suba. It features Filipino actors Juliana Palermo, Jackie Woo, Philip Anthony, Caridad Sanchez, Joel Torre, Daria Ramirez, Ronnie Lazaro, Suzette Ranillo, Rommel Montano, Dr. Warfe Engracia, Ramon Villanueva, Chelo Espina, Flora Gasser, Disi Alba and Rebecca Lusterio. The film is set during World War II, and the story takes place mostly along the Loboc River in Bohol.[7] The film was Montano's directorial debut. It was filmed mostly in the Visayan language with an almost exclusively Visayan cast.[8] t was given an "A" rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board or CEB of the Film Development Council of the Philippines and was CM Films' entry to the 2004 Metro Manila Film Festival.[9] The CEB described the film as "a poetic, sometimes even magical, current of silent struggle and survival."[9]

The Call of the River won multiple awards. It collected Second Best Picture (to Mano Po III: My Love), Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score and the Gatpuno Villegas Cultural Award at the Metro Manila Film Festival, 2004;[10] and Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress at Gawad Suri Awards, Manila, 2005.[11]

Panaghoy sa Suba, which garnered 16 awards and 11 nominations including 5 from the Metro Manila Film Festival, was also given an endorsement by the UNESCO.[8] It was named Best Picture at the International Festival of Independent Films held in Brussels, Belgium. Montano was also chosen Best Director.[12] In addition, Montano also won Best Actor in Panaghoy sa Suba in the Golden Screen Awards.[13]

Panaghoy sa Suba was invited as an exhibition in the Tous les cinémas du Monde (Movies of the World) at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.[14][15] It has also been invited for exhibition in other international film festivals in Berlin, Toronto, Tokyo, Korea and in the Czech Republic’s Karlo Vary Film Festival.[15]

In 2002, American film director and screenwriter John Dahl cast Montano in The Great Raid after taking notice of Montano's performance in the movie Muro Ami as well as an extensive open call audition and series of callbacks in Manila. He played Juan Pajota in the Miramax Film set in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines in 1945 during World War II. The film was shot mostly in Australia and partly in China.[16]

Montano was cast in another U.S. film, Another Deep Breath, scheduled to start shooting in the San Francisco Bay Area in March 2005.[17] Funding was never secured so the production never started shooting.

On 1 January 2000, Montano released his first music solo album entitled "Subok Lang" (Just Try) under Star Records.[18] On nine of the album's ten songs he is accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. He sings a duet on the second version "Kailan Ko Lang Sinabi" (When I Just Told You) with his wife, Sunshine Cruz, who is also a Filipino actress and recording artist. Subok lang went on to become Platinum record.[19]

Cesar Montano ran for a senate position under the Lakas Partylist in the 2007 elections and lost.[20] On May 19, 2009, he was appointed by then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as her Presidential Special Envoy for Film and Digital Cinema, a newly created position accorded ambassador rank and given diplomatic status by the Department of Foreign Affairs.[21][22] He then again attempted to be involved in politics on October 13, 2009, when he filed his candidacy for governor in his home province Bohol. He lost the 2010 local election for the governor position.[23]