If you ask me about chocolates for the holiday season, I would say that the best place to buy them would be the Duty Free Philipppine�s Chocovillage which sells the finest brands of sweet treats in the world like Tobleron, Lindts, Hershey, Cadbury, etcetera. With regards though to where people could see the finest young talents being developed, I would have to point to ABS-CBN�s Star Magic or formerly known as the network�s Talent Center.

    It has since its onset produced quite a handful of talented movie and TV actors and actresses. And despite being castigated by the public or critics alike for not having enough venues to showcase the talents they regularly harvest from society, the names they have made in showbiz are more than ample enough to serve as inspirations for the youngsters of today.

    In the forthcoming Metro Manila Film Festival, a number of Star Magic�s actors are in different official movie entries which gave suitable avenues for them to display their knack for acting. The Star Magic talents include John Pratts who�s in MAQ�s "Mano Po 3" with Patrick Garcia, Carlo Aquino and Angelica Panganiban. Danilo Barrios is in VIVA Films� "Lastikman," Kristine Hermosa in OctoArts Films� "Enteng Kabisote: Okey Ka Fairy Ko, The Legend" and Marvin Agustin, Rica Peralejo and Jill Yulo in Canary Films� "Spirit of the Glass."

    For 20-year-old John Pratts, becoming part of "Mano Po 3" is a very much welcomed move in his career.

    "I missed doing movies so much! I did �Batang X� and �Roller Boys� 10 years ago tapos ngayon ulit and I�m doing it under Mother Lily again. Wow, sobrang maalaga talaga siya. I remember when we were doing �Batang X� lagi niya kaming pinapakain sa McDonald�s niya. Super malambing siya," smiled John.

    More than working again for Mother Lily, he added that the bigness of the "Mano Po" project was what flattered and overwhelmed him when he was cast in it. He plays the young Paul Yang (played by Jay Manalo later on in the film) who is so much in love with Lilia (the younger version played by Angelica Panganiban). Unfortunately, Lilia is in love with Paul�s best friend Michael who is portrayed by Carlo Aquino.

    "My character is the very outgoing type and I�m very happy go lucky too. Wala akong pakialam sa buhay at mayabang," he described his role.

    He added that he was able to relate to Paul Yang�s heartaches as he too fell for a girl who was in love with his best friend.

    Another aspect of "Mano Po 3" that excited him was that it required more from his dramatic talents than his so-called cute and boyish looks. Compared to the past movies he has made, the said film deviated him from bubblegum roles or youth-oriented movie themes.

    Aside from the first two films mentioned above, John has done a number of TV and movie projects like "Gimik," "Trip," "Jologs," "Berks," "My First Romance" and "It Might Be You."

    "Ang hirap kasi simula 13 years old pa lang ako, regarding the youth na ang mga ginagawa kong roles," he lamented.

    At the moment, his stint in "Mano Po 3" is also focused on his individuality as he takes a break from his love tandem with 16-year-old Maja Salvador when they did the TV series "It Might Be You."

    "Okay lang na may love team and walang problema sa akin yun. But it would be nice na you can work and stand alone. That will also be an advantage."

    One of the perils of having a love team as he experienced with his team-up with Heart Evangelista was the risk of losing the closeness and the tandem as they mature in the business.

    "Sobrang nakakahinayang. For four years we were there for each other. Nag-aalagaan kami pero may parameters kami. We were not in a situation na sobrang boyfriend-girlfriend," the actor shared.

While he doesn�t have a love team, he would like to do more movies in the future. The kind of films he has in mind are those like "Muro Ami" and "Bagong Buwan." He would like to do more experimental roles than formulaic ones. Actors like Tom Cruise, Al Pacino and Robert de Niro inspire him to do those roles if given the chance.

He admits to being only 5�6" in height but he is confident that his shortcoming can easily be overcome by his acting talent!

"Never naging issue sa akin ang height ko. Kasi ever since naman naging idol ko na sila Michael J. Fox or Tom Cruise. They are not that tall but if you watch them ang lalaki nilang artistang tignan!"

He intimated that his height has made him look cute and forever looking young. He is happy that women call him cute all the time. For him, he doesn�t mind if his boyish image would never change.

"I�m happy that I have a stable career...I wish I could do more movies. I love doing movies and I would like doing different kinds of movies like probably on the Abu Sayaf...there are still a lot of challenges for me in showbiz. If I play my cards right I know marami pa rin akong makukuhang magagandang roles and movie projects. Hindi na siguro joke for me and I take this seriously. I love doing this and gusto kong tuloy tuloy na ito!"

Just in case his boyish looks doesn�t take him to newer heights in showbiz, John has some fallback.

"I don�t see naman showbiz as forever. Siyempre I have other plans in showbiz like my business and yung business ng dad ko. He is into advertising and production so yun na lang ang ginagawa namin kung wala kaming ginagawa."

Going back to "Mano Po 3," John felt relieved in someway that he didn�t have to learn difficult Chinese words. For his part, he only had to learn the word "kana" that means why in English.

In his bid to reinvent himself as a movie actor, a lot can be expected from John Pratts after "Mano Po 3." He is surely a maturing actor ON THE RISE!