Joshua: The next big thing?

In January of last year, it was announced that Joshua Garcia would be part of the teleserye Born

for You (the show ended November). But when the cast assembled for a promo shoot a few months later, the

Pinoy Big Brother All In ex-housemate was nowhere to be found. It turned out he had been dropped from the show.

But Joshua took it in stride. He believed that something else would eventually come his way. After all, when God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.

In Joshua’s case, the window that opened for him turned out to be an offer to play Dimples Romana’s teenage son in another teleserye, the family drama titled The Greatest Love. He was so happy to get another chance to return to television that he accepted the offer right away. The Greatest Love revolves around the Alegre family, whose long-suffering matriarch Gloria (played by veteran actress Sylvia Sanchez) develops dementia. As her memory starts to fade, she reaches out to her children Amanda, Andre, Paeng and Lizelle (played by Dimples, Matt Evans, Arron Villaflor and Andi Eigenmann, respectively) and attempts to mend fences with them — particularly with Amanda, because Gloria’s relationship with her eldest daughter is stormy at best — before it’s too late.

As Gloria’s loving grandson, Joshua’s character “Z” is one of the few members of the Alegre family who has a decent relationship with her. “I am closer to my lola (played by Sylvia) than I am to my mother (played by Dimples). She’s a very cool lola. I teach her how to use social media apps like Facebook,

Facetime and Viber. That is how we bond together,” Joshua shares.

Joshua knows a thing or two about emotional reunions between mothers and their children. While Joshua was in the Pinoy Big Brother house in the summer of 2014, he was reunited with his mother Fe after completing a task. Big Brother made the reunion possible after Joshua had a tearful conversation with him on Mother’s Day, admitting that he grew up feeling lonely and neglected because Fe was never around.

Fe asked for some time with Joshua to clarify things. When her request was granted, she finally told him the truth about his childhood. Joshua’s parents separated when he was very young. Fe raised him until he was five years old, at which point she sent him to live with relatives in Batangas, only because she couldn’t afford to send him to school. It was very hard for Fe to give him up, but she did it so he could have a good life — a better one than she could give him, anyway.

Joshua may have been tagged as a lazy boy during his stint as a housemate, but when he formally joined showbiz upon returning to the outside world, he turned over a new leaf. When he was cast in the afternoon show Nasaan Ka Ng Kailangan Kita, he worked hard and earned a Best New Male TV Personality nomination in the 2015 PMPC Star Awards for TV for his efforts. He also proved his versatility as an actor when he appeared on an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya as a gay man who fell in love with a woman.“It is one of my favorite projects,” he says. (He was also part of the 2016 Metro Manila Filmfest entry Vince & Kath & James.)

Joshua has learned many things since he joined showbiz, like hard work and patience will get you somewhere.