Entertainment

Elijah Canlas | A Rising Star in his Generation

The image is taken from Elijah Canlas IG account and in the Sinag Maynila website

The Boys Love (BL) series is popular among netizens in the Philippines after having a massive lockdown not only in the Philippines but around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The BL genre began to emerge in the Philippines during the lockdown period, perhaps as a result of the uncontrollable passions and artistry of our great local artists and perhaps because of the length of the lockdown in Metro Manila that reached up until now September 29, 2020.

May 22, 2020, when The IdeaFirst Company produced the "Gameboys" series which was released on YouTube and Facebook a Boys Love (BL) series starring Kokoy de Santos and Elijah Canlas. This was followed by another BL series titled Saktristan by VinCentiments on May 31, 2020. Another BL series produced by Black Sheep| ABS-CBN Films on Jun 4, 2020, titled "Hello Stranger" which was also a big hit, and since then there have been many BL series followed due to the good reception of netizens in the said genre.

One of the outstanding and can be considered as the forerunner of the opening of the BL series genre in the Philippines is the "Gameboys" because of the excellent performance of characters, good production, timely themes, and there are many issues were opened including LGBTQIA+ which has long been fighting for their equal rights in the Philippines. They really got the attention of the audience locally and Internationally.

Now we will get to know first Elija Canlas and why he is such a great actor. I personally don't know about him since "Gameboys" started but when I see his acting skills I began to kinda like his professional work. According to interviews with him on YouTube, he was only 5 years old when he started theater school due to the influence of his mother who is also an actress and dancer in Bacolod. He was 12 years old when he studied Theater Arts at the Philippines High School for the Arts. Elijah turned 20 last August 16, 2020, and is currently studying at UP Manila with the course Philippine Arts.

Elija first appeared in the movie "Sundalong Kanin", an independent movie of Cine Lokal directed by Janice O'Hara. This is an official entry in the Cinemalaya Film Festival last 2017, but it was filmed the year 2014 reasons why he was young in that movie. He also won the Best Actor Award at the 17th Asian Film Festival for his performance as Kalel in the film "Kalel, 15" held in Rome, Italy. Apart from that, there are many other independent films that Elijah starred in, these are the following;

2016 |Sakaling Hindi Makarating | Movie |

2019 |Past Present Perfect | iWantTFC serries

2020 |Gameboys | YouTube series |

2020 |Unconditional | Cignal Play series

Upcoming Movies & Series

202* |Gameboys The Movie | Movie

2020 |How to Die Young in Manila| Movie | Busan International Film Festival Entry

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