Those who have seen Zoomers Season 2 might have abhorred him for being the arrogant and vicious kontrabida Martin Geronimo, but we can also admit that it’s quite difficult to completely hate someone who’s as charming, handsome, and talented as Zach Castañeda.

And since he’s quite new in the industry and not much is known about him yet, ent.abs-cbn.com had him take on the fun “Celebrity Slambook” for us to get to know him better – from the personal stuff and his favorites, up to his “firsts” and perspective in life.

Born on November 22, 1999, Zach, whose real full name is Zachary Melendrez Castañeda, is a certified Scorpio baby. His favorite color is blue, while his favorite food is lamb, which he only gets once in a while since aside from being high in cholesterol, it’s also quite rare or expensive here in the Philippines. Despite being a Gen Z, he’s apparently an old soul, as one of his favorite artists is the British rock group The Who, with their song “Eminence Front” being his favorite at the moment.

If ever he has the money, the 24-year-old heartthrob wishes to visit his dream vacation spot, which is Northern Sweden. It’s because he likes being in the woods and going on hikes, which may be scary for others but not for him as he actually finds peace in nature.

Whenever he’s not busy with work, Zach can be found working out, playing football or basketball, or singing and playing the guitar. What a well-rounded man he is, right?

Equipped with a variety of skills and passion for what he’s doing at present, we’re certain that his ambition to “do as much as he can in this industry” and portray various roles in his next movie and/or TV projects will definitely come true. The same is likely to happen with his dream role, which is to become an action star like FPJ’s Batang Quiapo lead actor and director Coco Martin, admitting that he is actually preparing himself for it already since he feels that the time will come for him to do it.

Of course, a slambook experience wouldn’t be complete without him sharing his motto in life, how he would describe himself, and his definition of love.

His motto in life, which is “To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid,” also reflects his wisdom as a young man and his adventuresome personality. When asked to describe himself, he said that he usually comes off as intimidating to other people, especially when he’s tired, focused on something, or lost in his thoughts. Thus, he’s been trying his best not to wear his “don’t-mess-with-me face” because he realized that “it kinda affects first impressions.”

With regard to his perception of love, he strongly believes that it’s all about trust. It’s because he has observed that a lot of relationships end due to a lack of trust among couples.

We also had Zach reminisce about a few of his “firsts,” starting off with his first-ever audition experience, which was in the ongoing series Pamilya Sagrado. He recalled trying out for the role of one of the fraternity brothers of Grae Fernandez’s character, Justin Sagrado. While he already appeared in a couple of series, he mentioned that he got picked out for those roles, so he looks forward to more auditions to come because he aspires to do more characters that he’s not comfortable with or that’s out of his comfort zone.  

Meanwhile, his first fanboy moment was his personal encounter with the country’s national football team, the Philippine Azkals, when he was around 11 to 12 years old. A football player himself in his teenage years, he got starstruck the most with former professional footballers and brothers Phil and James Younghusband.

He then named his fellow Rise Artist Studio talent Anthony Jennings as his first-ever showbiz friend, and their connection further solidified when they did the iWantTFC original series “Tara G!”, which was the first-ever show they did together.

And lastly, for his showbiz role model, it would be Arjo Atayde. It’s not because he’s a politician right now, but he has also done a lot of good things for other people, as far as he knows. Besides, he’s also one of his big influences in terms of acting.

Are these fun facts about Zach got you interested with him more?