Franz Patrick Velasco Garcia was born on September 14, 1981, to an American dad and Filipina mom. He is the youngest in the brood of three. Show business seems to be in their blood. First of all, he has Bunny Paras and Sharmaine Arnaiz as his cousins. Both his siblings, Cheska and Pichon, are into modeling. Thus, it’s not easy for Patrick to follow suit.
Patrick was one of the actors launched as a Star Circle member and
Ang TV kid. Like any other ABS-CBN talent, they were given workshops and proper training in the areas of hosting, modeling, singing, dancing, and acting. Patrick excelled in the last two. So intense was his portrayal, as one can probably see in his eyes, that he landed a meaty role in
Separada, where he played a young son caught in the middle of a custody battle of his parents, played by
Edu Manzano and
Maricel Soriano . Since then he was typecast as a child who’s always confused about his life, which worked pretty well for him as he can simply base it on his own experience. When he was 12, his parents decided to separate.
But it was his role in
Batang PX in 1997 that catapulted him to one of the most promising young stars and, in fact, made him the youngest actor to garner the Best Actor award in Star Awards. Who could forget how he, an Amboy, fought to find his father while trying to protect his mother against the cruelties brought by loving?
Luckily, Patrick was given a chance to venture into a number of off-beat roles such as in the movies
Rollerboys,
Nagbibinata,
Asero,
Araw-Araw Gabi-Gabi,
Ang TV the Movie, and
Biyudo si Daddy/Biyuda si Mommy, to name a few. He was also a regular cast of a very successful youth-oriented show
Gimik, where he acted alongside
Diether Ocampo ,
G Toengi, and
Jolina Magdangal.
But show business can either make or break you, and Patrick was almost cut off from the rest of the entertainment world. He was already growing up, but there were fewer roles. Worse, there were new faces coming in. Slowly, Patrick was placed into oblivion.
Nevertheless, Patrick tried to make use of his time to go back to studies as well as invest his money in a string of businesses, which by now are doing really well. He also explored different kinds of hobbies like motocross. This continued on until he received a surprising offer from ABS-CBN’s archrival GMA-7.
It was
Captain Barbell that gave him a new lease in his acting life as he played the role of Levi, best friend of turned enemy of Captain Barbell, played by
Richard Gutierrez . Playing second role was also not an issue as he was after for the character and his second chance to do what he loved most.
Indeed, Patrick is no longer a good boy but a better man, who’s set out to prove to everyone that at 25, he still has a lot to give. Not even his ladylove
Jennylyn Mercado can deter him from achieving his goals.
