Alex Castro: are you the next big star?

GMA's Are You The Next Big Star? announced last Saturday the 8 boys and 8 girls to form part of its Circle of 16 Finalists. And four of the selected Top 16 finalists are very familiar (at least to me).

One of them is 23-year-old Alex Castro from Bulacan (right photo), who was first introduced in showbiz as the ex-boyfriend of Wendy Valdez during the latter's stint on ABS-CBN's Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 1.

Alex already appeared in four movies last year such as My Bestfriend's Girlfriend, One True Love, Desperadas 2 and Manay Po 2: Overload, his biggest break so far. (Check out more of Alex Castro here and here.)

Now he tries his luck as a contestant in Are You The Next Big Star? Will he finally be the next big star?

Another familiar face among the male finalists is Search for the Star in a Million Season 2 6th placer Jay Perillo. He also had short roles on ABS-CBN's Bituing Walang Ningning and Ysabella as well as in the indie film Ang Lihim ni Antonio.

I also easily recognized Atenista and Livin' It Up videojock Greggy Santos, who's very goodlooking on TV, Palmolive Shining Circle of 10 2008 2nd Runner Up Christine Marie Allado, Chariz Solomon's younger brother Bobby Solomon and Pinoy Dream Academy Season 1 ex-scholar Geoff Taylor (left photo), who also had his acting debut on ABS-CBN's Super Inggo.

Circle of 16:
Jay Perillo, 20, Tondo, Manila
Camille Cortez, 19, Antipolo City
PJ Gonzalez, 18, Pasay City
Alex Castro, 23, Bulacan
Alexa Ortega , 19, Quezon City
Cara Quiapos, 17, Batangas
Frencheska Farr, 16, Las Pinas City
Anton Cruz, 16, Quezon City
Shane Tarun, 16, Isabela
Geoff Taylor, 23, Cagayan Valley
Rachel Gabreza, 16, Cebu City
Justin Francis, 19, San Francisco, California
Zyrene Parsad, 23, Las Pinas City
Greggy Santos, 22, Quezon City
Bobby Solomon, 17, Pasay City
Christine Allado, 18, Quezon City

Are You Next Big Star is hosted by Regine Velasquez and Keempee de Leon and airs every Saturday after Pinoy Records on GMA 7.