Jhett Tolentino: Hailing from the slums of Iloilo, he conquers Broadway to win a Grammy and 3 Tony awards

Jhett Tolentino: Hailing from the slums of Iloilo, he conquers Broadway to win a Grammy and 3 Tony awards

Jhett Tolentino at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga on Oct. 10.

By Michelle Chermaine Ramos

Grammy and Tony award-winning Broadway producer, Jhett Tolentino visited Toronto for a private screening of “Life is What You Make It”, an autobiographical short film he wrote, directed and produced.
The film documents his triumphant return to the Philippines in 2015 after being away for 13 years. It is a story of a little boy who grew up with no running water in the slums of Iloilo, who despite poverty, took his education into his own hands and faced all adversity to rise to the heights of Broadway.

The film follows him as he experiences emotional reunions with the people who have touched his life in his hometown where he is welcomed as a hero. His success shines as a beacon of pride and hope for impoverished youth to be resourceful and to rise above their circumstances to pursue greatness. After graduating from elementary school, his parents told him that he would have to wait until his older siblings were done with their schooling before they would be able to afford to enrol him in high school. Undeterred, Tolentino knew he was too smart to postpone his education so he decided to take matters into his own hands by looking for a scholarship. Fortunately, he managed to earn a scholarship promoted by the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish, which was funded by the Meguko Society, a charitable student organization at the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo, which raises scholarship funds for indigenous children in India and the Philippines.

Three-time Tony and Grammy award winner Broadway producer Jhett Tolentino brought his Grammy and Tony trophies for guests to take pictures with during a meet and greet after his talk on Oct. 8 at World Financial Group.
(PHOTOS: M. RAMOS)

The scholarship only covered high school tuition and upon graduation, Tolentino still needed financial assistance to go to university. He pleaded his case with the Meguko Society who granted his request and gave him a university scholarship enabling him to earn an Accounting degree from the University of Iloilo.

When asked about one of the biggest lessons he learned on his journey, Tolentino says, “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know the answer. The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.”

Tolentino openly answered questions from the audience during the meet and greet sessions at his talks at the World Financial Group head office on October 8 and at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga on October 10, 2017. Guests got a peek of a trailer of his current project, “Here Lies Love”, directed by Alex Timbers, a disco musical production based on Imelda Marcos’s life. However, what really got them most excited was an opportunity to personally chat with Tolentino and pose with his Grammy and Tony Awards after the presentation.

Tolentino won his first Tony Award for Best Play in 2013 for “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”, which he co-produced. More Tony Awards followed for the musicals he co-produced in 2014 including Best Musical for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” and Best Revival of a Play for “A Raisin in the Sun.” His most recent big victory is in February 2017 when he won his first Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his production of “The Color Purple” in 2016.

He is recognized as an inspiring role model and celebrated for the honor he has given his home country on the international stage. In 2014, he was awarded as one of the Outstanding Filipino Americans for Entertainment by The Outstanding Filipino Americans-New York. In 2016, he was awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women of the Philippines by the Junior Chamber International-Philippines at Malacañang Palace in Manila.

Despite his phenomenal success, Tolentino says he is no slumdog millionaire, as success did not come instantly for him. He scraped and worked hard for many years, holding down six jobs at one point of his life that has known many twists and turns and career changes, to be where he is now.

Grateful for the generosity of the strangers whose donations helped him complete his education, Tolentino visited the Meguko Society in Tokyo to personally thank them for the opportunity they gave him that led him to his success. He is currently working on building his own charitable foundation modelled after the Meguko society’s mission to raise scholarship funds to help young people in need through corporate donations and fundraising drives such as concerts and student group coffee money collections where spare change that students would have spent on coffee in a week is donated to the fundraiser. “Essentially, I was educated on spare change,” he explains, emphasizing the major impact of how every little bit of change adds up to help greatly impact someone’s life.

Jhett Tolentino (left) at lunch with community leader Agnes Miranda and friends celebrating her birthday in a Mississauga restaurant prior to the private screening of ‘Life is What You Make It’ that evening at the World Financial Group head office. (Photos provided)

Jhett Tolentino with Agnes Miranda and the WFG team and friends enjoying a midnight snack on October 8.