Esnyr reveals how kababayan KZ Tandingan inspired his showbiz dream

July 19 ------ As one of the loud and proud Bisaya celebrities in the local entertainment scene at present, for sure, many Bisdaks out there take pride in sensational content creator-turned-budding actor Esnyr Ranollo after being named as the 3rd Big Placer in “Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Collab Edition,” alongside his last duo partner and fellow Bisaya, up-and-coming Kapuso star Charlie Fleming.

In an episode of “Kuan On One,” he shared a light moment with host Melai Cantiveros as he looked back on his simple yet vibrant life in Digos City, Davao del Sur, and how he began his journey in content creation.

Esnyr on having supportive parents, being inspired by KZ

He began by divulging where he got his very unique name, which is actually his biological name. According to him, it was his creative, talented, and amazing MAPEH teacher-father, Mr. Marcelino Ranollo Jr., who gave him that name, which was derived from “snare drum,” since he teaches band members of their school how to play musical instruments. And it indeed resonated with his personality since he admitted to being loud like a drum.

It helped him a lot that his parents were both teachers because, aside from being supportive and influential in his creative pursuits, he didn’t have a hard time finding costumes for his skits, too, during the pandemic, for they allowed him to just get clothes from their closet. He further imparted that he is the eldest among three children and he has two more sisters, which makes them “tres marias.”

As he mentioned that he hails from Digos City, Kuantie Melai said that Asia’s Soul Supreme KZ Tandingan is also from there, prompting him to relay that he was actually inspired by her after she won “X Factor Philippines” in 2012. With how their city really embraced her, he took it as motivation for him to seemingly dream big and to pursue his dream of breaking into the local entertainment scene. They had never seen each other there or even here in Manila, so he’s been looking forward to finally seeing her in person soon.

Since his parents couldn’t afford his dream of becoming an anesthesiologist and sending him to a private university, Esnyr heeded his parents’ advice for him to look for a state university that fit their family’s budget, as well as decided to continue his father’s dream of becoming a petroleum engineer. He tried his luck at Palawan State University and was among the 100 aspirants who passed the entrance exam. However, he didn’t get the chance to go to Palawan and to achieve his dream of living on his own since the classes were held online during the pandemic.

Esnyr on being gay since he was a kid

When Kuantie Melai quizzed him about what he was like as a kid, Esnyr said that he already knew that he was gay ever since he was young. Growing up, he was surrounded by girls since, aside from having two younger sisters, with whom he would play dollhouse when they were still kids, most of his classmates were also girls. Thus, he implied that it was inevitable for him to not be sort of influenced by them.

Unlike other members of the LGBTQIA+ community who had to go through the dreaded “coming out” or “gender reveal” part of their journey, Esnyr conveyed how grateful he was that he didn’t have to experience that since his parents have been so supportive of him. “Napansin na rin nila Mama dahil mula Grade 1 hanggang Grade 6, always akong ipinupuwesto sa gitna kapag field demo. Ako ‘yong kumekembot. May partner pa ako na babae pero ayokong magpatalo sa kanya kaya kumekembot din ako,” he recounted in Bisaya. “Wala nang nagawa si Papa. Sayang kasi ako sana ang ‘last man standing’ ng pamilya namin. Ako sana ang magdadala ng pangalang Ranollo.”

As Kuantie Melai asked him how his experiences growing up had helped him pull off moving to a city like Manila without getting affected by all the bashing, he went on to open up about how hard it is actually to grow up gay. “Alam mo, Kuantie Mels, mahirap ang lumaking bakla dahil may pressure kasi iba ka. Kailangan mo mag-excel sa lahat ng bagay, [gaya] sa academics. Parang innate na sa amin na iba ang pagtingin ng mga tao sa amin. Hindi namin gusto na hanggang doon lang ang tingin ninyo sa amin,” he said. Then he added, “Kaya nagsumikap talaga ako mula elementary sa academics at lahat ng extracurricular activities ay sinalihan ko…Sinalihan ko lahat kaya siguro na-hone ko ang skills ko. Nagkaroon ako ng kumpyansa, and that molded me into who I am today.”

Esnyr on how his experiences as a student inspired his trending skits

With Kuantie Melai veering their conversation to his life way back in his student days, Esnyr shared that being able to study at a public school from Grade 7 to Grade 10 and then at a private school in senior high school indeed brought him different life and academic experiences, which inspired the videos and skits that he has been uploading on social media.

He may have spent much of his life as a student in public school, but it was during his time in private school when his skills as a “social climber” were put to the test. Since his classmates then were so-called “rich kids,” he felt the need to keep up with them. So, in order to earn extra money, he offered them his editing services in exchange for 800 pesos. There were even times when he was compelled to cut classes since he had to finish his side hustle first, but he made sure to keep his academics balanced.

Esnyr also tried selling graham balls, especially to elementary pupils, and used a portion of his earnings to buy milk tea after school, as his classmates would invite him to hang out and eat out with them upon their class dismissal. He conveyed, “Masaya ako na naging ‘social climber’ ako dahil ‘yon ang nagturo sa akin na hindi sumuko. To strive more, to dream big.”

With regard to how he came up with the idea of creating school-inspired content, he recalled that it actually started with a video of him and his barkada doing a trending dance challenge uploaded on his social media that had gone viral during the pandemic. As people around him and many of his followers found him funny, he was told to try posting videos on TikTok, which he did, and started to share videos every day.

As he ran out of content ideas, he drew inspiration from the conversation of his classmates in their group chat, wherein they expressed how much they missed having petty fights with their batchmates from other sections. So, he thought to turn them into a skit and immediately filmed his first skit despite the lack of props, which had amassed 500,000 views hours after it was uploaded. “Simula noon, araw-araw gumawa na ako ng school content hanggang sa nag-elevate na. Nasanay na ako na two weeks straight kapag gumigising ako sa umaga ay may 1 million ‘likes’ na ang post ko. Kaya sabi ko, ‘Ah, okay. Baka ito talaga ang para sa akin,’” Esnyr related, and went on to share that all of the arcs and stories featured in his skits were based on his own experiences.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com