One of the stars of the hit TV series Riverdale visits Manila as Bench’s newest global endorser. Articulate and self-effacing, Cole is into food, photography and archeology, and doesn’t mind wearing a white tank top, especially when temperatures sizzle in the Metro while riding a jeepney.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Photography by Maica Frances Maglipon
Had Cole Sprouse not become an actor, he would have been happy pursuing his two other passions: photography and archeology. In fact, he had already started, finishing an undergrad degree in archeology at New York University while snapping pictures and dabbling in astronomy, until the offer to play Jughead Jones in what would become the hit TV series Riverdale came along.
Having acted in front of the cameras since he and his twin brother Dylan were preschoolers, performing is also in this 25-year-old American’s blood. He has gladly put his career in archeology on hold, including his plan to pursue graduate studies in the field, to enable him to focus on what’s in front of him. As a public figure, and an attractive one at that, endorsements also come with the territory.
Huge following
And that was what Cole, accompanied by his father Matthew Sprouse, did, as he flew to Manila last week to do a number of public appearances as Bench’s newest global endorser. Articulate and self-effacing, the first-time Manila visitor was surprised to find out how huge his following had become in this part of the world.
“I didn’t realize that wearing a tank top is not something most people do when they walk around the city,” he said to a roomful of journalists during a media conference at Makati Shangri-La’s Rizal Ballroom. “For some reason, everyone commented on the tank top. It’s not [the] normal attire?”
He was, of course, referring to his experience the day before riding a jeepney for the first time in his life wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a tank top, as he and his hosts trooped to such places as Divisoria and Poblacion in Makati in what Cole described as a “food tour.”
“I try to eat as much as possible as part of the experience,” he said. “We went to the food market yesterday and I just gluttonized myself for about an hour. I didn’t eat until nine o’clock, [after which] I gluttonized myself again.”
He found Filipinos “extremely warm,” as he compared Manila to an unnamed city he and his father previously traveled to. Cole most likely got an accurate gauge of the famous Filipino hospitality, as he visited and experienced both the real, more gritty parts of Metro Manila as well as its more luxe side.
His, what we Filipinos call, “koboy” side was plain for all to see. Such a daring, even bohemian view of life probably comes from his Southern Californian upbringing as well as his equally adventurous parents who were teaching English in Italy where he and Dylan were born.
Manila experience
Whenever Cole travels, “I try to stay away from the super curated, super polished areas. Everywhere I walked, we were greeted with hospitality that you always hope for when you travel. Mixed with the amazing food, nice, warm weather and the tank top, it’s been a great experience so far.”
But the tank top had to go this time, as Cole chose to wear a deep blue denim jacket over a white cotton tee and a pair of black denim pants, all from Bench, of course, which he himself picked hours before sharing his thoughts with journalists. He finished off the look with his own pair of black biker boots.
This young man is also proud of his “working class” roots, which he declared, “informs” most of his decision on matters as serious as his education to more mundane ones like choosing what to wear in the morning. He doesn’t buy the seeming nonchalance some people show when it comes to what they wear.
“Everyone puts effort into what they wear,” he said. “People who create the illusion that they don’t are simply lying. I think from the very moment we get up, we choose to give and interact with the world around us based on how and why we dress ourselves.”
As an entertainer, he added, a lot of his decisions with regards to fashion admittedly “involves interaction [with fans] and how [other] people perceive you.” Like most people, he also went through a period of exploration “into my personal style,” especially back in college when he was wearing probably the most “uncool” clothes that would make not a few people today “absolutely disgusted.”
Finding his style
“But I think overtime, I learned and ended up, when I found my style, more on trend and sticking to something,” Cole said.
Since it was his first time in the country, he originally planned on staying longer in the Philippines, exploring a number of islands and their beaches, but work eventually got in the way. If he could come back and stay longer next time, the island of Siquijor, which Ben Chan, Suyen Corp’s president and CEO, told him about the other day, would be on top of his bucket list.
“Ben Chan was talking about it last night—a mystical, spiritual island I’d like to visit,” he shared.
Told that there were many ghosts roaming the island, Cole seemed unperturbed: “I’m the ghost here. I walk and scare away the [real] ghost.”
His interest also involves collecting stuff not too many people his age would probably give a second thought to. When Ben learned, for instance, that his famous guest collects antique masks, he lost no time surprising Cole with a beautiful mask to add to his collection. The grateful young man made sure of acknowledging his generous host publicly.
“He showed up today with the most beautiful antique mask for me, and I was so flattered. What he didn’t know was had he just put that up for payment for the entire thing, I would have come here and stay for the rest of my life,” he said, to Ben’s and the audience’s laughter.
Romantic
If ever there was one adjective that constantly cropped up whenever Cole fielded questions, especially those that involved his love affair with photography and archeology, “romantic” was it.
Asked, for instance, why he chose a seemingly esoteric discipline like archeology, Cole had this to say: “My grandfather was a geologist. I supposed I have this kind of fascination with earth sites, which they do in geology. And I [also] also took up astronomy for a little bit. I realized that both disciplines (archeology and astronomy) allowed me to travel a little bit, and the lifestyles that came with those professions were quite romantic.”
He fell in love with archeology during one of his earlier semesters after realizing that it integrates a lot of the other disciplines he loves, including photography. Since his celebrity status didn’t count in school, Cole admitted that choosing to pursue archeology “was quite challenging and competitive.”
Growing up as a child actor with several movies, TV series and commercials to his name made him live a “sheltered” existence. College was a welcome break from all that. Life, after all, isn’t limited to movie sets and soundstages. Going to France was one of the first things Cole did once he had the chance to do some school-related travel.
“I fell in love with seeing something so much older than myself being extracted from the ground,” he said. “There was something romantic about it, which allowed me also to travel.”
Why archeology?
“I have been acting for very much of my young life,” he continued. “I realized that when I got to college, I haven’t really traveled much. I hadn’t lived my own kind of storytelling. I really had to push myself. So, archeology for me satisfied many things I was concerned with.”
Obviously, when it comes to traveling, he has yet to have his fill. Such was his thrill when Ben invited him over to come to the Philippines. But if there’s one place in the world Cole would return to time and again with his camera, it’s Northern California. He never seems to run out of inspiration while visiting the vast area.
“I think Northern California has a variety of landscapes that are different enough for me to return to and give me new inspirations,” he shared. “Places like Death Vally and the region’s pine forests are for me some of the most interesting places on earth. Northern California has some of the hottest climates on earth, one of the tallest mountains on earth, the oldest trees and biggest trees on earth…Places I find myself returning to are informed by serenity.”
Such is Cole’s awe and respect for such places, he even describes these serene landscapes as “natural chapels.” They become more beautiful and dazzling to him when contrasted against a totally “modernized world.”
