Derek Ramsay

Biography

Derek Arthur Ramsay Jr. (born December 7, 1976) is a Filipino model, actor, and television host. He had an exclusive contract with GMA Network. In 2022, Ramsay froze his contract with GMA Network. Since then, he has been inactive in show business to focus on his personal life.

== Early life and education == Derek Arthur Ramsay Jr. was born on December 7, 1976, in Enfield, England, and he was raised in Cainta, Rizal, Philippines. His Filipina mother, Remedios Paggao, was the head of the housekeeping unit of 11 Cadogan Gardens in London, and his British father, Derek Arthur Ramsay Sr., was an inspector for the Metropolitan Police Service stationed at Scotland Yard. He was educated in the Philippines at Maria Montessori High School and at a boarding school in England. He studied for an undergraduate degree in marketing in New Hampshire and Boston.

== Career ==

=== Modelling === Early in the 2000s, Ramsay found work as an MTV VJ, a model, as well as TV commercial actor.

=== Television and film === Ramsay first came into wider public attention in Eat Bulaga! as a co-host of the segment Pool Watch from 2001 to 2004 on GMA Network. In April 2012, he signed a three-year contract and transferred to TV5. His first show on TV5 was The Amazing Race Philippines, which he hosted. After his contract expired in February 2015, he signed another three-year contract with TV5 on 28 April 2015. After months of speculations about network transfer, Ramsay returned to GMA Network and signed a five-year exclusive contract with the network on 3 April 2019. He started in the network as a co-host of Eat Bulaga! from 2001 to 2004. His first comeback Kapuso project was The Better Woman that garnered high ratings aired in 2019. In 2020, he was supposed to topbill a project Kapuso project entitled Sanggang Dikit, however, because of the pandemic, the production was halted. In 2022, he received an offer to do with To Love and To Hold, but he declined the role due to lock-in taping. In December 2021, Ramsey and GMA Network have agreed that the actor would take an "indefinite leave" and "freeze the contract" from showbiz to attend to "personal matters and family".

=== Sports ===

==== Basketball ==== Ramsay also played basketball competitively. In 2004, he played for the Toyota Otis–Letran Knights in the now-defunct Philippine Basketball League. He made his return to the sport, after joining the Batangas City Athletics of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) for the 2019–20 MPBL Lakan Season. He debuted for the team in Batangas' 80–67 win against the Caloocan Supremos in July 2019.

==== Beach soccer ==== Ramsay is currently the head ambassador of the Philippine national beach soccer team, and was set to participate in the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Asian qualifiers, but ultimately did not because of his commitment to Kidlat, where he played the lead role.