Arzen Rose Dulzura

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Neumann talks about the lowest point in his career: ‘I’m recovering from my dad bod’

Article (news)

Rhea Manila Santos

Push Team

<p>After being announced as one of the cast members of <em>Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sayo</em>, actor Mark Neumann is excited to get the chance to work on a project with director Ceasar Soriano for the first time. The film is an upcoming &nbsp;character-driven military thriller which focuses on the lives of four Philippine Marines and also stars McCoy de Leon, Mon Confiado, Ahron Villena, and Gold Aceron.</p><p>&ldquo;Actually, me and direk Ceasar have been talking about it for a few months. Just a brief conversation regarding this project. This is our first time officially working together in terms of a movie project. because when I was living in Cebu, Chris Leonardo invited me to the In Thy Name premiere. He wanted me to meet direk Chris in case may opportunity for work or something. He brought me there and then that&rsquo;s where I introduced myself and we had a conversation about this. He mentioned there that in case there will be future projects or movies, he can contact me,&rdquo; Mark shared with <strong>PUSH ABS-CBN</strong> in an exclusive interview.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/2017/12/7/fresh-scoops/exclusive-mark-neumann-on-his-humble-beginnings-82542"><strong><u>READ: EXCLUSIVE: Mark Neumann on his humble beginnings: &lsquo;Naging factory worker ako&rsquo;</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><p>Mark returned to acting last year with the series <em>What Lies Beneath</em>. &nbsp;He was previously part of the cast of the 2017 ABS-CBN fantasy drama <em>La Luna Sangre</em> and the 2019 iWant series <em>Mga Batang Poz</em>, as well as the film <em>Beyond The Call of Duty</em>. It was in 2019 when Mark took a step back from the limelight and focused on becoming a father to his seven-year-old son Martin Zacharias, who he co-parents with his non-showbiz ex-girlfriend.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a cool, strict, tough love dad. I&rsquo;m not so gentle parenting kasi I want my son to be as respectful as possible to others. And I want him not to cause any trouble. But at the same time, I&rsquo;m giving him space to express himself, to explore. Of course, I came from a very strict background so I&rsquo;m upgrading my parenting to make it fit for him, basically. So whatever I see that didn&rsquo;t work for me and gave me negative effects as I grew older, I fix that. So I can upgrade my father&rsquo;s parenting to turn it into my parenting to give it to my son,&rdquo; he explained.&nbsp;</p><p>Mark revealed that making the decision to go back to showbiz has been challenging that he considers it one of the lowest points in his career. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s kind of now kasi I was gone for six-seven years. And at the same time, I&rsquo;m not really much into social media. I try but somehow I never really adapted to it ever since I was in my prime years. Medyo malakas pa talaga ang TV nun. Wala pang streaming. So everything really was all on TV. So now is actually my struggling part because in showbiz, six or seven years is really a long time, especially if you&rsquo;re not active in social media. So parang napagiwanan ka na ng panahon. And now I&rsquo;m just slowly just creeping back in. So I think it&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2025/6/15/exclusive-mark-neumann-on-what-fatherhood-taught-him-about-himself-patience-was-stretched-a-lot-1309"><strong><u>READ: EXCLUSIVE: Mark Neumann on what fatherhood taught him about himself: &lsquo;Patience was stretched a lot&rsquo;</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><p>At 32, Mark has also been trying to get into shape after being in dad mode for the past couple of years. &ldquo;I just started again working out so I&rsquo;m recovering from my dad bod now (laughs) It may sound unbelievable but it was. But not naman super big. But really different lang from before. I was really out of shape, I would say, from my former status. Why would I workout ba if I&rsquo;m just taking care of my son, di ba? So I really lost all my muscles, my belly got round, my cheeks rounded a little bit. So now I&rsquo;ve been back working out for a few weeks. Basta before, I was really fit already. So I&rsquo;m basically waking up my body to be fit again. So I&rsquo;m not starting from zero. It will be quicker this time. Give me a few months,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2025/10/3/mark-neumann-shares-why-he-returned-to-acting-this-one-is-just-really-different-for-me-1452"><strong><u>READ: Mark Neumann shares why he returned to acting: &lsquo;This one is just really different for me&rsquo;</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><p>In a previous interview, Mark shared how he did not have a hard time adjusting to doing regular jobs outside of showbiz. Since becoming a father, he has taken on a variety of jobs including being a chief of operations manager for a restaurant caf&eacute;.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;I had humble beginnings before bago ako naging artista. Breadwinner ako, naging factory worker ako, warehouse cleaner, and newspaper boy. For me work is work. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if you are bida, supporting cast, kontrabida. Ang sa akin kasi the opportunity to work is something for me to get to experience something new,&rdquo; he told PUSH-ABS-CBN.</p><p>The <em>Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sayo</em> cast member also shared how he explained to his son about his job as an actor. &ldquo;He saw me in <em>What Lies Beneath</em>. He said, &lsquo;Papa, I saw you fighting with a woman in the video.&rsquo; I said it was just a story, it was just pretending. I&rsquo;m co-parenting, me and his mother parted ways three years ago. It was a mutual decision. She is non-showbiz.&rdquo;</p><p>After going through different phases in his life in and outside showbiz, Mark said he has no regrets with the decisions he has made since becoming a father and going back to his acting career.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;Well, one thing I wish I knew then really never happened kasi you would need to go through that process to reach where you are now. You really won&rsquo;t be able to know everything when you&rsquo;re still young eh and exploring yourself. So I would just tell my younger self to probably just go and explore more. Parang hang out with different groups of people with different backgrounds, parang ganun. But when it comes to knowing more, it will just come with time. You can&rsquo;t really pressure it. With handling bashers naman, For me, wala eh. Probably as you get older, parang nawawalan ka na ng pakialam sa kanila (laughs). Honestly. Kasi for one, they&rsquo;re not the one bringing bread on your table. So just let them talk. What&rsquo;s done is done. Just keep moving and do good, do better this time. And really appreciate what you have,&rdquo; he explained. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sayo actor Mark Neumann shares with PUSH ABS-CBN how fatherhood changed his life and how he looks forward to slowly reviving his acting career this year.</p>

Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sayo actor Mark Neumann shares with PUSH ABS-CBN how fatherhood changed his life and how he looks forward to slowly reviving his acting career this year.