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MANILA -- Although he may not be aware about it, film, TV and theater singer-actor Markki Stroem has inevitably become the center of fantasy of the gay community.

“It’s all about how you tell the story and share it with the community,” Stroem told ABS-CBN News. “Especially Pride Month is coming up this June.

“For so many years, films focused on central male and female characters only. It’s very important to access every kind of human being, whether they be gay, lesbian, trans, poly-amorous.

“What’s amazing about Vivamax and Vivamax Plus, they are able to really focus and create really different content that suits different kinds of people which will segment the market further."

Stroem headlines Vivamax’s new, nine-part series, “Love at the End of the World” megged by Shandii Bacolod. The drama tackles a rare apocalyptic plot and yet displays the eroticism of a BL (boy’s love) series.

In his 12 years in the entertainment industry, Stroem, who’s Filipino-Norwegian, never limited himself to just one aspect of performing. He acts onstage, television, and film.

“A lot of people want to focus on just one thing, one route in their life to succeed,” asserted the 35-year-old Stroem. “My goal isn’t really monetary gain, fame and success in that aspect. Mine is more of doing what I love to do on a regular basis.

“I love to entertain. I’m an entertainer by profession. From 6 to 10 a.m., I wake up at 5 a.m. just to be on ‘The Morning Rush’ with Chico [Garcia] and Hazel [Aguilon] on Monster RX 93.1.

“In the afternoons, I work on my underwear line, which I will be launching in GenSan in a big pageant. I focus on so many phases of my life and different parts of everything on the street. I learn from each part and apply it in different aspects.”

Stroem started as a singer and joined ABS-CBN’s reality-talent competition “Pilipinas Got Talent” in 2011.

“I love to entertain, but every year, you need to grow,” he reasoned out. “You need to evolve. You need to find something that will make you happy.”

Because of his ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-Activity Disorder), Stroem is aware how he needs to “diversify” in his career.

“May ginawa akong play na ‘Hair’ [for Repertory Philippines], hubo’t hubad kami sa stage,” Stroem unabashedly shared. “At the end of the day, all of those things, it’s just part of the role for me.

“In that situation, we did not only become part of the scene, but also part of the growth, understanding and mental health awareness of a lot of the people in the community.

“From being an actor in a TV series, maybe I’ll do a drag queen role. I’m doing another one for Vivamax, ‘Virgin Forest’ with director Brillante Mendoza. I’m a serial rapist. Then I also did two films with foreign directors. It was such so much fun doing that.

“I will also go onstage. I will do the first Filipino musical to be staged at Samsung Hall in a few months. Wholesome 1940 role. I like keeping busy. I don’t want to have a life basically. [laughed]

“So when I focus on doing something, I really work my hardest. I do the best that I can to the highest potential that I can to be able to create my character.”

He also wants to change his looks consistently. “I like to change my looks to fit how I look like in the next role,” he said. “In ‘Love at the End of the World’ ang haba ng hair ko. Sa next character ko, more on matinee-heartthrob-ish role.

“Gusto ko kasi, binabali ko. Like hindi mo alam kung ano mangyayari next and after that. Which is what I want to build for myself as an actor. That is my goal in my life as an actor. I’m happy that the BL genre helped.”

Admittedly, Stroem’s ADHD was a “detriment” when he was starting his career more than a decade ago.

“I couldn’t focus then, pero dahil love ko ang ginagawa ko, it’s something that you can train on a regular basis,” he explained. “Ako I had to get my script in advance every day. Babasahin ko ‘yun.

“Na-trauma din kasi ako dati. After many years of experience, it has become so much easier now to memorize things. At the end of the day, ADHD became my superpower.

“Sometimes, you see ADHD as something that would be a detriment to you. But if you look at some of your downfalls, some of your strengths, you can use it to your advantage.”

Stroem refuses to be seen by people as someone who’s the best at what he does. “That’s what a character actor does,” he said. “He weaves into different characters, but sometimes, people forget he was ever in the previous one.

“Magaling pala ‘yan. You reach that point of success. They just remember you for that role. It’s hard to find other roles to play. I never want to retire. I want to act until I’m 90. Literally, that is my goal.”

Stroem was seen in films like Giselle Andres’ “I Love You, Hater” (2018), Manny Palo’s “Halik sa Hangin” (2015), Joyce Bernal’s “1,000 Hours” (2013) and Emmanuel de la Cruz’s “Slumber Party” (2011), among others.

Is there something that he will not do? “There’s one thing that I will not do, not because I can’t do it, but because it was like a promise to director Bobby Garcia, the first time I will do full frontal will be with him,” Stroem revealed.

“That will be part of ‘Angels in America, Part 2.’ I don’t know if that’s going to happen anytime soon. But it’s something that I kind of reserved for that particular play.

“For me, essentially when it comes to that, I have ‘tried’ in my career. I don’t have any scandal. I don’t have anything no one has ever seen. But that section [referring to his private part], no one has ever seen it.

“That’s what makes people interested because they’ve never seen it. No one has actually seen me fully naked yet, even though I’m always, in partial points in my career, done so many daring roles.”