Artist, activist, and performer who has become particularly well known as the creator of the Walk This Way walking tours of Manila. Not only is the Walk This Way tour a guided historical tour of the city, it is also a performance and one-man show. He is also a well-known activist for HIV and AIDS awareness.
His interest in art began at the age of fourteen when he worked as a cartoonist for the Business Day newspaper. He then later attended the Rhode Island School of design where he first pursued a degree in illustration. After discovering an allergy to paint, however, he resolved to pursue performance art.
Early in his career, he worked as a production assistant for the internationally renowned Blue Man Group.
His father Mike was a pediatrician and named him John Charles Edward to avoid an ethnic sounding name for a potential move to the United States.
In 2012, he was detained by authorities for a controversial performance in his "Living La Vida Imelda" tour concerning an imagined conversation between Imelda Marcos and Muammar Gadhafi.