Daniel Kenji Silva Matsunaga (born November 28, 1988) is a Brazilian model, actor, professional footballer, host and businessman. He became known in the Philippines by appearing in ''Cosmopolitan Philippines''’ September 2009 "Cosmo Men" supplement. He was scouted in the Philippines as an actor and was first given TV drama projects on

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

. He also joined

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

's reality TV show '' Pinoy Big Brother'' and was declared as the PBB All-In big winner in 2014. As a footballer he has played for Team Socceroo, Pachanga and Kaya in the United Football League (UFL) which was the top-flight football league in the Philippines during its existence. He will play for Maharlika Manila in the Philippines Football League starting the 2020 season.

Early life

Matsunaga was born in Brasilia, the capital of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. His mother, Gerarda Silva, is a Brazilian of Portuguese, African, and Indigenous descent, while his father, Paulo Mitsuo Matsunaga, is a

Japanese Brazilian , , lead=yes are Brazilian citizens who are nationals or naturals of Japanese ancestry or Japanese immigrants living in Brazil or Japanese people of Brazilian ancestry. The first group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in 1908. Brazil i ...

born and raised in

. He has a brother and a sister.

Career

Modelling and acting

Matsunaga started his career when he became a model for ''Cosmopolitan Philippines'' 'Cosmo Men' supplement. His debut series on screen was on GMA-7's top rated drama series '' The Last Prince'' with co-stars Aljur Abrenica and

Kris Bernal Kristine Ann Tan Bernal (born May 17, 1989) is a Filipino actress who became known for winning the fourth season of the reality-based talent search '' StarStruck'' of GMA Network. Bernal rose to fame as the other half in her loveteam with A ...

. In 2012, he moved to TV5 for more TV shows and projects like ''Game N Go'', ''Enchanted'' and ''Misibis Bay''. He went to

to be one of the celebrity judges for '' It's Showtime''. On 17 May 2014, Matsunaga entered the '' Pinoy Big Brother'' house on Day 21 as the fourth celebrity and eighteenth official housemate of the '' Pinoy Big Brother: All In'' season. On 24 August 2014, he was declared as the big winner of ''Pinoy Big Brother: All In''. In May 2017, Daniel Matsunaga was introduced as the first male endorser for Avon Philippines' Men's Club during the "Confidence is the New Sexy" campaign launch. He was chosen to be the endorser because he "reflects the Modern Gentleman who is a man of style, adventure, and confidence".

Football career

Matsunaga started playing football during his childhood and aspired to play for the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

before he got involved in showbiz. He played for clubs in his native Brazil as well as in Hong Kong before playing in the Philippines. In the Philippines he had played for Team Socceroo, Pachanga, and Kaya. He played in the now defunct United Football League (UFL) starting in Division 2 playing for Team Socceroo in 2011 playing with fellow model actor

Fabio Ide Fabio Ide (born December 26, 1983) is a Brazilian actor and model in Philippines. Ide is in at D'Survivors with Akihiro Sato and Daniel Matsunaga. Early life A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Fabio Ide was born on 26 December 1983 to Ana Maria I ...

. He then moved to Division 1 club Pachanga Diliman during the

2012 UFL Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, before eventually moving to Stallion for the 2013 season. For the 2014 season he moved to Kaya. In street football, he played for Team Naxional who secured qualification as the Philippine representatives at the Neymar Jr's Five Football Tournament by winning over Tondo in the final of the Philippine qualifying leg. The world final held in Brazil was contested by 53 other countries with Romania emerging as champions. Matsunaga also became involved in the

7's Football League The 7's Football League (7s FL), also known as the AIA 7's Football League due to sponsorship with insurance company AIA Philippines, is a seven-a-side football league in the Philippines. Established in 2018, the league already had four seasons. ...

as a player. He returned to domestic football, when he signed in to play with Philippines Football League newcomer Maharlika F.C. in August 2020. Although he was not part of the final lineup for the 2020 season for undisclosed reasons.

Personal life

Daniel Matsunaga is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

. He obtained

permanent residency Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...

in the Philippines in December 2014 and had expressed intention to petition for Filipino citizenship.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsunaga, Daniel 1988 births Living people Brazilian male comedians Brazilian expatriates in the Philippines Brazilian people of French descent Brazilian people of Japanese descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian people of Spanish descent Brazilian male film actors Brazilian footballers Brazilian male television actors Brazilian male models Male actors from Brasília Footballers from Brasília Star Magic Pinoy Big Brother contestants Big Brother (franchise) winners ABS-CBN personalities TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities Kaya F.C. players Team Socceroo F.C. players Stallion Laguna F.C. players Association football midfielders Male actors of Japanese descent Maharlika F.C. players