The unstoppable Tim Yap
There’s no stopping Tim Yap.
The eventologist (a term he coined and turned it into a decades-long career), host and culture mover has always been known for his great energy, even back in the aughts when he was throwing Manila’s biggest, craziest, most creative parties.
“Those parties were really meant to bring people together and give them a platform to express themselves, to interact, to give birth to ideas that made the scene move and grow. That’s what I like to do—connect people.”
His parties were unlike any the country had seen. “I would always think, what was Manila not doing and what does it need to do? I had to disrupt things.”
That’s Yap—a disruptor before disruption became a buzzword, an influencer before social media existed.
Many years later, Yap still has that same energy. No slowing down for him—in fact, he has more on his plate than ever before. His 10-year-old business Yaparazzi Events and PR continues to thrive. He hosts events. He’s always traveling. The nightlife complex he built with partners continues to grow. He runs the world’s biggest marathons. He’s making a theater comeback.
“I really love what I do. While I am alive and kicking, I want to be alive and kicking. Sayang buhay eh, alangan namang itulog ko lang ‘to. (It would be a shame to sleep my life away.)”
Life—and living it fully—remains his biggest passion, naysayers be damned.
“In my life, things happen that make me falter but I don’t let it stop me.
There have been so many circumstances where people have tried to stop me. I’ve gone through a lot, but hello, I’m still here. I never really pay attention to them. Because, you know, when I have a goal, I just go straight, straight, straight after it.”
He continued, “I realize that in anybody’s journey, there will always be people who won’t believe you, who will speak ill of you, who will downplay your successes. That’s part of it. I just use it as fuel to move forward even more.”
His latest chapter is an exciting one: a new supper club, the Sydney Marathon, and a return to his first love — theater.
Perhaps he got his resilience from his mother. “My mom is my rock. She never gives up. When I was a preteen and our house was burning, she covered my eyes and said, ‘Oh, we’re just going to transfer homes.’ We moved into a small place in Tayuman and we just kept going. She remains my inspiration through the years. She never gave up on us during the hardest times.”
Medusa
It was noon on a hot Wednesday and we were in Medusa, the supper club Yap and his partners just opened a few weeks ago. It’s quiet—it comes alive at night when dinner service starts at 5:30—but even in the daytime, the supper club is gorgeous: lush and opulent with its plush seats, velvet curtains, hand-painted murals, and tucked-away spaces.
Yap said, “I like that it transports you to another place.”
The beautiful 140-seater, which stands where The Pool Club used to be, is the newest addition to The Palace complex in Bonifacio Global City. The complex is also home to the nightclub Xylo, the luxury lounge Revel, dinner hangout and cocktail bar Yes, Please, and the Gen Z playground Clubhouse. The Palace is a venture of Yap and partners including Erik Cua, who has been with him since their early days of shaping Manila’s nightlife scene. Their long list of establishments—iconic night clubs, bars and restaurants—is guaranteed to bring back memories for the city’s seasoned partygoers: Embassy, Cuisine, Cafeteria, Encore, Members Only, Prive, Aracama, Mansion, Fever, Manor, Republiq, 71 Gramercy, among others.
Yap says Medusa is “the baby of Erik Cua and Alex Habaluyas.”
“Medusa is different because it speaks of us now. It reflects our evolving taste. We realized that all our clubs were servicing the super young. Medusa is more adult—it’s elevated dining and while you dine, there’s a DJ, there are performers.”
Chefs Lisa Revilla and David Thien Chow Kang take their culinary expertise, which they honed in Michelin-star kitchens, to Medusa. Yap said, “The steak is good, the lamb is good, the cod is good, the sando.”
But with the Medusa kitchen still closed, Yap and I headed to Chef Jessie in Rockwell for lunch and to continue our conversation. After our meal, he was off to theater rehearsals.
Full-circle moment
Theater, he said, is his first love—and this comeback feels like a full-circle moment.
Yap was 13 or 14 when he joined a Repertory Philippines workshop. “I saw the announcement in a newspaper and decided to join. My first workshop was with Monique Wilson and my scene partner was Bobby Garcia. At my first audition, I was so dazed that I walked into glass and shattered it.”
His first role was Jay Kurnitz in the Rep production of the Pulitizer- and Tony Award-winning play Lost in Yonkers. “And when there were no roles for me onstage, I was backstage. I was pushing sets, I was working front of house, I sold tickets, I sold shows, got sponsors, everything. I just wanted to be in the theater with creative people.”
As a teenager, he would skip school to join rehearsals. Yap remembered being asked to gather dead flowers for a production of The Little Shop of Horrors. “There was no budget so I would take the jeep to Dangwa and Quiapo and get flowers from the basura.”
Humble beginnings
People have this idea that Yap came from privilege. “No,” he said. “Not at all. Super humble beginnings.”
“Laking Binondo” is how he describes himself. He’s self-made—and those who know him well aren’t surprised by his success, given how hard he works.
He showed that dedication during his years in theater—both onstage and off it. “I was willing to do whatever it took just so I could be there.”
He recalled auditioning for Widows, Orphans, and Wildebeests back in 1992. “They were looking for an actor to play this teenager who was singing about his absentee father. When I first saw it, it made me cry and I said, ‘That’s my part.’ I was auditioning with Direk Freddie (Santos) every day. I started thinking that maybe the part wasn’t meant for me. I said I’ll take it as a sign—if I don’t get this part, I won’t do theater anymore.”
He didn’t get the role—or so he thought. “They gave it to JC Inocian. I went to watch the show and Direk Freddie said, ‘We’ve been looking for you. I was messaging you. I wanted you to be the alternate.’ I really thought I didn’t get the part.
But it turned out for the good because that’s when I told him that I didn’t want to be in theater anymore. I wanted to be a host.”
Santos was so supportive that he invited Yap to go to his house so he could train him. “We did it every day. He had a camera and he would tell me what to do.”
Yap would become a successful host, hosting everything from parties and other big events to TV shows. But the acting never left him. His love for the stage manifested in other ways—it’s the reason his parties are so theatrical, he said. “Audie Gemora would see me and say, ‘Ito nakatakas sa theater.’”
Well, now he’s back. Yap, whose stage credits include Grease, Ballet Philippines’ Darna and Peter and the Wolf, is part of 9 Works Theatrical’s musica, The Bodyguard, which opens Sept. 26 at Rockwell’s Proscenium Theater. “And guess who my photographer was at my photo shoot for The Bodyguard? JC Inocian, the guy who got the part I wanted so many years ago. Full-circle talaga.”
The timing felt right. “Last year, I said, ‘I think I will do theater next year.’ And then 9 Works called. I said, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ I had to cut trips, I had to cut my marathon schedule, I cut Fashion Week, I said no to so many events and projects just to do it.”
He’s been enjoying theater life. “I’m in heaven. I’m with the most down-to- earth, appreciative, supportive, kindest and most talented people ever. Simple joys, no ego, just really good, amazing human beings.”
He plays publicist Sy Spector in The Bodyguard. Yap calls him “the guy that makes things happen.” That description just as easily applies to him.
Running
Today, while you read this, he’ll be in Australia running the Sydney Marathon. Preparing for it meant balancing rehearsals, training and other commitments—and squeezing in runs when he could. “Yesterday, during dinner break at rehearsals, I ran a 4K. Then I went back to rehearsals.”
Sydney is his seventh—he’s already completed the other most prestigious marathons in the world: Berlin in 2019, New York in 2021, London in 2023, Boston and Chicago in 2024 and Tokyo earlier this year.
“I had a eureka moment during my first marathon in Berlin. I started saying ‘Thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, God.’ And it gave me wings to fly even when I wasn’t sure of myself. It became spiritual for me.”
It happened again in Tokyo. “I was scared. I had been worried I couldn’t do it. Another runner had given me a formula: eight-minute run, four-minute walk. When I was doing it, I said, ‘Oh my God, I got it, I got it, I got it, I God it, I God it, I God it…” And lumipad na naman ako (I flew again).”
Tim’s favorite out of all his marathons? New York. “It was special. It was the 50th anniversary of the New York Marathon and it was still during the pandemic. I was actually heartbroken because I didn’t get in first. But eventually, I found charity slots.”
He used the marathon to raise funds for Smile Train, an organization that provides free cleft care to those who need it. “I had a sister who died of a cleft condition as a baby. I dedicated it to her. Through my marathon journey, I’ve raised funds to have hundreds of kids have their operation. There was a deeper purpose. That’s what kept me going, because I was also doing it for others.”
He hopes his marathon journey inspires others as well. “I’m not the fastest but I finish. People ask, ‘You have a nightlife, you have an indulgent lifestyle, how can you train for a marathon?’ I want people to think, ‘If this guy can do it, we can too.’ And they really can.”
The day after he finishes the Sydney Marathon, he will fly back to Manila for rehearsals and to host the Preview Ball. After a couple of weeks, The Bodyguard will begin its run and then Yap will be focusing on planning Shake, Rattle and Ball, his annual Halloween bash.
How does he juggle it all? “I really love what I do. I just do it. Everything somehow magically fits. Stars align,” said Yap, who revealed that he is now happily single.
Thinking about how far he’s come grounds him, he said. “Life is made of cycles and I am happy to always be on the next chapter. I’m always so grateful for where life has taken me. I was born grateful. My name is Tim Yap, TY, thank you.”
And no, he won’t be hitting the brakes. “I’m as hungry as I am since I started. I thought life was a sprint but my life is a marathon. Mahaba pa. Malayo na pero malayo pa. (I’ve come far but I still have a long way to go.)”
