Player 276 actor Christian Lagahit on his ‘surreal’ experience representing Filipinos in ‘Squid Game’

Some eagle-eyed Filipinos have spotted their “kababayan” playing a minor but significant role in the international phenomenon “Squid Game.”

Meet Christian: Christian Lagahit, an English teacher and marketing consultant in South Korea, acted in several projects in the past before landing the role of Player 276 in the popular Netflix show, according to Speed Magazine.

The 35-year-old migrant worker, who has been in South Korea since 2015, told CNN that he started playing small roles in Korean movies and television in 2017.
“I was scouted by a Korean manager and out of nowhere, she asked me, ‘Can I take a photo of you, can I have your details?’ And from then, she just started sending my portfolio to different productions,” he was quoted as saying.

Under his screen name Chris Chan, Lagahit appeared in the 2018 action-thriller “The Negotiation” and in the 2021 space Wwestern “Space Sweepers.” According to K-pop Map, he also had minor roles in the K-dramas “Miss Lee,” “Taxi Driver,” “The King,” Eternal Monarch,” “Itaewon Class,” “Crash Landing On You” and “My ID is Gangnam Beauty,” among others.
Lagahit has been documenting his budding K-drama career on his YouTube channel, “Explore with Ahjussi.”

Meet Player 276: In “Squid Game,” Lagahit appeared as the dependable Player 276 on the fourth episode titled “Stick to the Team.”

Minor spoiler: His character was instrumental in helping the main characters advance in the deadly tug-of-war game.
According to Lagahit, he auditioned for the role of the Pakistani character Ali, who ended up being played by his friend and actor Anupam Tripathi.

“However, since I didn’t get that role, mid of last year, the production just called me and told me that I’ll be playing a special role for that drama series,” he shared.
Lagahit, who also serves as a leader to the Filipino community in the city of Buncheon, said representing Filipinos in such roles has been a “surreal” experience.
“To be honest, I did not expect that it would be as big as it is right now, not just in the Philippines but all over the world,” he added.

“Squid Game” recently became the first Korean series to rank No. 1 on Netflix U.S. most-watched. It is also in one of the top two spots in more than 70 other countries and territories’ Netflix platforms, NextShark previously reported.

Featured Image via Cen Lasaca (left), chrisyan8 (right)

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