With the success of his television miniseries Nandito Ako (Here I Am), David Archuleta sure made his mark in the Philippine entertainment industry and the hearts of Filipinos.

Nandito Ako is a story about Josh Bradley, a Filipino-American international singer who returns to the Philippines to search for his mother who was separated from him during a hotel fire when he was six, and presumed to be dead. In his search, he meets two very different girls – Anya Dionisio and Holly Posadas, and their lives become entangled as they seek out the truth.

Together with this miniseries, Archuleta also recorded a studio album that features Filipino songs. In this OPM album, Archuleta sang all-time hits such as “You Are My Song” originally by Martin Nievera, “Rainbow” by South Border, and “Tell Me” by Joey Albert.

The album Forevermore will be released in record stores this March. Several songs from that album such as the carrier track “Forevermore” and the miniseries theme song “Nandito Ako” are already available at MyMusicStore.com.ph.

Worldwide trend

He is currently back home in the United States but he keeps in contact with his Filipino fans and friends via social network sites such as Twitter.

Every week, his fans would post status messages about Nandito Ako episodes and these would trend worldwide.

During Nandito Ako’s mid-season run, “Nandito Ako Goes To Batangas” and “Road Trip with Josh Bradley” became number 4 and 5 worldwide Twitter trends.

“You guys are trending machines,” he told his fans in his account.

Now that the series in its final week, he posted another message, saying that he hopes everyone will enjoy the ending.

 Two-year break

Nandito Ako and Forevermore are actually two of his last projects before he goes on a mission to serve The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This mission will take him about two years in which he would temporarily take a break from the entertainment industry.

Archuleta made the announcement on December 2011 in Utah, the second to the last stop in his “My Kind of Christmas” concert tour.

“It’s not because someone told me that I’m supposed to do it, and not because I no longer want to do music, but because it’s the feeling that I’ve felt I need to do this with my life,” Archuleta said during the concert.

“It's just the same feeling that I've always tried to follow in my life. It's the feeling that has allowed me to have the opportunities I've had--the challenges I've overcome, and the blessings too. And I've learned to trust that feeling and learned to answer when it calls. That's the reason why I know I have to do this in my life,” he continued.

While fans are disappointed that they won’t be able to hear their idol for quite a while, they have expressed their support of his mission, as well as their eagerness for his comeback.

Here are some trivia about David Archuleta (from fansofdavid.com)

• His dad’s name is Jeff, and he was born and raised in Utah. His mom’s name is Lupe and she emigrated from Honduras from her hometown of San Pedro Sula, Cortes.

• During preparations before the IDOL competition began, the Archuleta Family had settled on dad staying with David in Los Angeles, while mom stayed home in Utah to tend with the four remaining Archuleta children.

• His dad is a jazz trumpet player and his mom (both age 42) sings pop music in both English and Spanish.

• The Archuleta’s five siblings consist of 3 girls and 2 boys with David being the 2nd oldest. Listed in order from eldest to youngest: Claudia (18 ), David (17), Daniel (14), Jazzy (11), and Amber (9).

• David owns a pretty healthy-sized goldfish named Conditioner and his dog’s name is Teddy.

• David is left handed.

• His favorite colors are: Orange and Yellow. He also likes Citrus Green.

• He got a 4.0 grade point average during his sophomore year at Murray high school in Murray, Utah.

• His lucky charm is a rubber band that his friends gave him, so he doesn’t forget that they always have his back.

• To battle nerves, David says a prayer before a performance and tries to shake it off.

• David and his family are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints back home in Utah.

• If he couldn’t sing, he would like to be able to play the guitar and become a better songwriter.

• He wants to sing at one of the Olympics when as gets older.

• He once performed for surviving 9/11 firefighters. He sang “I Will Always Love You.”

• He says his friends would be surprised that he owns Kirk Franklin albums.

• Although he was born in Miami, Florida, David and his family moved around in Florida for most of his early life, but finally moved to Salt Lake City, Utah on February 1997 where he currently resides, specifically in a city named Murray.

• On the finals of the 2nd Season of Star Search, David scored a perfect 20 points from all three judges.

• By winning the Junior Singers competition on Star Search, David won 0,000.00. As soon as the Archuleta Family returned to Utah, 10% or ,000.00 was donated to their church.

• He has taken formal singing training since he was 12 years old, but only every now and then from his vocal coach, Dean Kaelin.

• His musical influences are Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams.

• At the age of 10, he participated in the Utah Talent Competition, his first ever competition wherein he sang I Will Always Love You, his first ever song sung on stage, receiving a standing ovation.

• At the age of six, he memorized a number of songs from the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert with the corresponding English and Cockney accents.