Arman Salon is The Hysterical TikTok Star With A Soap-Like Story

(SPOT.ph) He’s tiny, no longer at the prime of his youth, and the world seems to always be against him—but TikTok’s “Queen of Improv”, whose hysterical monologues have been lip synced by everyone from Stell and Pablo of SB19 to Charo Santos Concio, might just be 2024’s biggest breakout star. We’re talking about Arman Salon, or Arman Macasusi in real life. He’s taken social media by storm and—juskopo!—has been making red carpet appearances in some of the big movie events of the MMFF season (He was invited lang naman to the Uninvited premiere, the Isang Himala presscon, and the preview of And The Breadwinner Is...).

The 54-year old Arman’s unrestrained acting, radio drama lines, and comedic surprises are consumed daily by hundreds of thousands of his followers (currently 274K on Tik Tok), including celebrities who dub his many trending skits that are punctuated with his signature trill ‘Juskopo!” The pony-tailed, pique-shirt-wearing dramatista has drawn us all to his theatrics inside the four walls of his humble salon in Rodriguez, Rizal, and now he's crossed over from TikTok to mainstream renown.

@scarlette_macasusi

♬ original sound - ARMANSALON

The Arman Salon school of acting

“Hindi ko sukat akalain na ginagaya ako at mga sikat na artista pa [ang gumagaya],” Arman tells Dr. Carl Balita in the latter’s radio program, Positibong Balita, on DZXL. “Pagpunta ko sa GMA (Network office), instead na ako ang tumili sa kanila sila ang tumitili sa akin. Ako yung kinikilabutan.”

Those who follow Arman on TikTok are familiar with the small and modest salon where he sets his content. Of late, however, Macasusi finds himself in red carpet events or inside airconditioned studios being interviewed by the likes of Balita. He was even featured in the popular Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho (KMJS) show where he was seen in full acting mode, matching the intensity of his longtime celebrity crush Romnick Sarmenta and GMA star Barbie Forteza who were tasked to perform in improvised scenes with Arman. In them, it’s clear he could slip into character in a snap of a finger, and without so much as a warm up. At one point, he got so carried away by the "confrontation" with Forteza he hit the poor girl's cheek with a not-so-gentle slap— which the Pulang Araw actress just laughed off.

@kmjs

Content creator na si Arman Salon, kumasa sa aktingan kasama ang mga iniidolo niyang artista! #KMJS20 | Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho

♬ original sound - Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho

Growing up gay

Arman has loved acting since he was a child. “Oo nangarap talaga ako [maging artista]. Bata pa lang ako mahilig na akong umakting sa harap ng salamin,” he says. And one could say his dramatic hugots come easy because his life story has all the elements of a teleserye.

Arman grew up poor and only managed to finish Grade 6. His father died when he was only in Grade 1 so he relied on himself early on by peddling all sorts of things— from pandesal to fishballs to talbos ng kamote. Despite the hardships, he has good memories growing up with both his parents—until his mother remarried and Arman had to deal with his stepfather’s temper. During the times he got scolded by the guy, Arman recalls that his mother hardly came to his defense.

It is his childhood experiences that inspire Arman’s dramatic improvs on TikTok. “Bata pa lang ako di ko na naranasang mag-birthday. Kasi nanay ko nag-asawa ng iba. Yung sasaktan ka ng hindi mo tunay na tatay tapos titignan ko ang nanay ko…takot siyang mahiwalayan ng asawa niya. Masakit yun,” the beautician narrates. “Tapos yung naglayas ka pero di ka hinanap. Tapos nung naglayas yung asawa niya halos magpakamatay siya. Ang sakit nun.”

These experiences taught Arman to never rely on others. “Kahit Grade 6 lang ang natapos ko, di ako naging pabigat sa pamilya ko. Nakakatulong ako sa nanay ko at kahit wala akong baon at tsinelas lang suot ko, pumapasok ako,” he says, changing the tone of his voice as if preparing to shift to an acting monologue. But Balita catches him and says, “Minsan di ko alam if uma-akting ka or seryoso ka.”

Arman’s mother has since passed and being the eldest among his siblings, Arman has at one point become the family breadwinner.

He also had to conceal his sexual identity growing up—because his biological father was “matapang.” “Bading na ako [nung bata pa] pero nung araw bawal ang bading talaga. Pag nakita ka ng kapamilya mo, ayaw nilang kekembot-kembot kaya napipilitan akong tigasan ang sarili ko. Pero ang totoo kapag wala sila umaakting ako: ‘Wala silang karapatan!’ gumaganun ako,” he says, offering Balita a sampling of his acting prowess, the same one that made him a TikTok sensation.

Boy love

Back when he was 14, Arman says he fell in love with a boy. “Ampogi, matalino. [Pero] Nakita kong may kasama siyang iba. Siyempre nasaktan ako. Nene pa ako noon. … Nasaktan ako. Sabi ko ayaw ko nang maging bading.” This was the period when he also decided he’s done with men and would turn his attention to women. He met a woman with whom he would have five children. They've since separated but three of their children live with Arman. “Kahit bading ako, ginampanan ko yung pagka-lalaki ko. Kumbaga hindi ako nagkaka-crush sa iba. Kung may crush ako, hindi pwede...Kumbaga naka-focus ako sa pamilya ko,” he says, explaining how he’s managed to keep his desires to himself all these years.

In the KMJS episode, Arman’s sons revealed that their father started dressing up as a woman in 2013 and that they’re cool with it. Since then, the hairstylist was able to fully express himself, show his real identity to the world while still performing his duties as a dad to his kids. His main source of livelihood for the last 10 years has been the salon, which is now probably one of the most famous salons in the country, thanks to TikTok. 

TikTok’s Queen of Improv

The TikTok fame changed Arman’s life and got him closest to his dream of acting onscreen. “Unang-una di ako magaling sumayaw, di katalinuhan, hindi naman maganda ang boses ko. Iniisip ko, [paano ko] maaliw yung mga  tao? [Pero] Alam ko kasi may mga tao na maraming pinagdadaanan. Siguro kaya nagustuhan ako [dahil] may nakita sila sa akin na parang experience nila sa buhay nila,” he tells Balita, explaining how he ended up making the kind of content he became famous for.

Many of his skits, Arman says, are based on real life. Like when he pretended to confront a customer who never paid him for his rebonding service. “Tumawad from 1,500 to 500 pagkatapos ng halos walong oras kong pag plansta.  [Yun, sinabi ko] ‘sa barangay tayo mag usap.’ Maraming naniwala dun. [Pinick-up] ng mga vloggers. Ang daming nag-comment. Nangyari talaga sa akin yan [sa tunay na buhay], hindi ako binayaran,” he says. His most popular content has as many as 3.4 million likes.

These days, Arman says he can earn as much as Php2000 a day just from being a social media personality, whether its via content creation or from the generosity of his growing number of fans. But despite the tangible perks, for the aspiring artista, these are just icing on the cake. What makes him truly happy is being able to express himself, and being treated with respect by the actors he once idolized and the entertainment pros he encounters.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa Diyos kasi nakilala ako sa social media. Kasi pinangarap ko yun na sana makilala ako ng tao,” he says when asked what his dreams are. “Masaya ako na nirerespeto lang, na dinalhan ka ng tubig. Maliliit na bagay maa-appreciate mo na. Hindi yung ginawa kang supervisor saka ka lang magpapasalamat sa Diyos. Kailangan sa pinaka-maliliit na bagay marunong kang magpasalamat.”

Last October, Arman finally, officially acted on pursuing his acting dreams. He lined up at the Cinemalaya Grand Audition which called on all aspiring actors who wish to be cast in any of the festival's nine entries for 2025. TikToker @diooox created a content labeled “arman on cinemalaya audition be like:” and then showed a clip of Arman acting out the line “Tama na, tama na!” but taking on different moods, from fearful to angry to sad to “nababaliw.” Arman slayed every single time, of course, that one netizen couldn’t help but comment: “Arman Salon auditioning in Cinemalaya is like Beyonce auditioning in The Voice.”

While acting is his talent, like most successful social media influencers, authenticity is Arman’s true secret. He says he makes sure he doesn’t let all the attention he is enjoying get to his head. “Dapat humble ka lang. Habang sumisikat ka dapat lalo kang bumababa, lalo kang yumuyuko. Kasi pag bida-bida ka, magagalit ang Diyos sayo. Kaya minsan, kahit sa pamilya namin, pag may nagsabing ‘Ay, sikat na si Arman’, sinasabi ko: ‘Ay hindi po. Hindi po totoo.’” Now imagine him saying that in true Arman Salon fashion.