ABS-CBN recently launched 18 young men and women which comprise Star Circle Batch 8. All of them went through months of rigorous training, workshops and seminars.

For a quick rundown, we have: Leandro Muñoz who stars in ''Isususmbong Kita sa Tayatay Ko'' with Judy Ann Santos; Shiela Marie Gutierrez and Sarah Christophers, reel sisters in ''Munting Paraiso.'' The next Crushes ng Bayan in the persons of Denise Montecillo, Janette McBride and Nicole Reyes.

Among the boys, we have future heartthrobs Mike George, Matthew Umali, Mike Yuseko, Romaro Salcedo and Mike Palanca. Lora Ilagan and Jennifer Ilustre are fine singers in the making, while Christian Santino wants to become an action star. JP Gonzales has a flair for comedy, Me Ann Vargas prefers drama, and. Sirk Cortes and Joanna Isidro are would-be dancers.

Among the 18 hopefuls, Leandro Muñoz is easily the crowd favorite.

We chat with 20-year-old Leandro and discover the following:

This is his second time to try getting into the Star Circle. A brother of his, Carlo Muñoz made it to Star Circle 6 but has yet to make waves as an actor.

A graduate of San Beda (where he took up Business Management), Leandro can easily pass for Gabby Concepcion's kid brother. Like Concepcion he is a Close-Up boy in TV commercials.

Two wonderful things are happening to Leandro's career at present. He is one of the mainstays of the soap series ''Saan Ka Man Naroroon'' and is being introduced in a movie starring Fernando Poe Jr. and Judy Ann Santos.

Incidentally, Leandro and Judy Ann were schoolmates during high school at Mt. Carmel. Judy Ann attest that Leandro was the crush of all the girls in the class. ''The girls found him really cute and he was always generous with his smiles,'' she recalls.

Leandro also plays the suitor found Claudine Barretto in the tele-novela, ''Saan Ka Man Naroroon.''

How was it, working with the legendary Ronnie Poe?

''Doing a scene with kuya Ronnie made me feel terribly nervous and excited. He must have sensed this and immediately patted me on the shoulder for moral support. He told us some anecdotes about when he was just starting out, and reassured us that everything will be okay during the take,'' Leandro says.

Leandro was born on March 25 and is a relative of veteran actress Tita Muñoz. He is into bowling and rowing. Sweet, friendly and a homebody, Lee, as his friends call him, loves watching movies on videotape.

He is helping out in the family-owned enterprise Tilaok, which specializes in roasted chicken.

Not yet a full-fledged star, Leandro have not been spared from show biz controversy. Rumors have it that he is already a daddy, but he dismisses such talk as ''tsismis lang po.''

For his part, Bojo Molina, Ubaldo Punongbayan in real life, belongs to Star Circle Batch 3, which has produced other talents like Paolo Contis, Carlos Agassi, Piolo Pascual and Kristopher Peralta.

Like most other TV-film talents, Bojo started out as a model until a writer helped him join the talent center.

The eldest son of a former councilor of Laguna, he has appeared in minor roles in a handful of movies. He comprised one of the love teams in the recently-shown ''Gimik, the Movie.''

Last month, he top-billed ''Star Drama Theater,'' and the stellar exposure has helped boost his career.

Theater also interests Bojo, and he would like to experience performing onstage someday.