Ang Pagbabalik (1938) - Angel Esmeralda & Yolanda Marquez

Ang Pagbabalik

(1938)

Parlatone Hispano-Filipino

Angel Esmeralda

Yolanda Marquez

Armando Crisostomo

Mary Walter

Gregorio Ticman

Exequiel Segovia

Gerardo de Leon

Fleur de Lis

Carlos Padilla

(direction)

Ang Pagbabalik (1938) - Angel Esmeralda & Yolanda Marquez

Ang Pagbabalik

(1938)

Parlatone Hispano-Filipino

Angel Esmeralda

Yolanda Marquez

Armando Crisostomo

Mary Walter

Gregorio Ticman

Exequiel Segovia

Gerardo de Leon

Fleur de Lis

Carlos Padilla

(direction)

Binatang Parang (1938) See: ...Ang Batang Tulisan,

Binatang Parang 

(1938)

See: ...Ang Batang Tulisan

Ang Batang Tulisan (1938) - Jose Padilla Jr & Corazon Noble

Ang Batang Tulisan

(1938)

Filippine films

Jose Padilla Jr

Corazon Noble

Mary Walter

Miguel Anzures

Alma Bella

Manuel Barbeyto

Pedro Faustino

Salvador Saragoza

Narding Anzures

Rod Avlas

(direction)

Melquiades Francisco

Melquiades Francisco

Filmography 

1938 - Inang Mahal (Sampaguita Pictures)

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Ruben (1938) - Angel Esmeralda & Purita Santamaria

Ruben 

(1938) 

Parlatone-Hispano Filipino

 Angel Esmeralda 

Purita Santamaria

 Armando Crisostomo

Gerardo de Leon

Mar I. Esmerala 

(direction)

February 14

Kamay na Bakal (1938) - Jose Padilla Jr., Lilia Vizconde, Andres Guevarra, Patria Rosal,

Madaling Araw (1938) - Elsa Oria & Ely Ramos

Rico Yan (1975 - 2002

Rico Yan (Real Name: Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan)

Siya si Ricardo Carlos Castro Yan na nakilala sa mundo ng showbiz bilang si Rico Yan. Ipinanganak noong March 14, 1975 sa Maynila, itinuring siyang isa sa matinee idols ng Star Magic (na kilala pa noon bilang “Talent Center”) noong kalagitnaan ng dekada nobenta. Isa rin siyang matagumpay na negosyante dahil sa kanyang mga negosyong tulad ng Orbitz Pearl Shake, Java Hut, at iba pa, at endorser ng iba’t ibang mga produkto tulad ngGreenwich Pizza, Talk ‘N Text, Master Facial Cleanser, Eggnog Cookies, at iba pa.

Nakita rin ang pagka-versatile ni Rico Yan dahil sa paglabas n’ya sa iba’t ibang mga programa ng ABS CBN. Umusbong ang angking talento n’ya sa acting sa mga programang tulad ng Mara Clara (original), Gimik, Mula Sa Puso (original), Saan Ka Man Naroroon, at mangilan-ngilang pagganap sa Maalaala Mo Kaya. Kinakitaan din siya ng talento sa pagpapatawa dahil sa programang Whattamen, at nagkaroon ng potensiyal bilang isang magaling na host sa programang Magandang Tanghali Bayan (MTB).

Nakasama din siya sa mga pelikulang pinagtambalan nila ni Claudine Barretto tulad ngDahil Mahal Na Mahal Kita, Mula Sa Puso The Movie, at Got 2 Believe, at sa mga pelikulang pinagsamahan nila ni Judy Ann Santos (na monay ang mga pisngi noon) tulad ng Paano Ang Puso Ko, Flames The Movie, Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay, at Gimik The Reunion.

Marky Cielo

Marky Cielo (Real Name: Mark Angelo Cadaweng Cielo)

Victor Basa,

Victor Basa (Real Name: Victor Emmanuel Basa)

Ynna Asistio (1991 - )

Ynna Asistio (born Alynna Alexandra Asistio on 27 September 1991 in Caloocan City, Philippines) is a Filipina actress. She was a contract artist of GMA Network and moved to ABS-CBN in August 2013. She is known for her roles in the GMA network's shows like the telefantasya Mga Mata ni Anghelita, Who's Your Daddy Now? and La Vendetta. She appeared on ABS-CBN's drama Minute-to-Win-It. She also appeared on the weekend drama anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya. She is the daughter of actress Nadia Montenegro and former Caloocan City Mayor, Macario "Boy" Asistio, Jr. and the niece of Hazel Ann Mendoza. Asistio has dated high profile Philippine actors such as Mark Herras and Derek Ramsay. Asistio is of Spanish descent on her mother's side. Asistio lives in Ayala Heights in Quezon City.

Dennis Padilla,

Dennis Padilla (Father of Julia Barretto, 

Real Name: Dennis Esteban Dominguez Baldivia), 

Son of Comedian Actor Dencio Padilla and Brother of Dencio Padilla Jr.

Serene Dalrymple

Dalrymple was born to Robert Lloyd Dalrymple, a Scottish American and a former military officer, and Wilma Billones-Dalrymple.

She has two sisters, Sarah and Samantha. Her maternal ancestors come from the southern province of Cebu; her grandmother and other relatives are buried there.

 Her father died of a heart attack when she was five, while her mother became ill with pneumonia and died as well five years later, in 2000. After her mother's death, she was raised by an uncle.

Alwyn Uytingco

Alwyn Uytingco (Real Name: Cipriano Alwyn Sumulong Uytingco III),\

'Uytingco' is a Filipinized Chinese so he probably has Mestizo de Sangley ancestry. 

DJ Durano

DJ Durano (Real Name: Thaddeus Durano, Jr.)

Carol Banawa

Carol Banawa (Real Name: Carol Claire Aguilar Banawa)

Pokwang

Pokwang (Real Name: Marietta Subong)

Pooh

Pooh (Real Name: Reynold Garcia)

Citas Astals

Roxanne Guinoo

Roxanne Guinoo (Real Name: Roxanne Bosch Guinoo),

She has mixed German descent from her mother

Polo Ravales (1982 - )

Paul Patrick Rodil Gruenberg or simply called Polo Ravales, born June 27, 1982 in Manila, Philippines, is a Filipino actor and model with German descent

Ravales' first TV appearance came in 1995 as one of second batch members in the Philippine teen show TGIS. He is a former VIVA contract star along with fellow GMA stars Sunshine Dizon, Dingdong Dantes and among others. A year later, he got a small role in the drama series "Anna Karenina" as Vincent. Then followed by a few more soap series, "Click", "Ang Iibigin ay Ikaw", and "Hanggang Kailan."

In 2005, Ravales landed his first big role in the hit telefantasya series Encantadia as Hitano, which followed by another successful telefantasya series Majika. He played a brave warrior and then a scheming lover, ably displaying manliness and machismo that heated the television screens.

Ravales has also starred in a number of successful movies in the Philippines, including Room Boy, Blue Moon, and most recently, Super Noypi, about six childhood friends discover that their parents are the legendary Super Noypi-the most powerful superheroes in the land.

Aside from his acting career, Ravales is also a model. He's done print ad campaigns and TV commercials for Bench clothing, Ginebra, Coca-Cola, Colgate, and even made it to Cosmopolitan Philippines' 2006 & 2008 Hottest Bachelor List.

When asked what he wants to achieve in his career, Ravales replied, "I want to win the Best Actor Award." He added that his goal in life is to have his own restaurant business someday.

In 2008, he is Patrick Garcia's replacement for the role of Andy Abrigo in Sine Novela: Maging Akin Ka Lamang opposite Nadine Samonte. The role he reprised was originally portrayed by Christopher De Leon and was his biggest break in TV. After this, he joins the casts of Gagambino where he works once again with Dennis Trillo, Nadine Samonte, and Katrina Halili.

In 2009, after Gagambino, Ravales is playing Shiro in Darna where she works with Marian Rivera, who plays the title role, for the first time. Polo is also formerly part of GMA Dramedy show, Adik Sa'Yo with his co-stars Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin.

In 2010, Ravales will play as a hero in the comics adaptation of Panday Kids which stars Jolina Magdangal, JC de Vera, Lovi Poe, Jackie Rice and Robert Villar, he also seen in other GMA shows like Sine Novela Presents: Basahang Ginto which he plays Anton, he also guested in Claudine Presents: Love Thy Neighbor which he plays a rich driver with his co-stars Claudine Barreto, and former love team and now long-time friend Sunshine Dizon, and also recently seen on Grazilda which he plays as Matthew Dominguez with his co-stars Geoff Eigenmann & Glaiza De Castro.

And in 2011, he's formerly seen on GMA's drama fantaserye, Machete (wwhich originally came from Actor-Director Cesar Montano) with his co-stars Bella Padilla, Ryza Cenon and Aljur Abrenica. He also joined a former Drama series Sinner Or Saint, with his co-star and returning Kapuso star Alessandra Del Rossi.

Dina Bonnevie (1961 - )

Bonnevie was born January 27, 1961 to Honesto Bonnevie (her paternal grandfather was half French and half Italian) and Jeannette Schaer (a Swiss settler)

 Her grandmother is pre-World War II actress Rosita Rivera. She is also from Bicol. She is a cousin of singer Lou Bonnevie. She has two children from her previous marriage with comedian Vic Sotto, Oyo Boy Sotto and Danica, both of whom are now in the entertainment industry as well

Sharmaine Arnaiz

She was born Sharmila Velasco Pribhdas-Shahani to an Indian father and a mother of Ilongga ancestry. 

She has a younger sister who is also an actress named Bunny Paras and their mother is the sister of the mother of Patrick Garcia and Cheska Garcia

Julie vega (1968 - 1983)

She inherited her mestiza looks from her Irish American paternal grandmother, the former Aurora Fort, who came to the Philippines at a young age with her father, the American General Guy O. Fort (died 1942).

She would go on to later marry Filipino General Leon Postigo.

Nestor de Villa (1928 - )

Dolores Mojica

May Tampuhan Paminsan Minsan (1968) - Gina Pareno & Ricky Belmonte

Bahay Kubo Kahit Munti (1968) - Rosemarie & Pepito Rodriguez

Casiana de Leon

Way Out in the Country (1967) - Vilma Valera & Bert Le Roy Jr

Cinderella A-Go-Go (1967) - Rosemarie & Ricky Belmonte,

Pogi (1967) - Eddie Gutierrez & Vilma Valera

Sitting in the Park (1967) - Blanca Gomez & Dindo Fernando

Nora Aunor - 100 Women in the Philippines

100 Women of the Philippines

Celebrating Filipina Womanhood in the New Millennium

(Joy Buensalido & Abe Florendo, 1999)

NORA AUNOR by Gerard Ramos

In a society still governed by traditional concepts --- of gender roles, of family, of motherhood and so on --- Nora Aunor, actor would be an odd entry in a list of woman role models. Her marriage not only was short-lived but also has been dissolved. Her life has been marked with the most sordid of rumors, ranging from lesbianism to alcohol and substance abuse to neglect of her children.

And yet, notwithstanding all this, no such list would be complete without the entry “Nora Aunor” --- for simply being, well, Nora Aunor, the dark-skinned teenager from Iriga in the southern province of Bicol who went on to not only represent what is the finest in Filipino popular art but also embody the ideals and ideology of the nameless, faceless and voiceless in Philippine society.

That no other showbusiness life has been as much chronicled as hers, the story of Nora Aunor has assumed the status of myth over every wondrous retelling, and I believe, does need yet another retelling here but for the broadest strokes. About how the dusky “provinciana” went the circuitous path to astonishing, awesome fame from the dusty railroad tracks where she sold cold glasses of water to thirsty, disembarking passengers. In between this early attempt at enterprise and family chores, she joined local singing contests that ultimately brought her to Manila and on television as a finalist of “Tawag ng Tanghalan.” Not long after she was proclaimed champion --- for several months running --- of the national amateur singing competition, she made the foray into films singing with, alternately, dwarves and Tirso Cruz IIl.

The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

It has been said, on occasion, that Nora Aunor achieved greatness in her art only late in her career, in the hands of such skilled film directors as Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal, as if the time frame should diminish one’s extraordinary accomplishments. And hers, indeed, have been exactly that, extraordinary --- unquestionably precious, and well before people had even heard of either Brocka or Bernal. As the National Artist Nick Joaquin himself once wrote, there was nothing mediocre about Nora Aunor even when she was singing with dwarves.

The voice, still heralded as golden for its clarity and timbre, is actually of limited range, scaling only up to two octaves at best. No matter, no other music artist has enthralled and continuous to enthrall an audience with a song as completely as Nora Aunor, whether she is doing a cover of Florante’s “Handog” of George or Ira Gershwin’s “Embraceable You.” There is an intelligence, a purity in her reading, in the way she tugs at a note or a phrase with the despair of many a lovelorn night. And, always, she is true to the spirit with which the song was written, always investing her soul to the emotional force of the musical ode. Thus, to say that her singing recalls the most venerable ladies in American music --- Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Dinah Washington --- is not an exercise in hyperbole. The great American jazz artist Miles Davis once said, “Sometimes you can sing words every night for years, and all of a sudden it dawns on you what the song means.” Listening to Nora Aunor’s recordings is akin to this: an epiphanous moment that quickly becomes a shared experience of the breadth of human emotion.

Her genius as a music artist is, perhaps, surpassed only by her magnificence as an actor, which nobody saw as forthcoming --- surely, not even Nora Aunor herself --- given her early works. Mostly brainless popcorn musicals like “Blue Hawaii”, not a few maudlin melodramas like “Ang Munting Santa.” And yet, in hindsight, one could already see a glint of the promise now fulfilled even in as cheesy a melodrama as “Nasaan Ka, Inay” - in those almond-shaped eyes whose expressiveness has achieved the status of legend. They are eyes that have seen and not forgotten the hurt, the pain of not only material deprivation but the emotional variety as well --- a treasure trove for any actor.

And indeed, Nora Aunor has raided this trove on more than a few occasions, yielding extraordinary performances onstage --- in "DH" (Domestic Helper) and “Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo” --- and in films now regarded as modern classics in Philippine Cinema: “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos,” “Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo,” “Atsay,” “Ina Ka ng Anak Mo,” “Bona,” “Bakit Bughaw ang Langit,” “Bulaklak ng City Jail,” “Ang Totoong Buhay ni Pacita M.,” and “Andrea…Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina?,” to name only a few. Surely, it is no small measure of her astonishing skills as an actor that while some of these films have dated --- to wit, “Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo” --- her performances have remained absorbing, incendiary.

In this exhilarating body of work which remains unsurpassed by any Filipino actor, bar none, the one that is perhaps the most definitive of her genius is her awesome turn in Ishmael Bernal’s “Himala,” a bleak, rancid portrait of our collective psychosis of religious and political fanaticism. As the faith healer Elsa, Nora gives a performance so daring in the ambiguity of her character strokes: by turns unprepossessing, self-possessed, guileless, scheming, imploring, contemptuous --- as if challenging us to reject her, all the while unshakable in her confidence that we cannot. In her performance alone, Bernal brings home his indictment of our penchant for fanatical worship.

In one of the few conversations I had with Bernal before his death in 1997, he confirmed that Nora was heavily favored to win as Best Actress at the Berlin International Film festival in 1982, when “Himala” was among the competing entries, and that she lost voting favor due to her absence at the festivities. Most people, disheartened, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity forever lost --- but, really, could this ever be the case with an artist as brilliantly as Nora Aunor? More than a decade later, in 1995, she scored yet another feat by winning the Best Actress for the powerful “the Flor Contemplacion Story” at the Cairo International Film Festival.

It has been assumed that, being unschooled formally as an actor, Nora Aunor has gotten by on sheer intuition and pure luck. The irony in this observation is that some film critics have, at one time or another, cited her as being too intelligent to play this role or that role --- for example, the naïve, subservient title character in Brocka’s acclaimed “Bona,” the original copy of which is in the hands of the French, from which the actor, who also produced the film, is working various channels to reclaim. But I digress. That Nora is an actor who trusts her gut is true, as it is for all other great actors, but she is fully cognizant and appreciative of the craft involved in creating great drama.

Indeed, through much of the filming of the award-winning Bakit May Kahapon Pa>, a riveting drama about the ravages of Martial Law's dirty war in the countryside, I witnessed a peerless craftsman at work: confining herself to her private room on the set, script in hand, her focus unyielding, oblivious of the few people that were allowed into her sanctuary. Asked about her process of character creation, Nora will only give the barest of details, almost embarrassed to do so -- and it becomes immediately apparent that this is not some affectation of humility but, quite simply, because of her innate understanding that, along with the craft, there is magic and mystery in the creation that should remain inviolable.

Of course, not everybody is a believer, and recently Nora Aunor has seen herself attacked for her latest performances that were supposedly too mannered, too studied to the point of remoteness, almost routine and therefore ordinary. One tabloid entertainment writer even went so far as to dismiss her portrayal of the speech-impaired Anna in last year's absorbing Sidhi as being bereft of either craft or magic -- but at the same time failed to provide an argument, even one remotely resembling, to shore up his attack.

Are Nora Aunor's feathers still ruffled by such biting criticism of her work? While she would be inclined to publicly shrug this off as one of the hazards of being an actor, one can only imagine how it impacts on an artist's emotional psyche given the intimacy involved in the process of character creation, the repeated rape to which the craft submits the heart and mind.

The dispassionate observer, however, is perhaps no longer surprised by such unqualified disparagement, which is often more telling of human foibles than the object of the attack herself. Indeed, one need only to remember the callous dismissal of Meryl Streep's post-Sophie Choice performances (Out of Africa in 1985, Heartburn in 1986, A Cry in the Dark in 1988, Postcards from the Edge in 1990, The House of the Spirits in 1993) as being cold and calculated, only to have film critics lavishing praiser on her similarly unquestionably and resolutely studied portrayals of the forlorn Italian-born Iowa housewife in 1995's The Bridges of Madison County. Go figure. History, as it often is, turns out to be the better judge. Consider how all the film award-giving bodies routinely ignored Himala, and how Bernal's masterpiece is now universally regarded as the finest film of that decade, and this particular Nora Aunor performance as the most galvanizing ever recorded on film.

An artist “assoluta” indeed Nora Aunor is. And in the current landscape of an acting community all too eager to sink to commercial vulgarity for the sake of box-office bankability, her resolute refusal to take easy routes, even at the expense of her celebrity, is worthy of the highest admiration. “I’ve reached point when it doesn’t matter whether I make one film in a year as long as it’s a good project and it says something about the human condition,” she says. “Otherwise, I’d rather go back to theater.”

No doubt to the chagrin of her critics, Nora Aunor has become the standard by which great performances are measured -- and, given the dearth of her heir apparents, will remain so for so many years. even at this period of her career that is blighted, they say, by dissipation and eroding celebrity, Nora Aunor has become the standard by which great performances are measured, and given, the dearth of heir apparents, will remain so for many years.

To the masses that have worshipped her through decades, however, Nora Aunor will forever remain emblematic of not only their dreams but also their possibilities. From the muddy railroad tracks of Iriga she had risen to triumph in aworld painfully indicative of our colonial history--and triumph, indeed, in a fashion never seen before or since. In doing so, she jolted us, perhaps more than any political figure in the last century, from a decades-long inferiority over the skin which we were born. Nora's unprecedented achievements since her rise to the nosebleed heights of celebrity stardom have only reinforced our potential for greatness.

Even in this period of diminished celebrity, as her critics like to call it, the brown-skinned former water vendor turned Superstar continues to define the times in which we live, these days not so much through her professional choices bu in our regard for the same. In the same way that Nora Aunor represents the infinite possibilities before us people, she now also reflects, in our unfortunate reaction to her ever-questing artistry, the moral bankruptcy to which we seem inexorably headed.

For this, Nora Aunor, the finest artist in Philippine entertainment, cannot be regarded simply as a role model. She is a woman continually essential --- to our dreams, to our conscience.

Superstar: Tatlumpu't Siyam na Taon ng Pagkinang

Superstar: Longest Running Musical Variety Show in the Philippines

Tirso Cruz III & Nora Aunor

Igorota Squad (1970) - Dante Varona & Rosanna Ortiz

Igorota Squad - Dante varona & Rosanna Ortiz

Bobby Velarde

Bakya Mo Neneng (1977) Joseph Estrada, Nora Aunor & Tirso Cruz III

Nasaan ka Inay (1970) - Nora AUnor & Tirso Cruz III (Sampaguita Pictures)