Advanced search

Louis Diamond Phillips is an American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award. Phillips made his Broadway debut with the 1996 revival of The King and I, earning a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam. Phillips' other notable films include Young Guns (1988), Young Guns II (1990), Courage Under Fire (1996), The Big Hit (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), Che (2008), and The 33 (2015). In the television series Longmire, he played a main character named Henry Standing Bear. He played New York City Police Lieutenant Gil Arroyo on Prodigal Son on FOX from 2019 to 2021.

Manuel Luis Jacinto is a Canadian actor born in the Philippines. After several small roles on television, his breakout role came starring as Jason Mendoza on the NBC sitcom The Good Place (2016). He has appeared as Yao in the psychological drama mini-series Nine Perfect Strangers (2021), Fritz in the best picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and Qimir in the sci-fi mystery The Acolyte (2024).

"Joey" on the Netflix hit series, The Haunting of Hill House, created by Mike Flanagan. Raised on the Pacific Island of Guam, Anna is the second oldest of six children. She fell in love with performing arts as a child and after moving to the United States, began her first stage training at the Savannah Arts Academy.

Reggie Lee was born on 4 October 1975 in Quezon City, Philippines. He is an actor and producer, known for Grimm (2011), All Rise (2019) and The Lincoln Lawyer (2022).

Vanessa Joy Minnillo was born on November 9, 1980, at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. She is the daughter of Helen Ramos Bercero and Vincent Charles Minnillo, a crew member on an Air Force aircraft (he has since retired). Her father is American, from Ohio, and is of half Italian, one quarter Russian-Jewish, and one quarter Irish, descent. Her mother is a Filipina, whom he met while based in the Philippines. Vanessa and her family, which includes her brother Vincent, who is two years older than she, lived in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan, before settling down in Charleston, South Carolina. Vanessa attended seven different schools during this time, and participated in cheerleading and volunteer work for numerous local charities.

Her parents divorced in 1986, and Helen was awarded custody of both children; Vanessa only saw her father on weekends. When her mother remarried, the family moved to Turkey, where her new stepfather, who was in the U.S. Air Force, was assigned. They were forced to evacuate when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Gulf War of 1991, and Helen brought the kids back to the U.S., leaving them with their father until she could get back on her feet. That would be the last time that Vanessa would see her mother, who never returned. Instead, Vanessa began a new life, along with her brother, living with her father Vince and his new wife, Donna, whom she now calls her "best friend".

With her life more settled, Vanessa began to turn her attention to the Miss South Carolina Teen USA beauty pageant in 1996. She had loved cheerleading since she was a young child, and was very keen on performing in front of an audience. With her unaffected style and natural ebullience, she easily won over the judges, sweeping all the categories before winning the crown. Two years later, on August 17, 1998, she competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Though it was preempted by CBS' live coverage of a speech by President Bill Clinton regarding the Monica Lewinsky ordeal; in the end, she wowed the Miss Teen USA judges just as she had the Miss South Carolina Teen USA judges two years earlier. It was her second pageant, and her second victory.

In the three years since handing over her Miss Teen USA crown, Vanessa has concentrated on college, acting and modeling. She has a promising future, and was recently one of the finalists in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke as hostess for the show, Wild On... (1997). Though the job ultimately went to Cindy Taylor, Vanessa made a big impression with "Wild On..." fans across the world, and hopes to continue working in television for some time to come.

Vanessa began dating singer Nick Lachey in 2006, shortly after Jessica Simpson filed for divorce from him. The couple married in 2011, and have three children.

Born in Manila, Philippines, Bryan Callen made his television debut as a series regular on Mad TV (1995) and the HBO prison series Oz (1997). He was recently seen as Kirstie Alley's wisecracking assistant on Showtime's comedy series Fat Actress (2005). Callen has appeared on several television series including Sex and the City (1998), 7th Heaven (1996), Stacked (2005), The King of Queens (1998), Las Vegas (2003), Significant Others (1998), The West Wing (1999), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), NYPD Blue (1993), Suddenly Susan (1996), Frasier (1993) and NewsRadio (1995), among others. In addition, Callen has appeared in such feature films as Bad Santa (2003) and Old School (2003) and has performed stand up comedy on several TV shows.

Santos was born in Manila, Philippines and moved with his family to the United States when he was sixteen, residing in Gresham, Oregon and attending Gresham's Centennial High School. Santos studied acting at Southern Oregon University. He worked for several years in the costume department of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He later moved to California where before getting his big TV break, Santos regularly performed as a stand-up comic. He was also part of the talk show round-table Chelsea Lately.

Jon Jon Briones was born in Quezon City, Philippines as Ernesto Briones. He is an actor and singer who first left the Philippines at the age of 23 to venture to London and join the original cast of Miss Saigon. Since then he has traveled all over the world appearing on stage, television and in film. He has been married to actress/singer Megan Johnson Briones since 1996. They have two children who are also in the business, Isa and Teo, and they now reside in Los Angeles.

Angeli Khang was born on 3 August 2001 in Mandaluyong City, Philippines. She is an actress, known for Mahjong Nights (2021), Salawahan (2024) and Black Rider (2023).

Alain Uy was born in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, Philippines. He is an actor and producer, known for Power Book IV: Force (2022), Helstrom (2020) and Ballard (2025).

Christine Bermas was born on 30 August 2001 in Manila, Philippines. She is an actress, known for Relyebo (2022), Beyond the Sky (2022) and Bedspacer (2024).

Lav Diaz was born on 30 December 1958 in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines. He is a writer and director, known for The Woman Who Left (2016), Season of the Devil (2018) and From What Is Before (2014).

Born Rita Hernandez in Manila, Philippines, Pilar Seurat moved to Los Angeles in her childhood and started out as a dancer in Ken Murray's "Blackouts" troupe. In the late 1950s she started her acting career in several guest TV appearances, and was often considered at the top of the list whenever a part for an Asian woman needed to be filled. Off screen she used the name Pilar Cerveris after marrying her second husband, Don Cerveris. She died June 2, 2001, in Los Angeles due to lung cancer, at the age of 62.

Dolly De Leon was born on 12 April 1969 in Manila, Philippines. She is an actress and assistant director, known for Triangle of Sadness (2022), Ang duyan ng magiting (2023) and Ghostlight (2024).

Lea Salonga began her singing career at the age of ten, when she recorded her first album, Small Voice. She also hosted her own musical TV show, "Love, Lea". She starred in "Miss Saigon" and was then offered the role of the singing voice of Jasmine in the Disney film Aladdin (1992). She has continued to record albums. Lea has performed for Queen Elizabeth II, George Bush, and Bill Clinton.

While at high school she wanted to be a vet. She moved to New York to earn money for medical school by modeling and was soon appearing in magazines and advertisements. An agency sent her for a film audition resulting in her getting a role in 'Grasslands' filmed in South Dakota in 1971. The title was changed to 'Hex' but wasn't released. She fell in love with her Grassland co star Keith Carradine in 1972, moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career and to be with Keith.

Susan Penhaligon was born on 3 July 1949 in Manila, Philippines. She is an actress, known for A Fine Romance (1981), Patrick (1978) and Count Dracula (1977). She was previously married to Duncan Preston, David Munro and Nicholas Loukes.

This alluring hazel-eyed 1940s leading lady was born Ardis Ankerson on the Philippine island of Negros, one of two siblings. Her father was Otto Peter Ankerson who held an important position as overseer of a large sugar plantation. Following the premature death of her mother in 1925, Ardis and her sister were packed off to San Antonio to complete their education. Ardis was voted Freshman Class Beauty of 1934 at Texas State College, acted in amateur dramatics and worked hard on diction and improvisation. By then, she was clearly determined to become a professional actress. Following her graduation, she moved to New York where she studied drama under the tuition of actor Richard Gaines (and eventually married him in 1936). Gaines helped her secure acting work in stock companies under the Federal Theatre Project, sponsored by the Works Progress Administration as part of the New Deal. While in New York, Ardis successfully auditioned for Paramount, but studio executives dropped the option to sign her due to what they deemed her excessive salary demands. Warner Brothers viewed the screen test some time later and proved less squeamish about picking her up. With the inevitable name change prompted by the studio, 'Brenda Marshall' went Hollywood. During her tenure in Tinseltown, she made it clear to friends and co-workers alike, that she be addressed not by her studio-fabricated cognomen, but by her given name (with the addition of her married name of Gaines).

Brenda made an almost immediate impact in her fourth outing for Warners as Doña Maria, providing the romantic interest in Errol Flynn's classic swashbuckler The Sea Hawk (1940). This should have established the brunette beauty as a tangible box office attraction. Alas, only routine material followed and Brenda saw out the remainder of her contract as exotic leads in second features like East of the River (1940), South of Suez (1940) and Singapore Woman (1941). There were to be two more A-grade productions, but Brenda ended up playing second fiddle to James Cagney's aviation heroics in Captains of the Clouds (1942) and was overshadowed in the charisma department by Joan Fontaine and Alexis Smith in The Constant Nymph (1943). By 1950, she quit the acting profession and devoted herself to other causes. A year after her divorce from Gaines in 1940, Brenda had wed the actor William Holden in Las Vegas. She was of help to him in setting up the Mt. Kenya Safari Club as a means of protecting African wildlife. The couple seemed content for a while. However, the marriage proved to be increasingly volatile and began to unravel by 1963, ending up in divorce eight years later. Brenda died from throat cancer in Palm Springs in 1992 at the age of 76.

Also played the character Ho-Jon on the television series M*A*S*H. He played the cabin boy to Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and Trapper John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers). He appeared in 7 episodes in the first and second seasons (1972-73). He left in Season two when money was raised for him to come to the states to attend college.

Neile Adams was born in Manila, the Philippine Islands on July 10, 1932 as María Ruby Neilam Arrastia y Salvador of Eurasian descent as her DNA attests. Her bloodline, to clarify erroneous reports, consists of 26% mixture of Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, 7% Polynesian and 67% Spanish Basque and English, although her maternal grandmother's name was changed from Sulse to Schultz when that family emigrated to Spain from Germany. She spent WW2 in Japanese-occupied Manila, came to America in 1948, graduated high school the following year from Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Greenwich, Connecticut and immediately went to New York to study dancing where she got a scholarship at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance. To ward off being cast exclusively as a "señorita" or in just plain old Spanish-speaking parts because of her name, her mother claimed Adams was her father's middle name. Never having seen nor met her father she soon became Neile Adams.

In 1953, she was cast as a dancer in "Kismet" and shortly became one of the lead dancers in the show. When the show closed in 1955 she was offered a showy role in the Versailles Nightclub where George Abbott and Bob Fosse caught her performance and offered her the Carol Haney role in "The Pajama Game" just as soon as her contract ended with the club. To meet both deadlines she performed at night and rehearsed during the day. She met Steve McQueen shortly thereafter and married four months after their formal introduction. The couple had two children, Terry McQueen (born 1959) and Chad McQueen (born 1960). The marriage legally ended in 1972. Neile is the grandmother of actor Steven R. McQueen. She remarried in 1980 to Alvin Toffel, a political campaign manager and president of the Norton Simon Museum. This union lasted until Toffel's passing in 2005.

Broadway credits: featured dancer in "Kismet", starred in "Pajama Game" opposite John Raitt and Julie Wilson, and Broadway-bound "At The Grand" opposite Paul Muni. She married McQueen while filming MGM's This Could Be the Night (1957) when she was under contract. Adams opened the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas in 1958 with Dick Shawn and Vivian Blaine. Television revues later became her main staple as she raised her family. She appeared on such programs as Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948), The Bob Hope Show (1950), The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom (1957), The Patrice Munsel Show (1956), The Eddie Fisher Show (1957) and The Walter Winchell Show (1956), among others. She played opposite McQueen and villainous Peter Lorre on a macabre episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and starred in two other Hitchcock episodes. In the '60s and '70s she guest-starred in almost all the popular dramatic shows, such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Vega$ (1978), Fantasy Island (1977), The Rockford Files (1974), The Bionic Woman (1976) and Love, American Style (1969), to name a few. On film, she played Burt Reynolds' wife in Fuzz (1972), was directed by Billy Wilder in Buddy Buddy (1981) and appeared in Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981). Adams continues to perform her cabaret shows in L.A., New York, London and Paris.

Born in the Philippines and raised in Scarborough, Canada Alex Mallari Jr quickly learned the meaning of hard work and dedication. Having had national success in both Tae Kwon Do and competitive basketball, it was evident that his determination would always carry him to great heights no matter what journey he decided to embark on.

When his basketball career came to a halt in his last year of high school due to an injury, Alex decided to attend the Criminology program at the University of Toronto with the intentions of one day becoming an attorney but that journey was shortly lived. It was during his time in university when he decided to take an attempt at his childhood dream: to become an "action star."

With no knowledge of the entertainment industry and no guidance, Alex dove in head first. This, of course, had led him to hit some regretful bumps along the way but he was determined to find the right path - HIS path.

Since then he has worked on "Robocop", "The Strain", "Nikita", "Beauty & The Beast", and many other prime-time television shows.

Now, he has been given the task of bringing the character "Four", a strong and stoic warrior, on SyFy's upcoming hit series "Dark Matter" to life.

Safe to say that Alex Mallari Jr. has come a long way from being just another kid from Scarborough to becoming the action star he's always dreamed to be.

Rorelee Tio was born in Manila, Philippines. She is known for Power Rangers (2017), Deadpool (2016) and Okja (2017).

Anthony Ingruber is a voice and screen actor with an international upbringing, who first gained global attention through his widely popular YouTube channel of impressions. After studying film acting at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre, Ingruber worked briefly at 'Weta Workshop [NZ]', where he was given the chance to do production work on the Academy Award-winning film Avatar (2009). From there, Ingruber has been acting in industrial, independent and feature films such as The Age of Adaline (2015) alongside Harrison Ford and Blake Lively. Most recently his voice work includes 'The Joker' in Batman: The Telltale Series (2016).

Born in the Philippines, Paolo is one of two children. The Montalban family moved to America when Paolo was just one year old. He lived in an apartment in Manhattan, and then in New Jersey, where he grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by mostly Filipinos. He grew up in a musical family: his father played the piano, two aunts studied the violin and piano at Juilliard, and his mother was involved in the theater while a student at St. Paul's College in Manila. Like many other Filipino American children, he learned how to play the piano, as well as the violin and saxophone. And like many Filipino American children, he doesn't play anymore. When Paolo was attending grade school, he auditioned for his school's production of "Oliver" and got the lead role.

Paolo graduated with a pre-med course at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After graduation, he had his eyes set on Broadway. His parents only wish was for him to get a college degree, which he did. However, after he got his diploma, he went straight for Broadway. His parents did support him in his decision primarily because he had a New York agent during his last year in college, with whom shortly after signing, secured him his first professional job on a national tour with "Man of La Mancha".

Paolo's success has convinced many Filipinos that he is the next best thing to happen to them since Lea Salonga. In an interview, he laughs saying "I wouldn't put myself in the same scale. She's a star. I'm just a guy." Though he may think he is just a guy, he too is considered a star to many people. Paolo understands the disadvantages of being an Asian actor in Hollywood. There isn't much in Hollywood for a stereotypical Asian who knows Kung-fu, who's a gangster or delinquent, or a wise munk of some sort. Still, nothing is stopping him. In the mean time, he's busy auditioning for other roles and relaxing playing video games and watching the cartoon channel.

Brian Yuzna was born on 30 August 1949 in Manila, Philippines. He is a writer and producer, known for The Dentist (1996), Beyond Re-Animator (2003) and Faust (2000). He is married to Cathy Yuzna. They have four children.