Kristina Bernadette Cojuangco Aquino (born February 14, 1971), commonly known as Kris Aquino, is a Filipina television and movie personality who gained prominence from her talk shows, game shows, and numerous endorsements. Known as the Queen of All Media, Philippines' Queen of Talk, and Queen of Philippine Game Shows, both of her parents are natives from Tarlac. She is the youngest daughter of former Philippine senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. and Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, who served as the 11th President of the Philippines, and sister of Benigno S. Aquino, III, the current President of the Philippines.
Her first movie was Pido Dida, Sabay Tayo, which earned her the Box-office Queen title and her 2004 films Feng Shui and So... Happy Together also gave her the same commendation.[citation needed] In 2006, she regained the same Box Office title for her movie Sukob, which is the highest-grossing Filipino film of all time.[1] She is also the Executive Editor of her own bi-monthly magazine called K! The Kris Aquino Magazine. In December 2009, Aquino showcased her own Home Collection called K Everyday. In partnership with ABS-CBN Licensing, K Everyday features cooking collection, kitchen collection, plastic collection, and stationery collection.
Currently, she is a part of ABS-CBN, and is also residing in Makati. She is also a Tarlaqueña Kapampangan, as her parents are both residents of Tarlac province, with her father being a Kapampangan. Contents * 1 Early life * 2 Career * 2.1 Film * 3 Personal life * 3.1 Ancestry * 4 Business ventures * 5 Filmography * 5.1 Television * 5.2 Film * 6 Trivia * 7 Awards and recognitions * 8 References * 9 External links |
Early life
Aquino was born to Corazon C. Aquino and Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., senator during the Ferdinand Marcos regime. The youngest of five children, her siblings are Maria Elena "Ballsy" Aquino-Cruz, Aurora Corazon "Pinky" Aquino-Abellada, incumbent Philippine President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, and Victoria Elisa "Viel" Aquino-Dee. She is the cousin of actress and equestrienne Mikee Cojuangco and the niece of Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, Jr.
In the 1978 parliamentary elections where her father was a candidate, the seven-year-old Aquino wowed the crowds as a stand-in for her imprisoned father at campaign rallies. The young campaigner was featured on the front page of New York Times and on Time Magazine. Aquino spent most of her elementary school days in the United States where the Aquino family was in exile. When she was 12 years old, her father was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport. Kris Aquino returned to the Philippines and was a precocious presence in rallies against the Marcos regime.
After the 1986 revolution which removed Marcos from power, the teenager Aquino stepped into the limelight, starting with guesting stints on television dramas and comedies, as well as talk shows. Finally, she made her film debut with actor-comedian Rene Requiestas in the comedy Pido Dida. This movie was a blockbuster hit and made Aquino the box office queen for that year.
Aquino afterwards had a commercially steady, though critically panned career and managed to score an acting nomination for The Fatima Buen Story. She starred in a film based on a true-life murder, the Vizconde Massacre. Its financial success and successive crime films of the same vein in which she starred in gained her the nickname "Massacre Queen" by newspaper critics.[citation needed]
Aquino finished her elementary school education at the Poveda Learning Center in Mandaluyong City, high school at the Colegio San Agustin-Makati where she was classmates with Pinky Webb and Karen Davila. She graduated college from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.
Career
In 1986, Aquino, at 14, made her first TV appearance on Inday Badiday's See-Tru on GMA-7. She was the star of the short-lived comedy show ABS-CBN Luv Ko Si Kris.
With her movie career slowing, Aquino shifted her sights on a television career as a talk show host launched through Kris produced by Viva Television on Channel 4 (at that time named PTV, this was transferred to GMA Network which has partnership with Viva and after Viva's contract with PTV ended). It was in GMA Network showbiz oriented talk show Startalk where she co-hosted with Boy Abunda and Lolit Solis that her hosting capabilities were noticed.
After her GMA and Viva no longer wanted her services, she went back to media conglomerate and GMA Network's rival ABS-CBN which noticed her undeniable hosting wit, offered her a contract and launched Today with Kris Aquino. In January 2003 to May 2004, she hosted the talk show Morning Girls with Kris and Korina, alongside popular broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez. It was intended for only two weeks but went on for 16 months. In 2007, she officially left The Buzz and Pilipinas, Game KNB? after giving birth to her second son, James. She was replaced by Edu Manzano in Pilipinas, Game KNB?. According to her, she had to give up her hosting stint on the said shows to give more time to her baby. It was also assumed that she does not want to go back to The Buzz because she no longer wants to work with former co-host Cristy Fermin.[2]
In the October 2008 issue of YES! Magazine, Aquino was considered top or the leading celebrity endorser, ranking number one among the twenty popular celebrity endorsers.[3]
Aquino is the executive editor of the K Magazine of ABS -CBN publishing. "Carrying Kris celebrity equity, "K" is about getting her style, her personality, her lifestyle and her appeal. The magazine reflects the key concerns of the target market presented by Kris herself: beauty, fashion, body, relationships, career, money and self."[4]
Aquino hosted the Philippine franchise of Deal or No Deal, which is part of ABS-CBN's primetime lineup. It ended its first season on February 23, 2007. The second season of the said game show started on June 11, 2007. On May 5, 2008, she appeared on the US version as part of a "Deal or No Deal around the world" event, where host Howie Mandel and an American contestant were taken to an international location, and played the game in that country, with the local models and host assisting Mandel. She also hosts Boy & Kris, a morning talk show that replaced Homeboy, together with Boy Abunda,[5] and Be Bench/, a model search show together with Piolo Pascual.[6][7] Nestor Torre, a known critic of the Philippine Entertainment industry, pointed out that Aquino took a lot of risks when she chose to give up her two former shows. The critic pointed out that giving up The Buzz and Pilipinas, Game KNB? deprived her of the major exposure that those two popular shows afforded her. Torre also noted that it is much more difficult to successfully launch new shows than to resume hosting programs that are already popular.[8]
She hosted another TV franchise Wheel of Fortune, which incidentally replaced Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal. She said in an interview[citation needed] that she was a huge fan of the U.S. version and was thrilled to bring the show back to her country. (Wheel of Fortune had already had one 2001-02 run in the Philippines, which was hosted by Rustom Padilla and Victoria Wonderheim.) She hosted Showbiz News Ngayon on its newest season. In October 2008 after former The Buzz co-host Cristy Fermin was suspended by ABS-CBN, the Kapamilya network asked Aquino to once again host the top-rated showbiz oriented talk show together with Boy Abunda and Ruffa Gutierrez. After much controversy, Aquino hosted The Buzz again starting on October 26, 2008.
Aquino officially left Showbiz News Ngayon on June 25, 2010[9] and The Buzz on June 27, 2010 after being an on and off main host of the show for ten years. The reason for her leaving the show is that she will be spending time with her family and for her not to cause any issues while her brother Benigno Aquino III is in office as President of the Philippines.[10][11] Despite her leave for her family, she hosted ABS-CBN's new noontime variety show called Pilipinas Win Na Win but left after two months upon the decision of the management.
After how many months, in the third quarter of 2011, Kris come back and again she showcase her hosting skills in her new morning talkshow entitled "Kris TV" in ABS-CBN. And on the first anniversary of the said show, the management and Kris decided to invite Senator Chiz Escudero (formerly linked with her) to be a co-host and a special guest as well.
Film
Aquino got her start in film with the help of Regal Films, one of the oldest film outfits in the Philippines. Her early film includes the Pido Dida series, where she was paired with comedian Rene Requiestas and earned her first box-office queen award. She later shifted into other roles, notably with massacre films such as The Vizconde Massacre, Myrna Diones Story, Elsa Castillo-Ang Katotohanan, and Humanda Ka Mayor. Despite her being a big draw in the box office, her acting skills were considered stiff and mechanical. She was dubbed then as "massacre queen" because of her portrayals in massacre movies which was the vogue during the time.
She first drew praise for her acting when she earned a nomination from the Gawad Urian award-giving body, composed of film critics, for the film The Fatima Buen Story. She eventually won a supporting actress award for the film Mano Po (2002 Regal Films), where she portrayed a weak-willed and submissive scion of a wealthy Filipino-Chinese clan. This was her comeback movie after her long layoff from movie acting.
Aquino's most commercially-successful movies in her career are: Feng Shui, a Star Cinema production that featured Chinese influences and omen. Feng Shui, which was made d