Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past months, Positively Filipino has been running a series on notable Filipino Americans who have made their marks in this country. There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands more, that need to be added to this story, and we need your help. If you know of a Filipino American who deserves to be included in this line-up, please send us their names and any supporting documents you may have to pfpublisher@yahoo.com. For now, we are including only those who are currently active and visible in the media and the community, regardless of their religious, sexual or political orientation. Thank you.

Dr. Demetrio Aguila, surgeon

Aguila is a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. He specializes in comprehensive peripheral nerve, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. He graduated from Boston University School of Medicine and began his medical career in the Air Force where he served for 22 years. He is the owner of the clinic, Healing Hands of Nebraska. Dr. Aguila started the M25 Program to give those who couldn’t afford surgery the option to pay for their surgery by donating their time to community service. He said he founded the program to help eliminate debt for patients. The program also allows those in the M25 to enlist others’ help by volunteering to earn hours on their behalf. Aguila takes a traditional lump sum or installments of the monetary payment system and employs a time-based system of billing that allows his clinic to set reasonable and predictable prices and determine how much volunteering a patient would have to complete to pay for their medical expenses. He says, “The M25 Program is not about money. If people come together to help other people, then your community thrives.”

Tamlyn Tomita, actress

Tomita was born in Okinawa to a Japanese American father and a Filipino Japanese mother from Ilocos. Her screen debut in a leading role was in The Karate Kid Part II, and later in Come See the Paradise, The Joy Luck Club, Picture Bride, Four Rooms, Robot Stories, The Day After Tomorrow and Gaijin 2: Love Me as I am. In television, she has appeared in 24, Glee, Teen Wolf, How To Get Away With Murder and The Good Doctor. She enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles where she specialized in history. It was her victory in the Nisei Week beauty contest in 1984 that paved the way for her acting career. In 1991, she was named by People magazine one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Her advice to budding actors: Be hopeful. Never give up. Make sure your foundation is strong. When Tomita is not acting, she spends her time advocating for Asians.

Ramon de Ocampo, television, film, stage and voice actor

De Ocampo graduated with a BFA (summa cum laude) in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. He was raised outside of Washington, D.C. and began his acting career in New York City theater, winning an OBIE award for his performance in The Romance of Magno Rubio. Other awards followed like the Princess Grace Foundation Award for Excellence in Acting, Dramatic Performance of the Year to name a few. Ramón is best known for his television work, especially for his recurring roles on Notorious, Guidance, 12 Monkeys, The West Wing, Medium, Killer Instinct, Sons of Anarchy, and Major Crimes; as well as memorable guest starring roles, most recently on: HAWAII 5-0, NCIS: New Orleans, CSI: Cyber, the Player, Castle, Bones, CSI, NCIS, and Gang Related. His film work includes: “30 Nights,” “Happy Endings,” “xXx: State of the Union,” “Hamlet,” and “I am I.” He is well known in the audiobook industry where he has been telling stories for years, narrating more than a hundred books. His titles include the bestselling adult fiction book “This is Where I Leave You” by Jonathan Tropper, and the Fantasy series “World of Warcraft: Traveler.” He is the voice of the nearly decade-long bestselling “Diary of A Wimpy Kid” Children/Young Adult series. De Ocampo’s audiobook work has garnered him many awards including 11 Earphone awards from Audiofile Magazine for excellence in narration, including “Best Voice” two years in a row; and the prestigious AUDIE Award. As a philanthropist, Ramón is a member of Charitable Living, an organization that volunteers and raises money for multiple charities year round. He is also a teaching artist specializing in teaching Shakespeare at juvenile detention centers.

Christine Gambito, internet personality

Better known by her screen name, HappySlip, Gambito is an internet actress and comedian who was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She maintained one of the most-subscribed-to-channels on YouTube and was appointed ambassador for Philippine tourism by the Department of Tourism. Her video, Mixed Nuts, was nominated for the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy, and won second place. That same year, she became one of the first users accepted into YouTube’s revenue sharing programs. Gambito attributes her nickname "HappySlip" to her Filipino mother's mispronunciation of “half slip.” “As a child, my Filipino mom would always remind me to wear a half-slip with skirts. However, the way she would pronounce the phrase was misleading: ‘Your hap e-slip! Be sure to wear your hap e-slip!’ So I naturally went around calling the thing a 'happy slip,' until friends at school corrected me by asking if I had a 'sad slip' as well.” At her personal site, she explains that the phrase is not only a funny phrase from the past, but it also reflects what she would like people to feel when they watch her videos, hoping they will "slip into happiness" while watching. In her comedy sketches, she impersonates members of her family. She also sings, plays the piano and guitar, and produces her shorts completely on her own.

Manila Luzon, drag queen and reality television personality

Manila Luzon’s real name is Karl Philip Michael Westerberg. He took his drag name from the capital city of the Philippines where his mother was born. He studied graphic design at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Luzon came to international attention as a contestant on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and on the first and fourth seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. In 2019, a panel of judges from New York Magazine ranked her 19th on their list of the top 100 stars to come off of Drag Race. She has released eight bestselling musical singles. Luzon lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Cassie Ventura, singer and model

Ventura was born in New London, Connecticut to a Filipino father and an African American mother of Mexican and West Indian descent. At age 14, she began modeling, and in 2004 she and Ryan Leslie wrote a duet called, “Kiss Me,” and her musical career was launched. Her musical sound is R&B, pop and hip hop soul. She pays tribute to her Filipino culture by incorporating OPM sounds into some of the ballads. Ventura is known for being a style icon and for setting the trend among women of shaving their hair. She was in a long-term relationship with the rapper, Diddy, from 2007 to 2018, but married Alex Fine, a fitness trainer, and they welcomed a daughter in 2019.

Michael Isip, public television president

Isip is KQED’s 10th president. With 25 years of media experience, he has played a critical role in KQED’s growth into a multimedia organization. He has led the station to become one of the largest and most successful public media institutions. He is a senior fellow for the American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley and serves on the boards of Public Radio Exchange, American Documentary, Inc. Joint Venture Silicon Valley, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. His parents immigrated to Michigan in 1968 from the Philippines. His father was an engineer while his mother was a doctor. Isip earned his B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from DePaul College of Law. He did not find practicing law exciting so after his father died, he followed his passion for broadcasting. Now he would like to give opportunities to fellow Filipinos and Asians who would like to work in television.

T.V. Carpio, actor and singer

Teresa Victoria “T.V.” Carpio’s grandfather was Filipino. Her mother, Teresa Carpio, a famous singer in Hong Kong loved television so much so she named her daughter after it. The family moved to Missouri when T.V. was only 11 years old. Later she moved to New York City to pursue an ice skating career but got injured. She made her television debut in Law & Order in 2002, but her breakthrough came when she portrayed Prudence, in the film, Across the Universe, in which she sang a rendition of the Beatles song, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” She continues to make various acting appearances on television, in films and on stage. In 2019, she starred in Little Shop of Horrors at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Zenei Cortez, president, California Nurses Association

Since 2007, Zenei Cortez became the president of the California Nurses Association (CNA). She is also co-president of the United American Nurses and Massachusetts Nurses Association that protects 185,000 nurses. She has been successful in negotiating for 19,000 RNs at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center for staffing enhancements, protection of nurses’ pensions and benefits and wage increases. Cortez was born in Manila and educated in Illinois. She earned her Associates in Arts at Harry S. Truman Junior College in Uptown Chicago before entering the South Chicago Community Hospital School of Nursing.

Bino Realuyo, novelist and poet

Realuyo was born and raised in Manila where he began his writing through his plays and poetry in elementary school in Tagalog. He spent most of his adult life in New York City. His novel, The Umbrella County, was included in Booklist’s Top Ten First Novels in 1999 and a recipient of the first Asian American “Members’ Choice” Literary Award in 2000. The New York Times Book Review wrote: “Realuyo’s lucid prose, unencumbered by sentimentality or hindsight, lends freshness to the conflicts of his somewhat familiar characters and color to a setting both impoverished and alluring.” The Manila Standard said, “This is a dangerous book because it reveals the Filipino soul, tortured, tormented by poverty…Everything in this book has the sting of reality. The images are stunning but true. The smells are so strong they assault the reader. The people are familiar characters we have met in the comings and goings, ups and downs of our city lives: They may be stereotypes and archetypes, but you know them all, they were part of each of our past and they’re still very much around, 30 years after Gringo’s recollection.” Realuyo continues to publish in literary journals, magazines and anthologies. He founded the Asian American Writers Workshop and has received many awards for his work. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the American University School of International Service in Washington, D.C. and holds a Master’s of Education degree with a focus on Technology and Innovation from Harvard University where he also served as a Social Entrepreneurship Fellow at John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Center for Public Leadership. In 2019, his poem, “Filipineza,” was projected on the stage screen during the band, U2’s performance in Manila to give the audience something to reflect on while waiting for the show to start. “Filipineza” is about the plight of Filipino domestic workers in Europe

Mon David. Jazz musician

In 2006, David won the London International Jazz Vocal Competition, besting 106 contestants from 27 countries, He was soon signed by the UK-based Candid label to record, “My One and Only Love.” A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Music, David is a vocalist, composer, arranger, musician, poet and visual artist. He is noted for his wide and advanced vocal range, progressive singing and techniques. Music critic Roger Crane wrote: “David can swing you into bad health and then, turn around and break your heart with a ballad.” Don Heckman of International Review of Music added: “The Filipino American singer is that rarity; a male jazz vocalist with a distinctly original style of his own – a remarkable voice able to leap octaves in a single bound combined with world class scat singing style.”

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 10