Hollywood Recognizes Fil-Am Nurses with a Talented Actor
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Yssamei Panganiban
When the sitcom “St. Denis Medical” referred to the Fil-Am nurses in its cast as the “Filipino mafia,” I know at least one Filipina nurse who wasn’t amused. The episode, titled “Salamat to You Too”, made a silly correlation between a small circle of nurses who are bonded by culture and language with an underworld of gangsters. America has become a dangerous refuge for law-abiding immigrants, so heightened sensitivity in television shows is warranted.
It would be a shame if this controversy diverted attention away from a multifaceted milestone for Fil-Ams in entertainment. “St. Denis Medical” acknowledged the large presence of Filipino nurses in American hospitals. The show employs a Fil-Am writer Emman Sadorra and features Fil-Am cast members Nico Santos and Yssamei Panganiban. (“Filipino mafia” wasn’t coined by Sadorra but by cowriters, Bridget Kyle and Vicky Luu.)
Many Asians are familiar with Santos from the movie Crazy Rich Asians which sold almost $240 million in tickets and topped the box office for three weeks in 2018. Panganiban may be a mystery for persons unfamiliar with Marvel Comics storylines involving superheroes Hawkeye and Black Widow.
In the Disney “Hawkeye” miniseries of 2021, Panganiban played a Black Widow named Sonya. “They requested different accents when I auditioned. I did one in Filipino, and then I did one in Russian,” recalls Panganiban of her initial belief that the show would demand a Russian accent like Scarlett Johansson’s in the Black Widow movie. “They were looking for more international Black Widows at the time, so they asked me to do the Filipino accent again a couple weeks later in the callback. I booked the part though they weren’t originally looking for a Filipina.”
Panganiban with Nico Santos on St. Denis Medical
To Be a Fil-Am Hamlet
Acting is what she initially did for love. “I joined the theater company because I had a crush on a guy in my last year of high school,” Yssamei recalls. “We were in ‘The Laramie Project,’ which is a play based on Matthew Shepard (a young man who was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming because he was gay).”
Alas, unrequited infatuation didn’t deter the budding thespian from a newfound vocation. While she says she has a singing talent “like every other Filipino,” she prefers dramas to musicals. Of the role she covets, she says, “I’ve always wanted to play Hamlet.”
The temptation is to dwell on her choice of a male part at the risk of neglecting a predilection toward a play that is often staged under a night sky for dramatic effect. The Prince of Denmark displays a sentimental streak that overpowers gender and burns away shadows:
Doubt thou, the stars are fire,
Doubt, that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.
While still at Verdugo High, the wrestling team exposed her to a rudimentary form of self-defense with a dubious similarity to the martial arts skills of her Sonya character. “I always lost,” she admits of her high school matches. “I wasn’t good at it, but I did it, and it was fun.”
She went on to earn a degree in Performing Arts with a focus on acting from American Musical and Dramatic Arts Academy in Los Angeles. Two brothers and two sisters were born in different cities of the Philippines, where their father lived. Panganiban had a different father; his name was Alex, who died when she was 18 months old.
“None of my siblings immigrated over to the States until much later in my life!” she says of her childhood in Glendale, California. “I grew up only with my mom for a good number of years.”
She and her mother were on their own a long time before the other kids joined them in Glendale, California. She doesn’t recall much about her father aside from his name, Alex, since he died when she was 18 months old. Many flights to the Philippines while growing up made her the rare second-generation Fil-Am who speaks fluent Tagalog with an American or Filipino accent.
Panganiban’s family: (Left to Right, Back Row): Yuro Garcia (brother-in-law), Mae Garcia (sister), Rigett Ramos (sister), Raius Ramos (brother), Jyra Ramos (sister-in-law), Mayett Panganiban (mom)
(Left to Right, Front Row): Jeremy Ramos (brother), Yssamei Panganiban
A Woman in a Man’s Universe
Credit for the toughness Yssamei exudes doesn’t go to her weight training routine. A strong will is essential to become a successful Fil-Am woman in Hollywood. “I think women of color, in general, are objectified. I still experience the exotic stereotyping,” she observes. “You learn how to navigate through it. Sometimes, it does feel frustrating.
“Sometimes, it’s just a game,” she says of sexism in Hollywood. I’m learning to use it to my advantage so that it’s not always weighing on me.” She offers hope. “It is becoming safer as we see more female productions.”
Panganiban with Fil-Am friends (left to right): Steve Soria, Alpha Faye, Alex Benjamin, Shea William Vanderpoort
A Filipina Nurse on ‘St. Denis Medical’
Even though French parents still name their sons Denis and Catholics everywhere honor his feast day of October 9th, a fictional hospital named after St. Denis would have to be a comedy. In paintings and stained-glass depictions of St. Denis, he isn’t holding a palm to symbolize his martyrdom. He’s holding his head. After the Third Century Bishop of Paris was decapitated, legend says, he walked 12 miles head in hand while preaching to passersby.
Panganiban complements the spiritual pedigree of “St. Denis Medical” with personal ties to the nursing profession. Her sister, Rigett Ramos, is a hospice nurse. While the actor wore her sister’s scrubs to the audition, she never impersonated her sister’s brassy charm before or after she accepted the role of Sharice. The character was meticulously shaped by Sadorra.
“My sister is quite the opposite of Sharice, but I didn’t have to add my vision to the role. It was well scripted,” she recalls. “Emman and the other writers did a good job in terms of collaborating to create the role. I just had to show up on the day of shooting.”
What’s in the Crystal Ball
Season 2 of “St. Denis Medical” is in the can and will debut on NBC and stream on Peacock on November 3, 2025. The young actor isn’t resting on her residuals.
Panganiban with partner Eric Banh at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
A strong will is essential to become a successful Fil-Am woman in Hollywood.
It’s not all work. She recently visited a brother in Seattle. The vacation is one of her few Instagram posts @ohmeigawd. There’s another show in the works, but it’s too early to disclose the title.
Someday fans will be clamoring for trivia about her. Here’s a snack for them and folks who eschew zodiac signs but would rather split humanity into two groups: Cat people or dog people. Panganiban has two cats. One is named Goose after the doomed Anthony Edwards portrayal in Top Gun. The other is Boba. I can’t advise on the personality traits of cat people, but as a bird person, I’m thrilled that she owns house cats that aren’t outside adding to bird fatalities.
Anthony Maddela has a master’s in professional writing from USC. He’s married to Susan, and they have two adult children in Charlotte and Gregory.
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