Stellar indeed.

The list of Filipinos making waves in the US isn't limited to the world of fashion and style. Actors with Filipino blood have also been making their mark in Hollywood. I remember reading an old article about Rob Schneider and Lou Diamond Phillips being proud of their Pinoy heritage. And as it turns out, there are more of them than I imagined.

While browsing through an article about the Asian-American Awards show in L.A., I was amazed by the number of half-Filipino stars in attendance. Initially, I thought the red carpet would be overrun by half-Chinese Hollywood stars like Ming-na or Lucy Liu. But it looks like we outnumbered them in this particular show.





I've always known that Tia Carrere was a kababayan. Apl d Ap has been proud to be Pinoy since day 1 - something that's evident in the songs that he wrote. Ramiele Malubay is set to conquer L.A. and Manila after her stint in American Idol. This makes me wonder what Jasmine Trias has been up to lately.

Then there are faces that surprised me because I didn't know they were from the same bloodline. Cheryl Burke turns out to be of Filipino, Irish and Russian descent. Aside from singing, dancing is a favorite past time among Pinoys, and this is probably the reason behing her "Dancing with the Stars" winning streak. On the other hand, it's our legendary singing prowess that most likely got Sharon Leal into "Dreamgirls." She's also half-Pinoy.




There are other stars in the list who weren't in any of the pictures. Like Vanessa Hudgens, Vanessa Minnillo and Alec Mapa (who was just hilarious on "Desperate Housewives.") If you add these Hollywood achievers to our other homegrown international stars like Lea Salonga, then it's easy to see that Filipinos really do have a lot of star quality.