Born Maria Cecilia Dador Soriano on February 25, 1965,
Maricel Soriano is a popular and awarded actress in the Philippines. She
started acting at the very young age of six via the 1971 movie My
Heart Belongs to Daddy. Her role as Shirley Puruntong in the iconic TV
sitcom John and Marsha will later catapult her to fame as a talented
child star of the 1970's. She will later earn the moniker Diamond Star of
Philippine Show business after her very successful stints on television and the
movies in both drama and comedy genres. She was also known as "Taray
Queen" for her feisty roles in movies.
With the late King of Comedy Dolphy and great actress Nida
Blanca as mentors, it was not surprising that Soriano received her first acting
awards in a very tender age. At nine, she was awarded as the Best Child Actress
at the 9th Manila Film Festival for Virgo Film's Alaala Mo, Daigdig Ko in
1974, her first ever acting award. She also won the same award at the 1974 Ilo-ilo
Film Festival for John and Marsha.
In 1978, Maria, as she was fondly called by friends and
fans, appeared as one of the main cast in the pioneering children show, Kaluskus
Musmos. In a couple more years, she was launched into full stardom in
1980 via Regal Films' Underage where her acting talent and
charm endeared her to viewers.
She was paired with William Martinez in 1981 and their love
team was launched via the movie Oh My Mama. The tandem was so well
received that they made multiple box office hits one after another. Because of
her films' impressive blockbuster performance, she was considered the top Regal
Baby in the 80's and 90's. Even the Regal matriarch, Lily Monteverde, herself
acknowledged that "Regal without
Maricel is nothing."
The Diamond Star continued to shine throughout the years.
Thanks to her versatility, she remains as one of the country's top actresses
that can tackle different roles with aplomb, whether in drama or comedy and
even in horror, suspense, action and romance.
Maricel's television career is also something to be proud
of. Aside from John and Marsha, her other notable TV outings include musical
variety shows Maria! Maria! and Maricel Live!; drama anthology
series Maricel Drama Special; sitcoms 2+2, Kung Kaya ni Mister, Kaya ni
Misis, Mary d' Potter, Bida
si Mister, Bida si Misis, and John En Shirley which reunited her
with Dolphy; and soap operas Vietnam Rose and Florinda.
Aside from TV and film Soriano also recorded a couple of
songs in the 1980s including the gold single Ngayon at Habang Panahon, a
song penned by Sen. Tito Sotto and the theme song of her movie Oh
My Mama in 1981. She had major concert at the Araneta Coliseum titled Hello,
Hello Maricel in 1987.
Soriano is considered as the country's third most awarded
film
actress of all time in
Pinoy celebrities. She has received close to 50 movie and television
awards throughout her career including Best Child Actress, Best Supporting
Actress, Achiever Award as actress/producer, Best Performer and Best Actress,
from various award-giving bodies such as FAMAS, PMPC, Empress, FAP, YCC,
Pasado, GMMSFP, MMFF, Manila, Iloilo and Cinemanila Film Festivals, and the Asian
Television Awards.
7:22 AM
Jevelme Frago
