Heart Evangelista

Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, better known for her screen name Heart Evangelista, is a Filipino actress, singer, model, and VJ.

Biography

Childhood

Born on February 14, 1985 to parents Reynaldo (a restaurant magnate) and Cecilia Ongpauco, Heart is the youngest in her family, with one brother (Miguel) and four sisters (Lissa, Marjorie, Michelle and Camille). She comes from the wealthy Ongpauco clan of Barrio Fiesta fame. Her uncle (Rod Ongpauco) is the founder of the Barrio Fiesta restaurant chain while her father founded several Barrio Fiesta branches in San Francisco, California. She grew up and studied in the United States. Her family moved back to the Philippines in her late teen years. She spent her high school years at the Colegio San Agustin, Makati.

Career

Heart with the cast of the teen-oriented show, Berks.

She was first discovered by a commercial agent while shopping at a mall with sister Camille. She signed up with Star Magic (formerly known as Talent Center) and was paired with John Prats on the show G-Mik. Her relationship with John Prats gained tremendous popularity, and they starred in several movies together—Trip, Ang Tanging Ina and My First Romance. They also starred on another teen-oriented show Berks. Before which their real and reel life romance fizzled. Since then, she was paired with Geoff Eigenmann on the primetime soap opera Hiram which also starred Kris Aquino, Dina Bonnevie, John Estrada and Anne Curtis. This TV show earned her a Star Awards Best Actress nomination at the age of 20. She later starred on the fantasy-action TV show called Panday. Another experience achievement is winning the best new female personality (Best New Movie Actress and Best New TV Actress) awards for both Star Awards for Movies and Star Awards for TV. She also won Texter's and Listener's Choice at the Himig Handog Awards for her single "Love Has Come My Way". Heart also released the single "Tell Me" in Australia. This one made it to the charts, peaking at number 18. Her decision not to renew her contract with Star Magic (formerly Talent Center of ABS-CBN) met a lot of negative feedbacks from some members of the press. She is now being managed by Manila Genesis Entertainment. Taking almost a year off work and focusing mainly on hosting gigs and on her charitable foundation Heart Can, she has recently renewed her ties with mother station ABS-CBN and is now under a per project basis. She finished a sineserye for the station, the remake of the movie Hiram na Mukha, and appeared briefly on Pangarap Na Bituin as the amazing and well-loved character, Cassie Salcedo. She also has a new album coming out soon.

Romance and controversy

Heart and Jericho posing for YES! Magazine's June 2006 issue.

She had an offscreen romance with onscreen partner John Prats. After this, she was linked to a non-showbiz wealthy, political scion. She has since then confirmed these to be true. She was also linked to actor John Lloyd Cruz but she denied having him as a boyfriend and only admitted to going out with him on several dates. She was also rumored to have dated Geoff Eigenmann, probably because they both worked together on two TV shows (Hiram and MYX) but these rumors proved to be false. She is currently in a serious relationship with Jericho Rosales who is six years her senior. They have been together since 2005. Rumors of marriage keep cropping up, and both say it most likely will happen but not right now because Heart is too young.

Religion / charity work

Heart in one of her mall shows to support her Heart Can foundation.

Since early 2006, she has been very vocal about her conversion from Catholic to Born Again Christian. She now attends New Life Christian Fellowship after initially attending at Victory Christian Fellowship. She has always stated that her conversion is the reason she moved from Star Magic (backed by mega-media corporation, ABS-CBN) to the small and independent religious/secular Genesis. Since September 2006, she has started taking on a humanitarian role starting with the creation of Heart Can, a foundation that aims to help children with respiratory diseases. Heart Can has been taking her through a series of mall shows. So far, it has already distributed many cans for donations, raising money for the young children benefiting from the charity. Even though her transfer from Star Magic to Genesis has caused her to lose projects and her popularity has declined from what it was before, Heart says she has no regrets because she needed the spiritual counsel that Genesis could provide her. She has also stated that she is very happy with her life, "not just working but having...living a life."

Filmography

Television

Movies

Music videos

Guest appearances

Discography

Awards and citations

See also

• Ang Tanging Ina
• My First Romance
• Bcuz of U
• Hiram
• Panday
• Hiram na Mukha
• Pangarap Na Bituin
• Myx
• Philippine Idol

External links

• Heart Evangelista at the Internet Movie Database
• Heart Evangelista Official Website (under construction)
• Heart Evangelista Fan Central