Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. To celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month, we would like to give you weekly short biographies of famous Filipino American role models and achievers, some of whom you may not even know are Filipino.

There are hundreds of names, but this month, we are only focusing on those who are still active, visible, in the limelight and who have a high “audience following” – those who continue to make us proud to be Filipino, regardless of their religious and sexual orientation and political flavor.

Dorothy Laigo Cordova, historian and archivist

Dorothy Laigo Cordova (Photo by Alan Berner/Seattle Times)

At 88 years old, Dorothy Laigo Cordova is the “keeper of Filipino stories.” She and her late husband, Fred, founded the Filipino American National Historical Society in Seattle, Washington. “Uncle Fred” was among those responsible for convincing the state of Washington to declare October Filipino American History Month. Other states have followed suit. The organization has 36 chapters all over the country and a small museum in Stockton, California, where many Filipino immigrants worked in the early days. Cordova says that Filipinos are the “forgotten Asian Americans” because very little has been written about them. She and her husband would visit libraries and measure how much space the books on Filipinos took up. Even at her age, Cordova is irreplaceable as she narrates stories from memory.

Diosdado “Dado” Banatao, tech entrepreneur

Dado Banatao, known as the Filipino Bill Gates, is a rags to riches story. Growing up in a small barrio in the town of Iguig, Cagayan in the Philippines, Dado went on to found startups of Mostron, Chips and Technologies and S3 Graphics in Silicon Valley. A graduate of Mapua Institute of Technology, Dado started as a design engineer for Boeing 747 in the U.S., and once there, he furthered his studies at Stanford University, earning a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degree in 1972. Despite his success, he continues to give back and share his many blessings. His childhood town of Iguig boasts the only computer center in a grade school in the Philippines. He funds various scholarships for aspiring engineers. At an event in Manila where he spoke, he said, “We’re as bright as anyone. I’m just an average guy. I went to Silicon Valley and got trained by the environment itself. We have to have that here in the Philippines. We’re not lacking in intellect.”

Robert Lopez, music composer

Kirsten and Robert Lopez (Source: Shutterstock)

Robert Lopez is the youngest among 15 artists who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony (EGOT) and the only person to have won all four awards more than once. He and his wife, lyricist Kristen Anderson-Lopez, created songs in award-winning musicals like The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Frozen and Coco. Lopez is partly of Filipino descent through his father. He grew up in Manhattan and started playing the piano at age seven, and also wrote his first song at that age. Lopez went to Hunter College High School and to Yale University where he graduated in 1997. He and his wife have two daughters who had voice parts in Frozen.

Bobby Murphy, tech entrepreneur

Snapchat’s Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel

Robert Cornelius Murphy aka Bobby Murphy co-founded Snapchat, a social media app popular with teens. The son of a Filipino mother, Rosie L. Go-Murphy, he grew up in Berkeley, California. A graduate of Stanford University, he built Snapchat with Evan Spiegel, a fraternity brother. In 2014, he was named among “100 Most Influential People” by Time Magazine. He is listed as #11 in Forbes’ America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2016 at only 31 years old, with an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion. He has invested more than $30 million in real estate near Venice Beach and Pacific Palisades in California, where he resides with his wife. In 2017, Murphy and Spiegel created the Snap Foundation, which supports the arts, education and youth non-profits.

“Those who continue to make us proud to be Filipino, regardless of their religious and sexual orientation and political flavor.”

Monique Lhuiller, fashion designer

Monique Lhuillier was born in Cebu City, Philippines to Michel J. Lhuiller, a French-born Filipino businessman and Amparito Llamas, a former Filipino model. Lhuiller’s first foray into the bridal fashion market was her own wedding. She could not find acceptable modern dresses, so she created her own gowns for her relatives and the bridal party. It was then she realized that she could do bridal dresses for a living. She opened her first retail store in 2001, and her husband, Tom Bugbee, joined as CEO. Her list of clients includes Blake Lively, Demi Lovato, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Michelle Obama, Emma Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Melania Trump and Katy Perry. Her collection expanded into ready-to-wear, evening gowns, linens, tableware, fine paper and home fragrances. In 2016 a collaboration with Pottery Barn also produced furnishings for the nursery, bedroom and playroom.

Bruno Mars, singer, producer and performer

Bruno Mars’ real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, born to Peter Hernandez, a Puerto Rican and Bernadette San Pedro Bayot, a Filipina who migrated to Hawaii as a child. His parents met while performing in a show where his mother danced the hula and his father played percussion. He was nicknamed “Bruno” by his father after the professional wrestler, Bruno Sammartino, with whom Bruno shared a resemblance. He added “Mars” because “I felt like I didn’t have pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I’m from Mars.” He started his early career by impersonating Elvis Presley. After moving to Los Angeles, Mars signed a deal with Motown Records but was dropped a year later; but Atlantic Records picked him up. Mars rose to fame in 2010 for his successful singles “Nothing on You” and “Billionaire.” He has earned numerous awards, some of which include: 11 Grammy Awards, 3 Brit Awards, 4 Guinness World Records, 9 American and 10 Soul Train Music Awards. “Uptown Funk,” his collaboration with Mark Ronson, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year in 2016. Mars placed number 54 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 List in 2019, with an estimated earnings of $51.5 million for the period June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2019. In 2014, he partnered with Hawaii Community Foundation and the GRAMMY Foundation to establish a GRAMMY Camp Scholarship Fund to support the next generation of music makers. He also donated $100,000 to the orphans who were victims on Typhoon Yolanda. On June 2, 2013, his mother suffered a brain aneurysm and died. The singer wrote on Twitter: “So thankful for all the love during the most difficult time in my life. I’ll be back on my feet again soon. That’s what Mom wants, she told me.”

Darren Criss, actor, singer and songwriter

Darren Criss (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Darren Everett Criss rose to fame with his portrayal of Blaine Anderson in the hit television series, Glee, which aired from 2010 to 2015. He then won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of serial killer and fellow Filipino American, Andrew Cunanan in the mini-series, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story in 2018. Today, he has partnered again with Ryan Murphy for the new Netflix series, Hollywood. Criss was born in San Francisco, California, to Cerina and Charles William Criss. Cerina Criss is a native of Cebu. In a recent interview with People magazine, Criss says, “I’ve been half-Filipino my whole life. But no one ever asked about it. It’s tough, this idea of ‘white passing.’ It’s not even a term I heard of until the past two years. When people have a say in who you are – people you don’t even know – it makes you rethink what your balance is. Something you’ve had down your whole life.” He is an advocate for LGBT rights, and an active supporter of The Trevor Project, an organization focused on suicide prevention among LGBT youth. In 2019, he married his longtime girlfriend, Mia Swier.

Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigrant rights activist

In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas, outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times Magazine. At 12 years old, Vargas’ mother sent him to live with his grandparents in Mountain View, California, without obtaining the proper documents. He only learned of his fraudulent immigration status when applying for a driver’s license at age 16. He came out as gay during his senior year of high school in 1999. With the help of his high school principal and school superintendent, Vargas secured a private scholarship to attend San Francisco State University. In June 2012, Vargas wrote a cover story for Time magazine about being an undocumented immigrant. Shortly thereafter, President Obama approved the DREAM Act relief. However, at age 31, Vargas was no longer eligible for the program. In 2013 he wrote, directed and produced the autobiographical film, Documented: A Film by an Undocumented American, and in 2015 another documentary, White People, about the concept of white privilege. He has received accolades from Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA and honorary degrees from Emerson College, Colby College and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He founded Define America, a non-profit media and culture organization to fight injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. In 2018, he published his memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented citizen and in 2019, an elementary school in his hometown of Mountain View was named after him.

Antonio Mario Taguba, retired US Army major general, veterans’ advocate

Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, Ret. (Photo by Dennis Cook/AP) — Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, Ret. *(Photo by Dennis Cook/AP)*

Born in Sampaloc, Manila, Taguba hails from the province of Cagayan, Philippines. His father was a soldier who fought in the Battle of Bataan. At age 11, Taguba and his family moved to Hawaii. He is the second Filipino American to be promoted to the rank of General in the United States Army. In 2004, Taguba was commissioned to report on the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He accused the Bush administration of committing war crimes and called for the prosecution of those responsible. Shortly thereafter, he was reassigned to the Pentagon in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. In January 2006, he was forced to retire, without any explanation, thus ending a 34-year career of military service. After his retirement, he became involved in helping Filipino WW II veterans get the monetary benefits they are entitled to. He also was successful in getting Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to memorialize the service and sacrifice of more than 200,000 Filipino and Filipino American soldiers who served during WWII. He travels all over the country to deliver these medals to veterans who are still alive or to the veterans’ family members. Taguba says he wants to be remembered as “a good family man and a great soldier who did his best to serve his country and [who] contributed to the wealth and power of our nation.”

Jo Koy, comedian

Joseph Glenn Herbert, known as Jo Koy, is a stand-up comic. His American father was in the Air Force when he married Koy’s Filipina mother. He started performing at a Las Vegas coffee house, and now sells out arenas and theaters. Jo Koy performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2005 and received a standing ovation on the show. In 2017, he broke the record for the most tickets sold by a single artist, at 23,000 tickets and 11-sold out shows in Honolulu. In response, November 24 was named “Jo Koy Day” by the mayor. He also had sold-out shows in San Francisco, Winnipeg, San Diego and Manila. He was given the prestigious Stand-Up Comedian of the Year award at the 2018 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. His shows delve into raising a millennial and the intricacies of Filipino culture and traditions. In 2019, Koy reached #1 on the Billboard Charts for his comedy album, Live from Seattle. He established The Jo Koy Foundation in 2009.

George T. Conway III, attorney

George Conway III (Source: Washington Post)

George Conway’s father was an electrical engineer and his mother was an organic chemist from the Philippines. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1984 with an A.B. degree in biochemistry. He obtained his J.D. degree three years later from Yale Law School. His started as a law clerk, then joined the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. His practice focused on litigation involving securities, mergers and acquisitions, contracts and antitrust. He is married to Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump. He saw Kellyanne on the cover of a magazine and asked conservative commentator Ann Coulter to introduce him. The couple married in 2001 and have four children. His political views have been contrary to those of his wife since 2018. Conway is the founding member and advisor of the Lincoln Project, a conservative PAC formed in December 2019 and dedicated to “defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box.” Its aim is “persuading enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College, and congressional majorities that don’t enable or abet Mr. Trump’s violations of the Constitution.” Trump called Conway a “stone cold loser and husband from hell."

Sources: Wikipedia and Google

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