Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past months, Positively Filipino has been running a series on notable Filipino Americans who have made their marks in this country. There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands more, that need to be added to this story, and we need your help. If you know of a Filipino American who deserves to be included in this line-up, please send us their names and any supporting documents you may have to pfpublisher@yahoo.com. For now, we are including only those who are currently active and visible in the media and the community, regardless of their religious, sexual or political orientation. Thank you.

Anne Aaron, Engineer

Aaron is a Filipino engineer and the director of video algorithms at Netflix since 2011. Her responsibilities include “hiring and managing software engineers and research scientists, strategic decision-making on software architecture and research, project management and cross-team coordination.” She attended the Philippine Science High School and received her Bachelor of Science degree in physics and computer engineering from Ateneo de Manila University. At Stanford University, she received a PhD in electrical engineering. She was recognized as one of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 by Business Insider, and by Forbes as among “America’s Top 50 Women in Tech in 2018.

Brendan Flores, NaFFAA President

Brendan Flores (Source: Sarasota Magazine)

A banker by profession from Florida, Flores is the first millennial and youngest president and national chairman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), the largest national affiliation of Filipino American institutions. Flores was born in the Philippines but moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was only nine years old. Growing up, Flores had an identity crisis and identified more with Caucasians and Latinos. When a customer invited him to join NaFFAA, Flores said, “All I see or do is chismis, karaoke and ballroom dancing.” He attended NaFFAA initially for business opportunities but as the years went by, he ended up falling in love with Filipinos and the culture. “Filipinos are good-natured. They love to have fun despite their problems. When the world is crazy Filipinos are having fun, and what’s wrong with it? I wanna take a shot, get back, and understand my culture,” Brendan explains. He was named one of the National Association of Asian Pacifics in Politics and Public Affairs’ (NAAPPPA) Top 40 Political Operatives and Public Affairs Professionals Under 40, and one of WorldRemit’s Top 15 Most Influential Filipinos in America.

Charlyne Yi, Actress, Comedian and Writer

Charlyne Yi (Source: Metro West Daily News)

Yi was raised in Fontana, California. Her mother has Spanish Filipino ancestry and her father is of Korean, Irish, German, French and Native American descent. Her screenwriting debut, Paper Heart, won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival where she starred as a fictional version of herself along with Michael Cera. She is also known for her role as Dr. Chi Park on the Fox medical drama, House, the voice of every Ruby on the Cartoon Network animated series, Steven Universe, the voice of Chloe Park on We Bare Bears and the voice of Alice on Summer Camp Island. Her film debut was in Judd Apatow’s 2007 film, Knocked Up. In 2009, Yi was chosen as one of Venus Zine’s “25 under 25” women. She has been involved with Oxfam America since 2010, to raise awareness about poverty and hunger around the world, and she also started the non-profit, Caring is Cool, in 2011.

Michael Copon, Actor and Singer

Copon is best known for being the lead singer of The Boyz n Motion. On screen, he is known for playing Felix Taggaro in the television series One Tree Hill, Vin Keahi in Beyond the Break, and Lucas Kendall in Power Rangers Time Force. He grew up in Chesapeake, Virginia with a Filipino father. His latest films include: Awaken in 2015, Worth the Price in 2016, Mad World in 2018 and Affairs of the State in 2018.

Kirk Hammett, Lead Guitarist for Metallica

Hammett was born in San Francisco, California to Teofila Oyao, a Filipino and Dennis Hammett of English, German, Scottish and Irish ancestry. He is the lead guitarist and contributing songwriter for the heavy metal band, Metallica. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones’ list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and in 2009, he was ranked Number 15 in Joel McIver’s book, The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists. Growing up, he had a passion for horror movies. His interest in music started when he listened to his brother’s record collection (Jimi Hendrix, UFO, Led Zeppelin). He then began selling his horror magazines to buy music records. In 2009 Hammett and his Metallica band mates, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is known for always having his picking hand taped to protect his skin due to his habit of palm muting and fast picking during lengthy tours.

Reggie Lee, Actor

Reggie Telmo Valdez, known professionally as Reggie Lee, is a Filipino Chinese American film and television actor who appeared in Prison Break, Grimm, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight Rises and The Fast and the Furious. Born in Quezon City, Philippines, he moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio when he was five years old. Although accepted to Harvard, he instead decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. He later changed his last name from Valdez to Lee, stating in a 2001 interview that “they kept calling me in for Hispanic roles, and I’m a far cry from Hispanic.” He took the name Lee from his grandparents. From 2017 to 2019, Lee had roles in various TV shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, LA to Vegas, NCIS: New Orleans and Fresh Off the Boat.

Eddie Flores, Founder of L&L Hawaiian BBQ

Flores’ family moved to Hawaii from China when he was a youth, the eldest of seven children. His Filipino father, a musician, and Chinese mother have sixth-grade educations and were part of the middle class in Hong Kong. In Hawaii, his father worked as a janitor and his mother as a restaurant cashier and dishwasher to make ends meet. With a learning disability, Flores repeated grades four times in China. He learned to be aggressive and business savvy, working in banks and real estate, and in 1976 when he became a millionaire, he bought a restaurant for his mother, which would eventually be the first L&L. The brand has close to 200 restaurants spread across Hawaii, California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Texas New York, Tennessee, Guam, and Japan. Entrepreneur rated it as the #1 Asian food franchise. Flores is active in the local community, establishing the Filipino Fiesta and Parade and funding it for 10 years, and he was also instrumental in raising $14.2 million for the Filipino Community Center,

Dr. Julieta Gabiola, Clinical Professor

Dr. Julieta Gabiola (Source: Stanford Medical School)

Gabiola teaches the Practice of Medicine at Stanford Medical School while mentoring medical students with their projects with focus on global health outreach programs. Her specialty is Internal Medicine with interest in chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes. She is a Stanford CIGH fellow. Her foundation, ABC’s for Global Health, seeks to improve chronic disease management and outcomes in Filipinos in the Philippines and in the U.S. She collaborates with hospitals and universities in the Philippines to mitigate disparities in health care and improve health care access, and partnered with institutions to do research and health education. She also launched the first medical mobile clinic in Pampanga, Philippines. Gabiola is also involved with the planning and execution of Stanford Digital MEdIC in the Philippines where academic institutions and non-profit organizations partner with Stanford to enhance digital medical education.

Shannyn Sossamon, Actor

Sossamon was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a French and Irish father and to a Native Hawaiian, Filipino, English, and German mother. Her maternal grandmother, Ethel Mangalao, was born in the Philippines. She first came into the spotlight at the height of the 2000’s teen dramas. She was the female lead in 2001’s A Knight’s Tale opposite Heath Ledger, beating out Kate Hudson for the role. In 2002 she landed roles in 40 Days and 40 Nights, opposite Josh Harnett, The Rules of Attraction with James Van Der Beek, and The Order in 2003 with Heath Ledger again. Then she took a break to be a mom: “He (her son) completely grounded me and made me look at myself, and my life just became completely different. It was just a gift, and perfect timing too.” She returned to acting with guest appearances in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and horror movies.

Bianca Pagdanganan, Professional Golfer

A native of Quezon City, Pagdanganan attended Assumption Antipolo High School. Her father would take her along his golf sessions during weekends. She entered Gonzaga University in the U.S. to pursue a major degree in sports management and then transferred to the University of Arizona. She helped the Arizona Wildcats clinch the 2018 NCAA Division / Women’s Golf Championships. Internationally, she competes for the Philippines, winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games, and at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, she won individual and team gold medals. She turned professional in January 2020.

Jasmine Villegas, Pop and R&B Singer

Villegas is of Filipino and Mexican descent. Her parents separated when she was a young girl and it was her grandmother who led her into modeling at the age of 6. She appeared in a commercial for the animated feature The Land Before Time IX, when she was only nine. When she sang the national anthem at a Los Angeles Clippers game at 11, she signed a record contract with Damon Dash. At 16, she moved to Sony Music, and appeared as Justin Bieber’s love interest in the music video, Baby. In 2015, Villegas released the first installment in her songbook series, co-written with R.W. Thomas.

Paul Pfeiffer, Artist

Although born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Pfeiffer, at age 10, moved to the Philippines with his parents who were classically trained musicians. He returned to the U.S. at age 15, earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from San Francisco Art Institute in 1987 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Hunter College, New York in 1984. He is a sculptor, photographer and video artist and described as “a clever manipulator of popular media, images and video technology……and one who excels at recasting well-known athletic and entertainment events with surprising open-ended-nuances.” He has had museum solo shows in the U.S. and the Philippines. He has received many awards and scholarships for his work. In 2011, Pfeiffer was a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.

Anna Maria Perez De Tagle, Actor and Singer

The granddaughter of famous singer and comedian, Sylvia La Torre, De Tagle was born in San Francisco, California. She is known for her roles as Ashley Dewitt on Hannah Montana and Ella Pador on Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. She also appeared on Cake, Fame, and on Broadway shows. In 2019, she married her longtime boyfriend, Scott Kline, Jr., and actress Uzo Aduba served as her maid of honor.

CJ Hunt, Storyteller

Hunt is Filipino and African American. He loves Filipino culture and food, but his Filipina mother died when we was young, so his father has had more influence on him. He received a degree in African Studies from Brown University and his career as a writer and comic has focused on race issues. He is best known as a writer, standup comic, and field producer for Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show. His full-length documentary The Neutral Ground started filming in 2015 “when simply relocating confederate monuments was hard for many to even imagine….and we can end our story in a moment when removals have become routine,” he reflects. “It is stunningly clear how our fight about monuments is part of a larger battle against the ways white supremacy has built itself into our world – pretending to be neutral and immovable.” He further explains, “It is not just a film about white supremacists being bad. It is a film about how we figure out who we are and what we cling to even when we know it’s not true.” Hunt draws upon his own emotions about growing up mixed race in the suburbs. His multiracial heritage and ambiguity are part of the story.

The Magazine

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 11