THE PHILLIPPINE MEGA STAR

SHARON CUNETA

Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan, better known as Sharon Cuneta, is a popular and multi-awarded Filipino singer, actress and TV host dubbed as Megastarof Philippine Entertainment, fondly called Mega by fans and people from the entertainment industry.^[1] [2][3] Her success in the movies (53 starring roles), television (9 shows) and recording (40 albums ) make her possibly the greatest Filipino entertainer of all time.^[4][5] Her popularity has translated well into the field of advertising, where she is the highest paid and most effective Filipino celebrity endorser.^[2][6] Cuneta's long list of endoresements run the gamut from fastfood chain to bank, from make-up line to electronics, from ice cream to tele-communication company.^[7][8][9]

On 22 November 2011, following months of speculations, Sharon’s big move to TV5 was made official by signing a staggering 1 Billion contract with the Kapatid Network – the highest ever paid to a Filipino artist. She parted ways with ABS-CBN, her home network of 24 years, on a cordial note.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Early life

(born January 6, 1966) Her mother, Elaine Gamboa, hails from Santa Ana, Pampanga while her father, Pablo Cuneta (1910–2000), was mayor of Pasay City for four decades. She is half-Tagalog on her paternal side and one-fourth Kapampangan and one-fourth Spanish-American on her maternal side.^[13]

Cuneta grew up surrounded by music, listening to her dad's collection of 45s, 78s and 33¹⁄₃s. Her aunt is '60s Shingaling Sweetheart Helen Gamboa. Cuneta during her early years made her first TV appearance in Kuya Ike Lozada's show, in the Bulilit portion, where she mimicked her Tita Helen's songs. Cuneta was just as young when she appeared in her first movie, the Rosanna Ortiz-George Estregan starrer Lovers for Hire. She played one of Roderick Paulate's playmates.

She attended International School Manila (Makati Campus), Boston University (USA) and the University of the Philippines Open University.

[edit]1978–1983: Rise to Fame

Cuneta first appeared on Philippine pop charts in 1978 as a 12-year-old, singing "Mr. D.J." which was very popular and earned her the title of "D.J.'s Pet" (which was also the title of her first album).^{[14][unreliable source?]} "Mr. D.J.", together with other hit singles including "Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko" and "High School Life" were released during the Manila Sound era. Other hit albums followed, and Cuneta was asked to sing on many movie soundtracks of the time - becoming the first "movie soundtrack star" in the country.

She starred in projects from Viva Films. At age 15, her first feature film, 1981's Dear Heart paired her with fellow teeny-bopper Gabby Concepcion. The movie was a huge success thus crowning her as the Popular Teenage Queen of RP movies by Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. (GMMSF).

Her early movie roles launched her as a "poor little rich girl". Although raised in an influential rich political family, she appealed to the sosyal (socially rich) and masa (poor masses) crowd of Philippine society, with her intelligence, humor and down-to-earth personality.

She started hosting with other teenage prodigies on GMA Supershow, later called Germspesyal, with German Moreno and C.U.T.E. (Call Us Two For Entertainment) with her aunt from Pampanga, former actress Helen Gamboa, via GMA 7.

She paved her way to fame in the early 1980s as a young recording artist and eventually made it successful as a teen actress. Sharon was one of the top stars amongst her contemporaries together with Maricel Soriano and Julie Vega. Cuneta earned acting awards in her early years in the business. Bukas Luluhod Ang Mga Tala ^{[15][unreliable source?]} was her history-breaking movie in 1984 and followed by another certified blockbuster Bituing Walang Ningning ^[16] in 1985, and was tagged as The Philippines' Megastar. On 1986 Sharon Cuenta was meant to duet with Shirley Jeffrey from being signed to Viva Records but was never seen on the recording studio.

[edit]1984–Present: Mega Stardom

Cuneta's success was witnessed by many of the Filipino people. Her movies were all box-office hits, crowning her the Box-Office Queen for many years from 1984 where she wore her first crown. Her recordings were chart-toppers and her television shows were loved by many Filipinos. Her acting abilities were also recognized by the critics and various award-giving bodies granting her the Grandslam Best Actress in 1996 for the movie Madrasta.^{[17][18][unreliable source?]} She became a household name in the Philippines resulting in her face being seen everywhere: on big billboards, on TV commercials and in product endorsements.^{[19][unreliable source?][20][unreliable source?][21][verification needed][2][verification needed]} Her popularity made her one of the most admired Filipinos.^{[22][verification needed]}

Her musical-variety show, The Sharon Cuneta Show was one of the longest-running television shows in Philippine show business from 1986 through 1997.

She achieved consistent recognition both in her recording^{[23][verification needed]} and acting career. Cuneta's movie projects were mostly certified blockbusters and history-breaking.

Cuneta achieved mega stardom since then and considered as one of the Philippine cinema's greatest box-office queens.

[edit]1980s: The New Philippine Movie Queen

1984 was the year when Cuneta's producers at Viva Films planned to change her image from poor-little-rich-girl image into from rags to riches type of movies. She made three movies that year including the movie Bukas Luluhod ang Mga Tala which broke all box-office records and made her the new Box-office Queen. She continued to make movies following the rags to riches formula and most of those successful movies came from popular comic novels like Bukas Luluhod Ang Mga Tala, Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin, Bituing Walang Ningning and Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita to name a few. She also won the Best Actress Award for the movies Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin? from FAMAS Awards and Sa Hirap at Ginhawa from Film Academy of the Philippines.

Because of her popularity, and her movies were acknowledged as having established a consistency at the box office, the Philippine press began to refer to her as 'Megastar' in their write-ups.

Aside from doing blockbuster movies, Cuneta also had a weekly musical variety show The Sharon Cuneta Show every Sunday night, featuring guests such as popular singer-songwriter Clair Marlo.

She married her love-team partner Gabby Concepcion and bore their first child named Maria Kristina Cassandra in 1985, but her popularity was not affected and made even stronger.

She continued to make blockbuster movies with her mother studio Viva Films and eventually elevated to a Hall of Fame as Box Office Queen in the later part of the 1980s.

[edit]1990s: Grandslam Best Actress Era

Cuneta's reign as box-office queen even made stronger when she did movies with the popular action stars like Fernando Poe Jr. (Kahit Konting Pagtingin-1990) Robin Padilla ,(Maging Sino Ka Man-1991), Ramon 'Bong' Revilla Jr. (Pangako Sa 'Yo-1992), Rudy Fernandez (Kung Kailangan Mo Ako-1993) to name a few. All those movies were certified blockbusters, that though she was already elevated to Hall of Fame as Box-Office Queen in 1990, she was crowned again in 1991 through 1993 because of the success of her movies.

For the first time, in 1996, Cuneta made a movie outside her mother studio Viva Films via the movie Madrasta from Star Cinema. This movie garnered her the Best Actress Award from all major award-giving bodies in the Philippines, hence a Grandslam win for her outstanding performance in the movie. Cuneta became one of the few actresses (along with Nora Aunor, Vilma Santos, and Lorna Tolentino) to be given a grand slam best actress award in Philippine Cinema.^{[24][verification needed]} In this era, she achieved continuous recognition in her recording, hosting and acting career.

On April 28, 1996, Sharon Cuneta walked down the aisle for the second time, to marry Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan. She left the country for a while to be with her husband in Boston who was studying at Harvard University. Even though Cuneta was not in the country, she remained in the limelight because of her many TV commercials that Filipinos were able to view everyday. She did two movies before she left for the States. When she arrived in 1998, ABS-CBN produced a talk show for her entitled Sharon.

[edit]2000s: Mega30, Three Decades of Megastardom

Year 2000, Cuneta managed to maintain her status as the Queen of Philippine movies by filming another blockbuster movie from StarCinema entitled Minsan Minahal Kita. Cuneta's late father, Pablo Cuneta, was mayor of Pasay City for four decades. He died at the age of 90 in September 2000.

She gave birth to her second child Simone Francesca Emmanuelle (Frankie) in December 2000 and her third daughter was born, Mariel Daniella Sophia (Miel), in September 2004, and decided to leave her television show.

In 2002, at age 36, Cuneta was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Board of Directors of the Phil. Association of Recording Industry via the Dangal ng Musikang Plilipino Award on her 25th years in music industry.^[23]

In 2003 she made a film with independent producer Unitel Pictures entitled Crying Ladies. With this film, she won a Best Actress award from The Brussels International Independent Film Festival held in 2004. Prior to that, she was awarded Best Actress locally by PASADO Awards and People's Choice in the 2003 Metro Manila Film Festival.

She did not make any movies from 2004 through 2007 while she concentrated her career in television and music. Her album Isn't it Romantic was successful enough to warrant the making of Isn't it Romantic II.

On January 6, 2006, The Megastar returned to television from her maternity leave with a 40th birthday celebration on ABS-CBN's Ang Pagbabalik Ng Bituin ("The Return of the Star"). The following month, a new talk show entitled Sharon aired, which she is still currently hosting.

After a long rest from filmmaking, she made another movie entitled Caregiver in 2008 which, according to ABS-CBN, is their most expensive film. In this film, Cuneta played the role of a school teacher working abroad as a caregiver. The movie was a certified blockbuster making it one of the highest grossing films of 2008.^[25]

Her long-time nanny/yaya Loreta Benitez aka "Yaya Luring" passed away last December 19, 2009 at the age of 83 due to cardiac arrest.

On January 12, 2010, coinciding with her annual birthday show, her self-titled magazine Sharon at Home^[26] was launched and has since become one of the best-selling titles of ABS-CBN Publishing.

She is now hosting a talent show for young women entitled "Star Power" and has singers Christian Bautista & Erik Santos as her co-hosts. Her panel of judges are Edgar Mortiz, Mitch Valdez, & Billy Crawford.

On November 22, 2011, She signed a 5 years contract with TV5 for 1 billion Pesos according to celebrity tweets in microblogging site Twitter, the biggest talent fee ever in any local artist in the Philippine Showbiz History, the biggest network deal, ever, for a local celebrity.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]International Success

Cuneta is the first Filipina artist to sell out at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium first in 1988 and her latest June 11, 2005 concert. Her poster is included in The Shrine's Hall of Fame next to starsMichael Jackson, Barbra Streisand and the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. She created a traffic jam in the 1990s and puzzled the former Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley. After hearing of her success, the mayor attended the concert and awarded Cuneta with an Honorary Key to the City of Los Angeles.

She sang a duet in the 2001 with Hong Kong star Andy Lau, with whom she sang "In Your Eyes" composed by Jim Brickman.

[edit]Personal life

Sharon Cuneta publicly married Gabby Concepcion in 1984, which was later annulled due to irreconcilable differences. Their wedding ceremony became the most attended nuptial in Philippine history, which was held at the Manila Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and was personally sponsored by Ferdinand Marcos and various high-ranking Roman Catholic prelates of the Republic of the Philippines. Together, they have a daughter, Kristina Cassandra Concepcion . Cuneta is currently 

SHARON CUNETA:  NOT  REALLY  A FAIRY-TALE  LIFE

[PHOTO AT LEFT - Sharon Cuneta in a scene from Mano Po 6: My Mother’s Love . Photo by VER PAULINO]

MANILA, DECEMBER 17, 2009 (STAR) STAR BYTES By Butch Francisco - From the ‘70s to the mid-‘80s, the late Pablo Cuneta of Pasay City was one of the more high profile mayors of Metro Manila. His success story — starting out as a rig driver — became an inspiration for the poor to do better in life.

When daughter Sharon Cuneta joined showbiz as a singer at 12 years old in 1978, the mayor’s name had even more recall and was soon known all over the archipelago and eventually abroad where there were Filipino movie fans.

In the beginning, of course, Sharon was referred to as Mayor Cuneta’s daughter and Helen Gamboa’s niece. But in time, she became her own person and turned into a huge box-office draw — until she was crowned megastar.

But surely, success doesn’t come without sacrifices. Her aches of the heart that included a failed first marriage (to Gabby Concepcion, father of her first-born KC) were always used to sell fan magazines (television wasn’t that intrusive yet).

Her having survived all that crises — both personal and professional — should definitely be attributed to her upbringing. Credit goes to both her parents, who obviously brought her up well (Sharon did the same thing to KC and now with Frankie and Miel).

The circumstances of her family life, of course, weren’t all that perfect. In the very late ‘70s, when Mayor and Mrs. Pablo Cuneta marked their golden wedding anniversary, there was a splashy coverage of the event in a Sunday magazine that reported how the couple and their children celebrated such important milestone — church wedding and grand reception. But at the end of the article, the writer asked: “But where was Sharon?”

That was a subtle, but not so gentle way of implying that the then teen star wasn’t part of the legal family. Instead of getting ostracized (in those days, there was still so much stigma attached to being born outside of marriage), Sharon was loved by the public even more.

In due fairness to the movie press, they never made a big deal about Sharon’s origins and save for that nasty aside, nobody made a fuss out of her family situation. This I attribute to the following reasons:

1) She never made an attempt to hide it — but neither did she flaunt it. She merely moved around polite society decently and got respect in the process.

2) Viva publicity took good care of her press.

3) She was ever so charming and charismatic from the beginning that you don’t care anymore about the little imperfections that life gave her.

4) She was so kind and in turn everyone became kind to her.

5) Her mother, fondly called Mommy Elaine, had always been so lovable and now it pains a lot of us that she isn’t as healthy like she used to be. But we all loved her (we still do) and my fondness for her is still engraved in my heart to this day. Never mind that we didn’t really spend that much time together. All that matters to me is the fact that the few instances we were together, she had always been so nice and accommodating and I will never forget her kindness.

Last week I had another chat with Sharon — arranged by Regal in line with the promotional activities for Mano Po 6, which is directed by Joel Lamangan. Since Mano Po 6 is basically a family drama, Sharon talked about her growing up years and was candid enough to discuss her not belonging to her father’s first family. “We’re not even the second family — pang-ilan na kami,” she says without any hint of bitterness.

“As children, we had normal lives and didn’t feel different from the rest,” she offers. “If we compare ourselves to kids who belong to legitimate families, but keep fighting among themselves, our lives were even more okay,” notes Sharon.

If she has any resentment at all, it was because “my Mom, of course, was not spared from snide remarks.” Elaine Gamboa eventually became Mrs. Pablo Cuneta when she and the then already retired mayor had a church wedding at the Sanctuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park in 1993 (the first wife had already passed away that time).

She and full brother Chet got along well with their half siblings. How many were they in all? “25 yata or 26,” she laughs. “I do not know them all, but am close to those I know.” Sharon felt love and affection even from the first Mrs. Cuneta when the latter was still alive. “And I loved her dearly.”

Today, it is no secret that the Cunetas have a family drama — no, not among themselves — but against the person who was entrusted with everything the late Mayor Cuneta had. “No, he is not even a Cuneta,” Sharon clarifies, “and I am angry not for myself, but for all my siblings who are the legal heirs. We don’t know where everything went and it’s like we’re going on a treasure hunt.”

Ironically enough, the Cuneta children are having family troubles now that they are all grown-ups (some with grandchildren) — all because of an outsider. “At least, from our end, we didn’t have problems getting along with my half siblings. My childhood was happy and Daddy made sure he spent time with all of us,” shares Sharon.

The megastar must really be upset because you can feel the anger within her (she can be so transparent) no thanks to “that outsider.” Only the presence and support of her producer, Lily Monteverde, buoyed her spirits after a grueling afternoon that was all work, work and work.

She relishes this experience of finally being able to work with Mother Lily, who actually stood as principal sponsor during her first wedding. “But the one she loves now is the new one… Ha! Ha! Ha!” (referring to husband of almost 14 years, Sen. Francis Pangilinan).

The offer to do a film with Regal came 10 years ago, but they had to find the right material and script and according to Sharon, “this is it.”

In this star-studded film, Sharon plays a woman who goes through hell and back. To her relief, the scenarios in her real life pale in comparison compared to the dramatic moments that take place in Mano Po 6. Compared to her screen character, Sharon Cuneta’s life is a fairy tale.