Francine Diaz

**Francine Carrel Saenz Diaz** (born January 27, 2004), better known as **Francine Diaz**, is a Filipina actress and endorser. She began acting for a range of television series, including *Be My Lady* (2016) *We Will Survive* (2016), *Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin* (2017), *The Blood Sisters* (2018). She rose to prominence and became a household name for her first leading role as Cassandra Mondragon in the highly successful TV series *Kadenang Ginto*.

Diaz is one of the hottest and most sought-after stars of her generation at present. She won as the Most Promising Female Star for television at the 51st GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Award. Actress Sylvia Sanchez called her as "one of the next generation of actors who will be at the top". Her psychological crime-thriller movie “*Tenement 66*,” had its world premiere at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea.

## Personal life

Diaz grew up in an impecunious family in Manila, Philippines but they moved out to Cavite, Philippines because of many struggles of living. Francine Diaz is the third out of the six children of Joaquin Diaz and Merdick Saenz. Her siblings are Chantal, Cameron, Carmela, Courtney, and Eisa. At some point in her life, she and her family moved to many places because they had a hard time paying for their house rent and debt for buying food to live when her father was sent home because of the crisis he experienced as an OFW. At a very young age, she already experienced so many struggles in life for her and for her family to live comfortably so she became the breadwinner of the family.

In 2020, her loveteam partner, Kyle Echarri denied rumors that he and Diaz were in a relationship in *Tonight with Boy Abunda*.

## Career

### 2015–2018: Early career

Diaz was spotted by her talent manager and tried to invite her into a VTR, where she kicked off in commercials and guest roles. By age 12, Diaz pushed herself to work and pursue showbiz for her family's future. At first, Francine had a hard time pursuing showbiz but she never backs down. Francine took minor roles on television and portrayed younger roles of characters in several teleseryes in ABS-CBN. She debuted in 2015 as she took the role of Young Sari in the drama series *Pasión de Amor (Philippine TV series)*.

In 2016, she got the young role of Pinang in the noontime drama series, *Be My Lady* and the role of Anya in the comedy-drama series *We Will Survive*. The latter was nearly known for portraying the young role of Kim Chiu in the noontime drama *Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin*. She also got the role of Ginny in the drama series *The Blood Sisters* in which some has noticed her great acting skills.

### 2018–present: Rising popularity

In 2018, Diaz rose to fame when she was tapped to portray the protagonist, *Cassie Mondragon*, of ABS-CBN's top-rated afternoon television series Kadenang Ginto. In this TV series, Cassie will have a conflict with her half-sister's daughter, **Marga** who is made to be her rival in the inheritance Robert Mondragon will left. Cassie is the daughter of Romina and the second daughter of Robert. She was the product of Romina's tragic rape case in which Alvin will confirm in front of Marga that the person who raped Romina is Robert Mondragon, her granddad so she is her half-aunt. Her role in Kadenang Ginto as Cassie became a subject of memes and hilarity, which added to Diaz's fame.

A teleserye would never be complete without a dash of romance, and that kilig is brought to us by Cassie and Kristoff in the series. Kristoff is played by Kyle Echarri in the series. Their tandem, with the portmanteau nickname of *KyCine* became the viewers' favorite. KyCine would soon rank as the country's most sought-after loveteams. It was awarded as the *Best Loveteam of the Year for 2020* in the **LionHeart TV Rawr Award** .

The lead cast of Kadenang Ginto comprising Diaz and Echarri with Andrea Brillantes and Seth Fedelin were formed into a teenage quartet, *the Gold Squad*. The teen stars would soon topbill several films and series. Due to the quartet's success, more teenage stars were added to the group. It is currently renamed *the Squad Plus*

The pair eventually starred in an iWantTFC movie, *Silly Red Shoes*. The film was directed by James Robin Mayo with the cast of Herbert Bautista, Anna Luna, Karen Reyes, and many more. After the Kadenang Ginto, Francine and her squad are set to reunite again to topbill horror film titled *All Nighter* that was put onhold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

By the end of 2020, Francine Diaz and Kyle Echarri also became one of the casts of another iWantTFC Series, *Bawal Lumabas: The Series* directed by Benedict Mique with the stars, Kim Chiu, Rafael Rosell, Paulo Angeles, Trina Legaspi, and many more. Bawal Lumabas was inspired by a viral statement made by the leading actress Kim Chiu regarding the ABS-CBN shutdown.

In 2021, Francine Diaz became one of the main characters again in the new teleserye, *Huwag Kang Mangamba*, which aired last March. In this teleserye, the latter stars along with her Gold Squad co-members Andrea Brillantes, Seth Fedelin, and Kyle Echarri again together with the other famous artists. She is also one of the main cast of the film, Tenement 66 that is directed by Rae Red and co-produced by Dreamscape Entertainment. Diaz would topbill the film alongside Francis Magundayao and Noel Comia Jr.. The Squad Plus are set to lead in another show—a surreal four-part digital anthology series *Click, Like, Share*. Diaz's episode is *Cancelledt* with Renshi de Guzman.