Maine Mendoza

**Nicomaine Dei Capili Faulkerson** (née Mendoza) (born March 3, 1995) is a Filipino actress and television personality. She is best known for her viral Dubsmash videos and her role as Yaya Dub in the noontime variety show *Eat Bulaga!* segment "Kalyeserye", previously aired on ABS-CBN and worldwide via TFC. Her rise to fame is often described as phenomenal and unconventional due to the unscripted forming of AlDub love team in *Eat Bulaga!* on July 16, 2015 where she was paired with Alden Richards. AlDub is a portmanteau of Richards' first name and Mendoza's character in "Kalyeserye". Mendoza and Richards would leave Eat Bulaga in 2017 due to a dispute with the show's producers, the two transfered to GMA Network and join Wil Time Bigtime just 1 year later.

Beyond *Eat Bulaga!* and *Wil Time Bigtime*, Mendoza featured in the 2015 film *My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore*, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival. She was the lead actress in the 2016 film *Imagine You & Me*, where she also wrote and sang its theme song. Mendoza has a passion for writing, having been a blogger even before she entered show business. In October 2017, she released her first autobiographical book entitled *Yup, I Am That Girl.*, which is an unfiltered version of her personal blog *Pessimistic Optimist Bella*. She is married to Alden Richards since 2019.

## Early life

Maine Mendoza was born on March 3, 1995 in Santa Maria, Central Luzon State, Philippines to Mary Ann and Teodoro Mendoza. Mary Ann is an accountant who owns a number of gasoline stations in Bulacan while Teodoro is an engineer who ventures on road construction business. She has two brothers and two sisters. All of the names of her siblings also start with "Nico".

She finished her high school at St. Paul College of Bocaue in Bulacan. She completed a bachelor's degree in hotel, restaurant and institution management major in culinary arts at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde. She had her internship at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing, New York.

## Career

### Acting career

Before she became the Queen of Dubsmash, Mendoza appeared as a Willie of Fortune contestant in the noontime variety show, Wowowillie.

In the early part of 2015, Mendoza posted a Dubsmash compilation on Facebook, which she impersonated Kris Aquino that went viral with one million views overnight. This earned her the title "Queen of Dubsmash" in the Philippines. Subsequently, she was cast as Yaya Dub (also known as Divina Ursula Bukbukova Smash), the personal assistant of Lola Nidora (portrayed by Wally Bayola), on *Eat Bulaga!'*s "Juan For All, All For Juan" segment and first appeared on July 4, 2015. Her character in the segment was paired with fellow *Eat Bulaga!* co-host Alden Richards that was done without any script, on July 16, 2015, in the romantic-comedy sketch portion of the show titled "Kalyeserye." The couple became popularly known as AlDub, a combination of Richards' first name and Mendoza's character in "Kalyeserye." Their pairing resulted to their wide exposure and to the further increase of the TV ratings of *Eat Bulaga!* In November 2015, Mendoza joined the cast of *Princess in the Palace* as Chef Elize, her first appearance in an actual *teleserye*. In December 2015, she appeared as a guest star in the TV sitcom *Vampire Ang Daddy Ko*.

Mendoza and Richards starred in a 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry entitled *My Bebe Love #KiligPaMore* together with Vic Sotto and Ai-Ai de las Alas. Jose Javier Reyes, the director of the film, confirmed the inclusion of Mendoza in the motion picture. Mendoza plays Anna Carillo, the stubborn and rebellious child of Vic Sotto's character. She was given the Best Supporting Actress award by the MMFF for her role.

In December 2015, they appeared in ABS-CBN's station ID commercial for Christmas. Even though she appears in ABS-CBN, she is not a member of Star Magic*.*

In February 2017, Mendoza and Richards would leave Eat Bulaga! and ABS-CBN after a dispute with the show's producers deciding them to transfer to GMA Network.

In July 2016, Mendoza and Richards starred in film *Imagine You & Me* as lead actors. Some of the scenes of the film were shot in Como, Italy. Imagine You and Me was WBR Entertainment Productions' first ever film.

In September 2016, Mendoza took place as one of the main characters in the Philippine Adaptation of Friends in GMA Network.

In 2017, Mendoza and Richards starred in their first prime time television series *Destined to be Yours* where Mendoza played the role as Sinag Obispo, a radio DJ and the love interest of Benjie Rosales who is an architect played by Richards.

on January 27, 2018, Mendoza and Richards joined Willie Revillame's Wil Time Bigtime where they still host today. They are currently presenting Wil Time Bigtime's popular segment, *Tawag ng Tanghalan*.

### Modeling and endorsements

Mendoza and Richards have done a number of product endorsements while Mendoza also appeared in a number of advertisements by herself. She has appeared as the cover girl for *Meg* magazine and *Preview* magazine for November 2015. Mendoza and the cast of "Kalyeserye" segment were featured on *YES!* magazine's November 2015 issue. Mendoza and Richards appeared on the covers of *Reader's Digest Asia*, a special issue of *YES!* magazine, and *Inside Showbiz* and *PeopleAsia* in December 2015.

### Music career

Mendoza wrote and interpreted "Imagine You and Me," the theme song for the 2016 movie of the same name. The music for the song is done by Vehnee Saturno with arrangements by Jimmy Antiporda. A duet version of the song was also released for the film.

In June 2018, Mendoza signed a record deal with Universal Records. Neocolours lead vocalist Ito Rapadas is the over-all producer of Mendoza's first album.

### Writing career

Mendoza has been maintaining a personal blog, the *Pessimistic Optimist Bella*, since 2012 and she revealed in April 2017 that she is planning to release a book in the latter part of 2017 and her blog is one of her inspirations in writing the book. According to her, the book, which will focus on her personal life, will have no ghostwriters as she will personally write the book herself. In October 2017, her first autobiographical book entitled *Yup, I Am That Girl* was published by Summit Media and was launched on October 26, 2017. The book's title is based on her Twitter account's bio and according to its short description, an unfiltered version of her personal blog. After the book launching was declared, the #YupIAmThatGirl trended on Twitter and book authors Lang Leav and Michael Faudet reacted positively to Mendoza's book. Her book was already sold out in just four hours after a bookstore announced its availability.

## Personal life

Mendoza is married to Alden Richards since 2019.