Coleen Garcia
Danielle Claudine Ortega Garcia-Crawford (born September 24, 1992), known professionally as Coleen Garcia, is a Filipina actress, host, and model. Garcia started her career as a child and teenager appearing in several commercials. She was eventually signed by Star Magic, where she has starred in several television series and films produced by ABS-CBN. From 2012 to 2016, she co-hosted the channel's noontime variety show "It's Showtime", which she had left to focus solely on her acting career. Garcia's lead roles include the films "Ex with Benefits" (2015), "Love Me Tomorrow" (2016), and  Sin Island (2018), as well as the "teleseryes" "Pasión de Amor" (2015–2016) and "Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin" (2017–2018). Early life. Garcia was born in Mandaluyong to a Spanish Filipino father, Jose Luis García, and Filipino mother, Maria Paz Ortega. Her paternal family is based in Barcelona. Garcia studied at the Southville International School and Colleges in Las Piñas from nursery until sixth grade, then transferred to Veritas Parochial School in Parañaque, where she served as an editor-in-chief for their high school paper "The Wire" and part of the school's student council and outreach program. She returned to  Southville for college, where she is taking up psychology through blended learning. Garcia is a third cousin of actor Arjo Atayde and actress Ria Atayde. Career. Early beginnings. Garcia started as a commercial model as early as age 2, when she and her mom appeared in a commercial for Johnson & Johnson. At nine years old, she was an image model for Just G, the teens line for "Gingersnaps". From 2009 to 2011, a teenage Garcia starred in several commercial endorsements. Some of those advertisements include Skin White alongside John Lloyd Cruz, Lewis & Pearl cologne alongside Enrique Gil, and Nestea alongside  Neil Coleta as Matina. 2011–present: Breakthrough. Garcia has been under contract with ABS-CBN's Star Magic group of talents since 2011. She first appeared in the episode "School I.D." of the anthology series "Maalaala Mo Kaya", and was cast alongside ex-Lewis & Pearl partner Enrique Gil and former "" contestants James Reid, Devon Seron, Fretzie Bercede and Yen Santos in a teen-oriented show "Good Vibes". She also made appearances in other ABS-CBN shows and "teleseryes" such as "My Binondo Girl", "Wansapanataym", "Oka Tokat", "Little Champ", among others. In 2012, Garcia became a co-host for the noontime  variety show "It's Showtime". In 2013, she starred in her first feature film, "She's the One". In 2014, Garcia was cast in a supporting role in the Gino M. Santos-directed independent film "#Y". She played an extroverted adolescent named Janna, for which being part of the cast garnered her a Best Cast Ensemble citation at the 10th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. In June 2015, Garcia joined the main cast of the "teleserye" "Pasión de Amor", an adaptation of the 2003 Colombian telenovela "Pasión de Gavilanes", starring alongside Jake Cuenca, Arci Muñoz, Ejay Falcon, Ellen Adarna, and Joseph  Marco. The series ran for almost nine months, ending in February 2016. In September, Garcia earned her first lead role in a feature film in the erotic film "Ex with Benefits", reuniting with Santos and starring opposite Derek Ramsay. While it was a box office success, the film received criticism from the medical community for misrepresentation of the profession, where Garcia plays a medical representative. Garcia responded that her role was more focused on highlighting "her individual flaws" rather than being a generalization of the profession. In January 2016, she announced that she had departed "It's Showtime" to prioritize  her acting career. Later that year, she starred in an episode of "Maalaala Mo Kaya" entitled "Kadena". Her role as a mentally ill teenager was praised by critics and audiences for her portrayal of the character's several mental illnesses as a result of alcoholism and drug abuse, including auditory hallucination, antisocial personality disorder, and epilepsy. Garcia's performance in "Maalaala Mo Kaya" earned her the Best Actress award at the "Hiyas ng Sining" Awards organized by the Guild of Educators, Mentors, and Students. In 2017, Garcia starred in the action-comedy film "Extra Service", alongside Jessy Mendiola and her  Pasión de Amor co-star Arci Muñoz. From May 2017 to January 2018, she starred as Isabel Reyes in "Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin", reuniting with Cuenca. Garcia collaborated with Santos for another erotic film, "Sin Island", in 2018, with Xian Lim as her on-screen partner. In an interview, she revealed that she suffered a face injury during filming that was accidentally inflicted upon by her co-star Nathalie Hart. She appeared in the 2020 romantic comedy film "Mia", playing the titular lead role of a doctor who resorted to alcoholism after the death of her fiancé. Personal life. Garcia  dated "Good Vibes" co-star Enrique Gil from 2010 to 2011. In 2014, Garcia began dating her "It's Showtime" co-host, Billy Crawford. The two became engaged on December 20, 2016, and married on April 20, 2018. Her cousin Ria Atayde served as her maid of honor during the wedding. On May 1, 2020, Garcia and Crawford announced on Instagram that they were expecting their first child. Their son, Amari, was born in September 2020 via water birth. In October 2020, Garcia's half-sister through her father was born, nearly a month after the birth of her own  son.