Barbie Forteza

Barbie Forteza, (born Barbara Ambas Forteza on 31 July 1997 in Biñan City, Laguna, Philippines), is a Filipina commercial model and actress, known for her roles such as young Jodi in GMA Network's remake of the 2003 South Korean television drama series Stairway to Heaven and Cyndi Gomez in First Time.^[1] Forteza also appeared in several movies such as: Tween Academy: Class of 2012, The Road and the indie film, Puntod in which she won as New Movie Actress of the Year in the 26th PMPC Star Awards for Movies.^[2] In April 2013, Forteza released her self-titled album, Barbie Forteza under MCA Records with the carrier single, Meron Ba which was used as the theme song for GMA Network's koreanovela, Big.^[3]

In 2014, Forteza was chosen to play one of the lead roles in the television series, The Half Sisters along with Thea Tolentino.

In August 2014, she won the Best Supporting Actress award in the new breed category at the 10th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, for the film Mariquina, portraying a teenage version of Mylene Dizon's character Imelda.^[4]

Controversies

Barbie Forteza has been accused of stereotyping Filipinos with dark skin. Forteza dons a blackface in the TV series Nita Negrita.^[5] Her fair complexion is painted black to portray the role of an orphaned Filipino/African-American child. For the first episode, an infant is also painted black for several scenes which includes the birth scene of Nita Negrita. The series was also criticized for the poor make-up - Nita Negrita's skin color resembles that of charcoal, an obvious exaggeration of African-American skin color.^[6]

Filmography

Television

Films

Discography

Albums

Awards and recognition

References