Princess Punzalan

Bernadette Vela Punzalan (born November 20, 1968) known as Princess Punzalan, is a Filipina actress in movies and television shows in the Philippines. She won the PMPC Star Awards for TV's Best Drama Actress in 1998 for her role as Selina Perreira-Matias in Mula sa Puso.

Career

Princess Punzalan started out her career as one of the regular co-host in now defunct GMA 7 Sunday noontime musical variety show 'GMA Supershow'. Soon after she was launched in her own afternoon TV drama anthology entitled "Princess" in 1987 which was produced by her mom Helen Vela's production outfit Hyper Vision. To avoid a possible collision with RPN-9's "Coney Reyes on Camera" (headline by her mom's best friend Coney), her drama anthology was aired at a later timeslot.

While her TV career started to blossom, she also branched out into making movies. She made her mark in the movie "Kung Tapos na Ang Kailanman" (shown in 1990) which gave her a FAMAS nomination for Best Actress.

In 1989, her drama series was cancelled to make way for "Family 3+1", a sitcom which she headlined with her mother Helen Vela and also starred Ronaldo Valdez & Caridad Sanchez. The show made waves and even received 2 awards for Best Comedy Show at Star Awards. But with the untimely death of its main star Helen Vela caused the show to gradually decline until it was cancelled. Soon after, Princess filled in the void left by her mother (as producer-host/actress) in the drama anthology "Lovingly Yours, Helen" which was renamed "Lovingly Yours". The reformatted drama anthology survived for 4 more years until it was ended by the GMA management in 1996.

She became popular for her role as antagonist Selina Pereira-Matias in the 1997 hit TV series Mula Sa Puso starring Claudine Barretto, aired in ABS-CBN. Her convincing villain turn prompted the public to take a second look at her but along with it came violent reactions also. Long before social media came, she had received numerous threats after an episode she did her evil laugh scene by bombing Barretto's character from a bus terminal.

In the later 2000s she expanded to various TV and movie roles as a character actress. One of her last TV series as a series regular was "Kung Mawawala Ka" a critically acclaimed political drama on Primetime airing on GMA-7 which garnered attention at the time of its back to back battle with the TV Drama Pangako Sa 'Yo.

She returned to film in a critically acclaimed material as co-teacher and Mila's bestfriend in Mila played by Maricel Soriano.

In 2005, she played the evil aunt of Ryza Cenon and LJ Reyes in GMA's afternoon drama series and Now and Forever's first installment series Mukha. She appeared in The Last Prince (2010) starring Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal, where Punzalan played an evil witch.

She appeared in the GMA Films and Regal Films movie My Valentine Girls (2011) with Richard Gutierrez. She did a film Johnny Loves Dolores (2012), an entry in the San Francisco International Asian Film Festival, directed by Clarissa delos Reyes.

Punzalan is now based in the United States, fulfilling her duties as a registered nurse.^[1]

Personal life

She was the daughter of Orly Punzalan (a broadcaster who was formerly the president of IBC) and actress/host Helen Vela, now both deceased. Her siblings are Paolo, Meg and Reuben. Her niece is Karen Punzalan, daughter of Paolo was currently worked as a model.

Punzalan was previously married to controversial TV host and actor Willie Revillame.

Punzalan settled in California since 2005 after she married an American Jason Field, a marketing professional.

Filmography

Television

Films

Awards

• 1987 PMPC Star Award for Best New TV Personality-(Lovingly Yours Helen),Winner
• 1998 PMPC Star Award for Best Drama Actress-(Mula Sa Puso), Winner

See also

• Eula Valdez
• Star Drama Presents

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References

External links

• Princess Punzalan at the Internet Movie Database