The fact that I am a Filipino actor playing a Filipino role is crazy. Filipinos are the second largest Asian minority in the United States, and we're hardly represented in the media and on television.
I'm part Filipino, part Japanese, part Chinese, part Malaysian, and part Spanish, and all those people, they love their karaoke. So whenever my family got together, we'd all karaoke.
Singing seems to be inherent in Filipino, just as it is in my race. That's why I have this affinity with Filipinos.
I'm really proud to be Filipino. Filipinos are really supportive, and I want to thank all of them. I love them!
"Filipino" is the Spanish side of our history. The islands were named after King Felipe, so we became known as Filipinos. It's a brand, it's a name. But we're Malays. Before colonizers came to our shores, we were Malays. My praxis is about being Malay - the struggle of the Malays before we became Filipinos.
If there's a Filipino flag waving, will.i.am whispers to me, 'Filipinos are over there!' And then I wave towards that direction.
I've taken salsa classes. I love dancing and I love to karaoke. So I bought a microphone with some tapes and my son and I karaoke. I know the entire 'Dora the Explorer' soundtrack.
My mom is Filipino and my dad is half Russian and half Irish.
Karaoke is something that's near and dear and very close to my heart. I was a karaoke host when I was working my way through university. I was a full-time student and karaoke was my night job.
My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany.
And, of course, in the Philippines there were so many thousands of Americans that were captured by the Japanese and held and who were rescued by Filipino Americans, or Filipinos I should say, and by U.S. troops near the close of the war.
I only did karaoke once in my life. It was with Courtney Love and it was a total disaster. She pulled me on stage in front of 500 people at a wedding. I'd never done karaoke before.
I love karaoke; you have to wail when you do karaoke.
I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans, because however a bad Filipino government might be, we can always change it.
Filipinos should need no longer kill fellow Filipinos. With peace, real progress can touch all corners of the country.
We Filipinos bond over food, music, dance, and shares stories. And to Filipinos, no matter who you are and where you come from, you always have an invitation to celebration.