Time sure flies for the 25-year-old actress Maine Mendoza as she celebrates her 5th year anniversary in the entertainment industry this coming month of July.
Maine once admitted that being a celebrity has always been just a secret dream of hers, and that she never imagined she would get the chance to make the dream into a reality.
Unlike other celebrities who go through training and workshops before becoming a star, Maine joined showbiz in the most unconventional way after going viral online.
However, she had her fair share of setbacks. Back in 2015 she auditioned for the reality TV show Pinoy Big Brother 737 and just like some other aspirants, she was unluckily rejected.
Despite the setback, Mendoza became a social media sensation following her comedic screen presence in her trend of ‘Dubsmash’ videos, a former widely-used video recording application that allows one to dub over audio clips from films.
She further rose to popularity when her impersonation of the Queen of all Media Kris Aquino went viral overnight and got more than a million views.
1. With her viral videos, she landed an audition in Eat Bulaga on June 19, 2015, when a staff of the show left a comment on her Instagram post asking her to audition for the longest-running noontime variety show for they are looking for a new host.
Her first break in showbiz happened on July 4, 2015, appearing as Divina Ursula Bokbokoba Smash a.k.a Yaya Dub, the iconic nanny of Nidora Explorer a.k.a Lola Dora a character played by Wally Bayola. Her first role was only to lip-sync songs and popular lines of movies, the same as in Dubsmash.
2. She was fated to be a phenomenon when she unexpectedly found her split-screen love interest in the person of Alden Richards.
The simple acts she showed to Alden captivated the interest of the public which resulted in the demand for more ‘kilig’ scenes from the two. This happened on July 16, 2015, where the show started the ‘Kalyeserye’ segment.
3. The love team of Alden and Yaya Dub was born and was called AlDub. It became one of the most famous tandems in the history of modern Filipino TV which created the biggest fan group the AlDub Nation, where fans are composed of local and overseas Filipino workers who followed the young-love-sweet-love tale of the pair.
4. Maine became very famous that in just a span of a few months, co-endorsing with Alden about 10 brands including McDonald’s, Bench, Talk N’ Text, Coca-Cola, Bear Brand, among other products. She was even included in the Christmas commercial of GMA Network despite the fact that she is not a member of the GMA Artist Center and is being managed by Triple-A, the talent management arm of the executive producer of Eat Bulaga!.
5. Her first television series appearance was as a guest on Princess in the Palace’ where she played the role of Chef Elizabeth “Elize” Ricardo.
This was followed by the TV sitcom ‘Vampire Ang Daddy Ko’ where she portrayed Yay. In the same year, she also had her first film co-starred with Richards in an MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival) entry titled ‘My Bebe Love #KiligPaMore,’ together with Vic Sotto and Ai-Ai de las Alas.
She played as Anna Carillo, the stubborn and rebellious child which earned her the Best Supporting Actress award as well as the Most Promising Female Star in the 47th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards. The movie holds the record for the highest opening day gross in Philippine cinema with ₱60.4 million and grossed ₱385 million nationwide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnYtQgqfnUE
6. In her first year in the showbiz industry, she already garnered a total of 8 awards. She was honored the 2015 Gintong Kabataan (Golden Youth) Award. In the PUSH Awards 2015 she won the Push Elite Newcomer and PushPlay Best Newcomer. She also won as the Best New Female TV Personality in the 29th PMPC Star Awards for Television for her ‘Kalyeserye’ segment in Eat Bulaga!. She gained the Star Values Award given by the DepEd and City of Makati, won the Catholic Social Media Achievement Award, and was named the Starmometer’s Covergirl of the Year. And lastly, she was hailed as the Best Supporting Actress in the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival for her role in the film ‘My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore.’
7. In 2016 she was finally given the main role in the movie ‘Imagine You and Me’ with Richards. The film was released as AlDub’s first-anniversary offering which garnered a massive online reception that reached almost a million tweets on Twitter. The film was evaluated as high quality and graded B by the Cinema Evaluation Board of the Philippines. It grossed over ₱12.8 million on its first day making it 2016’s highest opening gross for a Philippine film until it was surpassed by ’Barcelona: A Love Untold. It went on to gross over ₱21.5 million at the end of the day until it totaled to ₱120 million in ticket sales. In this film, she won the Movie Original Theme Song of the Year (for the lyrics and interpretation) award together with the other cast. In the same year, she had a special participation in the 2016 MMFF fantasy-comedy film ‘Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers’.
8. In February 2017, Maine starred in her first-ever prime time romantic-comedy television series ‘Destined to be Yours,’ together with her love team partner Richards. Despite the issue of the storyline being a flop it still raised its highest rating of 11.6%. The series also ended well, exactly on its 13th week in May, which is equivalent to one season on television. This was followed by an Eat Bulaga! first television film titled ‘Love is…,’ a drama that redefined love, promise, and commitment as it revolved around the effects of clinical depression on a person. It earned a television rating of 7.8%, which is the highest percentage in its time slot.
9. In 2018, she starred in her first action comedy film ‘Jack Em Popoy: The Puliscredibles,’ alongside Coco Martin and Vic Sotto. This was also her first solo debut as she filmed without her love team partner Richards. The MMFF film was a box office hit for it garnered around ₱383 million ticket sales. It also won several awards such as Best Editing, Best Float, Best Picture, and the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence. She as well won the Box Office Queen award at the 50th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards. Both Martin and Mendoza were also nominated in the PMPC Star Awards for Movies as the Love Team of the Year.
10. She starred in GMA Network ’s top-rating sitcom, ‘Daddy’s Gurl’ together with Vic Sotto. It premiered on October 13, 2018 and is still on air with 75 episodes at the moment. This series gave her the Best Comedy Actress award in the 33rd PMPC Star Awards for Television and was recognized as the Pinaka-magiting na Personalidad ng Comedy Show in the 7th Kagitingan Awards for Television ng Bataan Peninsula State University.
11. In 2019 under the production of Black Sheep, she starred in the romantic comedy film ‘Isa Pa with Feelings,’ in an unexpected pairing with Carlo Aquino. It was the first-ever Filipino film to interpret the Sign Language which captivated the hearts of viewers, thus it received numerous good reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQPqluJDYLo
Even though the movie was not a huge success in the cinemas it strongly debuted with an unofficial gross of P6.8 and accumulated a total of P43 million gross income. Her latest MMF Film was the action-comedy film ‘Mission Unstapabol: The Don Identity’ which garnered the fourth spot for earning ₱74 million ticket sales.
12. She won the Favorite Pinoy Personality in the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and featured as People of the Year presented by the People’s Choice Awards. She won in the PEP List awards as Female TV Star of the Year and Female Breakout Star of the Year. She was recognized as the Breakthrough Female Star of Philippine Movies and TV in the 47th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards. She got the Most Influential Female Celebrity Endorser of the Year award by the 7th EdukCircle Awards and was honored the German Moreno Youth Achievement Award (special award) in the 65th FAMAS Awards. Maine also bagged Pak na Pak na Comedian for two consecutive years now in RAWR Awards.
Maine has achieved a lot in her five years in the entertainment industry, and she will continue to conquer more in the next years to come.
Beyond the actress, comedian, and host Maine Mendoza are known for, she also has a passion for writing for she has been maintaining a personal blog The Pessimistic Optimist Bella since 2012. She is a musician, after composing the theme song of her film ‘Imagine You and Me’ and had signed a record deal with Universal Records in 2018. And she is also the queen of endorsements for topping the celebrity endorsers in the country, the title that Kris Aquino previously held.
These achievements are proof that Maine is very much growing not only in the showbiz industry but in her other fields of interest.