Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, better known for her screen name Heart Evangelista, is a Filipino actress, singer, model, and VJ. She is a Star Magic Batch 9 alumna.
Born on February 14, 1985 to parents Reynaldo and Cecilia Ongpauco, Heart is the youngest in her family, with one brother and four sisters. She grew up and studied in the United States. Her family moved back to the Philippines in her late teen years. She spent her high school years at the Colegio San Agustin, Makati.
Evangelista was first discovered by a commercial agent while at a mall with her sister.[citation needed] She signed up with Star Magic and was paired with John Prats on the show G-Mik. Her team-up with John Prats gained tremendous popularity, and they starred in several movies together— Trip, Ang Tanging Ina and My First Romance. They also starred on another teen-oriented show, Berks.
Evangelista was paired with Geoff Eigenmann on the primetime soap opera Hiram which also starred Kris Aquino, Dina Bonnevie, John Estrada and Anne Curtis. She earned her a Star Awards Best Actress nomination on this series.
She later starred on the fantasy-action TV show Panday.
Evangelista also won the best new female personality (Best New Movie Actress and Best New TV Actress) awards from Star Awards for Movies and Star Awards for TV. She also won Texter's and Listener's Choice at the Himig Handog Awards for her single "Love Has Come My Way". Heart also released the single "Tell Me" in Australia. It peaked at number 18 on the charts.
Evangelista worked on and off for three years (2005-2008) and focused mainly on hosting gigs, starring on a few Maalaala Mo Kaya and Your Song episodes, and giving time to her foundation Heart Can. In early 2007, she renewed her ties with her mother station ABS-CBN and was under a per project basis. She finished a sineseryefor the station, the remake of the movie Hiram na Mukha, and appeared briefly on Pangarap Na Bituin. She also topbilled the reformatted version of Your Song under the title "Muntik Na Kitang Minahal".
Managed by Manila Genesis Entertainment for two years (2006-2008), she is now being managed by her father and co-managed by Annabelle Rama, Richard Gutierrez's mother.
She announced her sudden transfer to ABS-CBN's rival network, GMA Network, last April 23, 2008. She signed up a two-year exclusive contract and is now being paired with Richard Gutierrez. Their first teledrama together on GMA's upcoming drama series Codename: Asero.
Evangelista played the title role in "Ay Ayeng," a film on the indigenous Ifugao life in Mountain Province, which premiered in Hawaii, on July 14, 2008. The movie was adapted from "Maestra Ester," a novel by Abdon Noviza and Lica Lazaro.
Since 2006, Evangelista has been very vocal on her conversion from Roman Catholicism to Evangelical Christianity. She now attends New Life Christian Fellowship after initially attending at Victory Christian Fellowship. She has always stated that her conversion is the reason she moved from Star Magic (backed by ABS-CBN) to the small and independent religious/secular Genesis.
Since September 2006, she has started taking on a humanitarian role starting with the creation of Heart Can, a foundation that aims to help children with respiratory diseases. Heart Can has been taking her through a series of mall shows. So far, it has already distributed many cans for donations, raising money for the young children benefiting from the charity.
Even though her transfer from Star Magic to Genesis has caused her popularity to decline, Heart says she has no regrets because she needed the spiritual counsel that Genesis could provide her. She has also stated that she is very happy with her life, "not just working but having...living a life.
