Other Famous Filipino-Americans Besides Ernesto from AMZN

Oldie but goodie from Fil-Am History Month 2021

May 15, 2023

Dear readers, hope you enjoy this piece I’m unearthing from my Otrivia Rodrigo blog. I’m targeting to have a brand new piece to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month in the next day or two, since May 2023 is already halfway over!

Amazon has been getting a really bad rap especially lately; I don’t think I need to tell you all the myriad reasons (*cough* phallic spaceship *cough* warehouse employees needing to wear Depends *cough* etc.). Which is why it was a magaling stroke of genius when they debuted on national TV their commercial featuring former employee turned nurse Ernesto. Who doesn’t love a Filipino nurse?! Especially a male one — you don’t see them as often as the females. Speaking for myself,

This Filipina-American’s heart swelled with pride at the positive representation of my peeps.

If you are Filipino but don’t have at least one nurse in your family, then I’m sorry but there’s something wrong. My family is chockablock with them, I mean I can count off the top of my head 6 straightaway, but I’m sure I must be missing some. And if you’re Filipino but not a nurse, then you are at least somehow involved in healthcare, because we are internationally renowned for being hella caring. I’ve got relatives in dentistry and optometry, and even I am tangentially employed in the industry as a data analyst/business intelligence developer, have been for two decades when you add it all up. Yes that counts, all right?!

But back to our beloved Ernesto. Apparently his world premiere was such a sensation that they recently came out with a sequel! OK, so with two commercials he still has quite a ways to go to catch up with Flo from the Progressive Cinematic Universe, but let’s give it some time. And I’m sure he’s got to be the most popular nurse where he works, with patients specifically requesting to be in his panel or else, so it will be hard for Amazon to book some time on his calendar. “Can’t you see I’m busy caring for the sick and injured, Jeff?”

All kidding aside, we Fil-Ams kick ass at a wide variety of other occupations as well. Following are just a few of them:

Music, syempre!

I kept hearing about Olivia Rodrigo and H.E.R. but only a lot later I found out they are part Filipina. There are actually other hugely famous musicians with Flip blood, such as Prince, but for this article I only want to showcase those who have actually gone on the public record as embracing their Filipino heritage. Initially I had thought Nicole Scherzinger was going to be one of these hapas to not make the cut for my article, but then I found this and also this. So she gets to stay, unlike Vanessa Hudgens because I am too lazy to ga-noogle (said with Filipino accent) for any articles about her being a proud Filipina.

In my family, we have a soft spot for Saweetie because she is the granddaughter of my mom’s longtime friend, plus we are both proud USC graduates (shout out to any other Fil-Am Trojans!). And last but definitely not least, the great Robert Lopez who is THE ONLY DOUBLE EGOT winner ever. As if that wasn’t enough, I saw him in an online benefit event supporting furloughed musical theater workers, and I swear to God Luke Skywalker himself pops in during his segment, because it turns out Mark Hamill was the personal babysitter of Robert Lopez’ kids! I mean is that not colossally badass or what?!

Acting, Cooking, and Winning the Olympics

Since I already mentioned Ms. Scherzinger, I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight her Trese co-star Darren Criss. Btw please check this out on Netflix if you haven’t already! I learned so much about ancient Filipino folklore from this great anime series. It also stars Broadway legend Jon Jon Briones, the kid from Hook and voice of Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender Dante Basco, and Lou Diamond Phillips who needs no introductory spiel.

There are many talented Filipino chefs who are locally famous particularly in the Los Angeles area, but let’s talk about Cristeta Comerford, who cooks in the kitchen of the most revered house in the country. The White House. She started out as an assistant chef in the Clinton administration, then got promoted by Laura Bush to Executive Chef, a position she holds to this day. The first and only person of color and woman to do so, serving five POTUSes and counting. You go, Queen!

Speaking of food, luckily Natalie Coughlin, being the 12-time Olympic medalist swimmer that she is, would have no problem working off the calories from her Lola’s lumpia and sinangag.

Lastly, no article about prominent Filipino Americans would be complete without this guy

A lot of my friends didn’t think Jo Koy’s Netflix special that he actually filmed in the Philippines was that good, but I had never watched one before I discovered I could just use my mom’s NFLX account, so to me it was pucking punny!! What can I say, he is such a force. I cannot wait to read his book (not gonna buy it, cuz we Filipinos are so frugal thus I will wait until I can borrow it from the library) or watch his upcoming TV show Josep. Which you guessed it, “follows the life of a hardworking Filipino American nurse.”

Addendum to that last section

So I did wind up reading Jo Koy’s book when it was my turn on the waiting list at my library, and it was really good! However, I’m sad to report his TV show never happened. Instead, it came to fruition as the movie Easter Sunday. The church scene where he basically takes over the homily produced some guffaws from me, as well as the cameo from one of the actors that I namedropped earlier in this article, but I’ll refrain from further commentary. Instead, please tune in for Part II where I’ll go into the topic of other talented Filipinos in more depth. Salamat for reading!