Nancy Castiglione

Nancy Jane Jimenez Castiglione (born on February 24, 1981 in Canada) is a Filipina actress, model and host of Italian and Filipino heritage. Her mother is Filipina and her father is a Canadian citizen of Italian descent.

Early life

Nancy grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and took up Political Science at the University of Manitoba for two years.

Career

While vacationing in Manila, Philippines in 2001, Nancy was spotted by talent casters who got her to appear in television ads such as Nestle Yogurt, Red Horse and Piattos. Eventually, Nancy entered the Philippine show business. She has become one of the sought-after endorsors. Some of the brands she has endorsed are Bobson and Hang Ten Cosmetics Fragrances. She is currently the endorsor of Unica Hija and So-en. She has her initials "NC" tattoed on her hand by Butch Bautista.

Nancy's auspicious beginnings in Philippine Showbiz started in the year 2000, when the pretty Balikbayan was on vacation from Canada. She was spotted at a mall by a talent scout and was invited to star in a TV commercial. That one commercial for (Red Horse Beer) a local brand of beer propelled her to modeling stardom. In no time, Nancy was on the cover of local magazines and was the most sought after model of the year. Her next commercial for a yogurt brand made her a household face. Her warm smile won over millions of Filipinos and pretty soon she was guesting in TV shows and was opening for the noontime variety show Magandang Tanghali Bayan twice a week . ABS-CBN quickly snatched her up and offered her a role in the successful long running soap, "Sana'y Ikaw Na Nga." Nancy won an award as best new female actress in the Star Awards for her role here. But even before the Castiglione fever swept the country, Nancy was used to performing in front of an audience. She had formal classical music and theatrical music training and was part of the Philippine cultural dance group, Kayumangi. Not known to a lot of people, Nancy can dance the Tinikling, Pandanggo sa Ilaw, Wasiwas and Singkil among others. Nancy took up Political science in the university of Manitoba. She was also the Philippine youth ambassador for Canada and Italy in the year 1977 .at present she is the Philippine education ambassador for Canada. She became a GMA 7 exclusive talent and guested in almost all of the network's shows. Her debut movie role was opposite Piolo Pascual and Joyce Jimenez in " I Think I'm In Love; "for which she won another Star award for Best new female actress for Movies in the same year. Nancy became a regular of "Kahit Kailan" after the previous lead actress and the former teen idol from the other network couldn't bring in the ratings for the show. When the show folded, Gma replaced it with Love 2 Love, which starred Nancy in the very 1st season and the show became a runaway smash! Nancy's next role was in the soap Hanggang Kailan where she played a deaf mute. She had to learn sign language for the role. She also landed a role on Lagot Ka Isusumbong Kita , partnered with Cogie Domingo as the teen stars of the sitcom. Love 2 Love picked her up again for another run during its 4th and 6 th seasons for a much needed ratings boost for the program. She then got the much coveted female host slot for the first ever reality based talent search tv show- STARSTRUCK. This is where her hosting skills went into overdrive and she became an in demand host as well as endorser during that time. Nancy won for herself a generation of new fans- the kids when "Mulawin" debuted in 2004. Her "Muyak" character was reminiscent of Tinkerbell and it was so popular that "Muyak" was carried over to the sequel "Encantadia." Nancy was also part of the Ayala malls production of Mulan, where she played the title role opposite, Greg Turvey. She was in April 2007's Luv Spell series with Toni Gonzaga and Zanjoe Marudo. And had a stint as a vj for Studio 23. Nancy is Uno Magazine's 2nd sexiest woman in the Philippines for 2007 and is the brand new Gran Matador Brandy girl. She was also signed up by PLDT My DSL to be their "it" girl last December 2007. Nancy has also graced the cover of the following magazines in 2007: Motorcycle Mag, Speed, Uno, Girlfriend and Rogue. [ source: ALV Talent Circuit BIO]

Nacy has appeared twice in the pages of [http://www.fhm.com.ph FHM Philippines] . Her latest appearance was as the cover girl of the April 2006 issue of [http://www.fhm.com.ph/fhm-babes/profile/145/nancy-castiglione FHM Philippines] .

Filmography

TV Shows

*At Your Pleasure ( makisig network August 2007-October 2007)
*Love Spell ( April 2007)
*Stars On Ice Qtv 11 ( March – June 2007)
*VJ for Studio 23 (2006-2007)
*Encantadia (2005)
*Mulawin ( 2003-2004)
*Lagot Ka, Isusumbong Kita ( 2004 -2006)
*Starstruck (2003) host
*Love to Love ( seasons 1, 4 and 6)
*Hanggang Kailan
*Kahit Kailan
*Sana'y Ikaw Na Nga

tage Production/Musical

*Mulan (2003)

TV Show/Guestings

*ASAP 08
*Wowowee
*Wheel Of Fortune ( philippines)
*The Sweet Life
* Moms
* Boy n Kris
*Your Song
*Komiks
*Klasmeyts
*OK Fine Whatever
*ASAP '05 (2005)
*ASAP Fanatic
*Homeboy
*SOP Rules
*Quizon Avenue
*Close Up to Fame the (Final Call) 2005
*Encantadia (2005)
*GMA Anniversary at 56 (2005)
*Lagot Ka, Isusumbong Kita (2004-2007)
*Kapuso Christmas (2004)
*Kapuso Anniversary Special (2004)
*Nuts Entertainment
*Bahay Mo Ba 'to?
*Bubble Gang
*Kool Ka Lang

Movies

*Asal Bobo
*Agimat (Imus Productions)
*I Think I'm In Love (Regal Films)

Awards

*Best New female TV actress - Star Awards for TV 2001-2002
*Best New female Actress – Star Awards for Movies 2001-2002

Chapter 2 : NANCY JANE : The Singer

The road to Nancy Jane , the singer was a long and arduous one too. Nancy Jane, had formal training in Canada for musical theatre. She starred in local productions of South Pacific, Les Miserables, and The Wizard Of Oz. Nancy Jane, the electronica artist began as an experiment. While in a concert by a foreign artist, producer, Benj Gabitan noted that the show could have been a lot better if the lead female singer was sexier and more lively. He immediately thought of Nancy as a possible choice and approached her with the idea. Although, dance music was a far cry from Musical theatre, Nancy Jane embraced the idea because with the new dimension of dance music, it wasn’t just about the music or the beats. It’s the look, the vibe, the attitude, the entire package- it’s the lifestyle. Gabitan then engineered a deal with DJ Brian Cua ( who remixed Hale’s “ The Day You Said Goodbye,” and Regine’s “Shine”) to come out with a local electronica song that could be at par if not even better than their foreign counterparts. For this, he tapped into ace songwriter/singer , Jingle Buena( Jingle wrote the hit “Forever Blue” by Cacai Velasquez and recently re-made by Jed Madela) to write the lyrics of the song and thus “When You Play Around” was born. They went into the studio and cut a demo which they sent to Warner Music Philippines and head honcho, Jim Baluyut, signed up Nancy Jane. Over the past year and a half, Nancy Jane started working with several other talents and after countless hours of recording in the studio, “ Nancy Jane” the album was born. Nancy Jane the album features 12 cuts including compositions by Rico Blanco, (former vocalist of Rivermaya), Mayi Caballero, Shiela Judalena and Jingle Buena and arrangements by Rico Blanco, Dj Brian Cua, Ricci Chan and Bimbo Yance of True Faith. The album includes a wide range of electronica compositions from the riveting “Control” to the thumpy “When You Play Around”, from the loungy “Deep Inside You” to the euro-pop flavored “Without You.” The carrier single , “Love Song,” is written by Jingle Buena and arranged by Brian Cua. It is interesting to note that the song was originally intended to be released as an acoustic track and was pitched as a theme for a tv teen drama anthology. { source: Warner Music Phil. Bio} Nancy Jane was also signed up by IPVG's EGAMES to be their official endorser of their online games which include: Ran Online, O2 Jam, Supreme Destiny, Cabal Online, Granado Espada and Dance Battle Audition wherein her singles are featured. { source: IP E-games press release 2008}