Nikki Gil

Monica Pauline "Nikki" Gil (born August 23, 1987,Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino singer, actress, host, model and a present myx VJ. She is known for being part of the afternoon remake of Carlo J. Caparas's Pieta (TV series) in 2008-2009 as Guia V. Angeles and also in 2009, she portrayed Princess Punzalan's role in the afternoon drama which ran in 2009 and 2010 as Julie Bernardo in Nagsimula sa Puso. She is also well-known for her lead portrayal as Jennifer "Jenny" La Peña in the 2012 remake of the 1990 radio serial of Salvador Royales's Mundo Man ay Magunaw, originally played by Jennifer Sevilla in the film version and was produced by SEIKO Films. In 2013, she will play the role of Elaine Sarmiento in the made for TV Remake of the Blockbuster Film "Ikaw Naman ang Iiyak" originally portrayed by Dawn Zulueta and distributed by VIVA Films in 1996, alongside Melissa Ricks and Denise Laurel slated to air next year for the Kapamilya Gold block as confirmed by ABS-CBN. --- Monica Pauline Gil was born in Manila to Dino and Julie Gil. She is of Filipino, Spanish and German descent. Being born to a musically-inclined family, her father a piano player and her mom a church choir member, she was already singing and doing voice overs for commercials as early as four years old. She graduated from Shekinah Christian Training Center in March 2005 as batch valedictorian. In 2009, she graduated from Ateneo de Manila University, majoring in English literature. Her sister is Dani Gil, also plays the piano and sings. She was singing in a church when an agent spotted her in 2004. Shortly after, came a whirlwind of endorsements as she crooned her way into her first commercial ad for Coca-Cola in 2005. Gil released her first self-titled album, Nikki Gil, in 2005 under EMI Philippines with “Sakayan ng Jeep” as the carrier single. It was later repackaged in 2006 and released with the addition of a graduation song titled “Glowing Inside”. In July 2006, EMI Philippines and Walt Disney Records introduced her, with other Asian artists Vince Chong of Malaysia and Alicia Pan of Singapore, to sing and to star in the music video of Disney Channel’s original movie High School Musical’s theme song, “Breaking Free”. Gil sang “Gotta Go My Own Way”, which also climbed the charts and boosted High School Musical’s status to double platinum record. In 2005, Gil was given a VJ stint for ABS-CBN's music channel subsidiary, MYX. She was also picked to host the now-defunct talk show MRS on ABS-CBN and morning show Breakfast on ANC. She later would join the cast of the weekly variety show ASAP Mania. In 2006, she was joined by Toni Gonzaga and Bianca Gonzalez as host for the season 1 of Pinoy Dream Academy, a singing reality show from Endemol. In 2007, she became part of an anime-inspired fantasy series “Rounin” and as an extended cast for the drama series “Pangarap na Bituin”. In 2008, she was again chosen to be the host for the season 2 of Pinoy Dream Academy with Toni Gonzaga and Billy Crawford. In 2009, she appeared in “Pieta”, an afternoon teleserye with Ryan Agoncillo, and is currently appearing in the teleserye “Florinda” with Maricel Soriano. Nikki Gil is one of the mainstay on ABS-CBN with ASAP XV In 2010, she started hosting E-Live along with Luis Manzano and Ogie Diaz. She also did a fair share of hosting occasionally on Showtime replacing Anne Curtis. In 2007, Gil did her first movie appearance by doing a cameo role as John Lloyd Cruz’s best friend for One More Chance. In 2009, she appeared along with Bea Alonzo, Sam Milby, Derek Ramsay for a Star Cinema movie entitled And I Love You So. In 2010, she was the lead actress in a romance film entitled The Red Shoes produced by Unitel with Marvin Agustin, which won the Best Picture in the 27th Bogota International Film Festival.