Saturday, April 20, 2013

NORA AUNOR: Early Life and Education


Nora Aunor was born in Barrio San Francisco, Iriga, Camarines Sur in Bicol Region.  Her parents are Antonia Cabaltera and Eustacio Villamayor, she has 9 more siblings including Eddie Villamayor a former actor.  When Nora was growing up, it was her grandmother (Lola Theresa) who taught her how to sing and the first song she learned was The Way of a Clown.  Mamay Belen (aunt) on the other hand, taught her the right diction, interpretation and expression while singing and took her under their custody and from whom she got her screen name.  Nora became a Champion at the Darigold Jamborees Singing Contest singing her winning piece You and the Night and the Music and after that she won another singing contest, The Liberty Big Show.  Nora entered the national singing contest Tawag ng Tanghalan where she was defeated on her first try and became a champion on her second try. The Grand National Finals of Tawag ng Tanghalan was on May 29, 1967 where she sang Moonlight Becomes You.

Nora went to Mabini College ['59-'60] when she was in Grade I and transferred to Nichols Air Base Elementary School ['60-'62] when she reached Grade II and III.  She then entered Iriga Central Elementary School ['62-'64] as a Grade IV and V student and went back to Mabini Memorial College ['65-'66].  She then transferred to Centro Escolar University-ParaƱaque where she became a student on her second and third year high school and again in ['70-'71] as a fourth year high school.

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

WHO IS NORA AUNOR?


Nora Aunor (born Nora Cabaltera Villamayor on May 21, 1953) is a critically acclaimed Filipino actress, recording artist, and film producer.  Aunor has also topbilled several stage plays, television shows, and concerts.

Aunor started her career in the Philippine Entertainment Industry as a singer after she won an amateur singing contest. She made her first film debut with All Over the World (1967) and also guested in youth-oriented flicks produced by Vera-Perez Pictures and United Brothers Production. Aunor transformed herself into a serious actress and came to be regarded as an acting heavyweight, performed in movies like Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos (1976), Himala (1982), Bona (1980), The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995) and Thy Womb (2012) which gave her International and Local Awards and nominations.

Aunor received 17 FAMAS Award nominations before she was elevated to the "Hall of Fame" after winning five Best Actress Awards. She was also the most nominated actress of Gawad Urian Awards with 16 nominations winning six She has more nominations than any other Filipino actress in both FAMAS and Gawad Urian as Best Actress. She also won eight trophies from PMPC Star Awards both on T.V. and Movies, eight Metro Manila Film Festival , four Luna Awards, four Young Critics Circle Awards, a Cairo Film Festival award, an Asia Pacific Screen Awards, an Asian Film Awards, a Berlin Film Festival Award nomination, and a Venice Film Festival Awards nomination, amongst others.

In 1983, Aunor was recognized as one of the The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) in the Field of the Arts. In 1999, Aunor received the Centennial Honor for the Arts awarded by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).  She was the only film actress included in the list of awardees. In 2010, she was hailed by the Green Planet Movie Awards as one of the '10 Asian Best Actresses of the Decade'. In 2013 She received the Ani ng Dangal Award (Harvest of Honors). from the National commission for Culture and the Arts.  In 2013, she received the "Light of Culture Awards from Philippine Centre of the International Theatre Institute and the ITI-Earthsavers UNESCO Dream Center for pioneering in the integration of theater, television, and film.

Aunor is also one of the few Asian actresses to be nominated as best actress in three Asian film awards namely: 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Australia (winner), 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF) in Macau. and in the 7th Asian Film Awards (AFA) in Hong Kong (winner) for the movie "Thy Womb”.

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Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Aunor