On March 1, 2026 three Filipino actresses received the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards. Kristin Villanueva, Amielynn Abellera, and Isa Briones are part of the cast of Emmy-award winning medical drama The Pitt.
It is a monumental achievement for a number of reasons.
We know how scant Filipino representation is in Hollywood. Even with a number of actors in Hollywood having Filipino heritage, rarely are their characters Filipino. Filipinos have gotten used to breadcrumbs in terms of representation, so an award like this is huge.
It’s a strange thing that we have been highlighted onscreen only these last 10 years. Filipino representation in US medical dramas is still severely lacking despite the fact that Filipino nurses make up 4 percent of the American nursing workforce. That’s over 200,000 nurses. We haven’t even taken into consideration the past workforce. Filipino nurses have been in the US medical industry as far back as the early 1900s. That’s a long time to stay invisible.
Grey’s Anatomy, a popular long-running medical drama that started in 2005, had its first Filipino nurse character only in 2021. St. Denis Medical (2024) has a “mafia” of Filipino nurses that runs the nursing unit. And one of the earliest portrayals of Filipino nurses is Trinidad “Trini” Campos from Chicago Med (2015), who was introduced in 2019—four years after the show’s start.
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What sets The Pitt apart from other medical drama is how the characterization of its three Filipinas is complex and, well, human. “Filipino” is not just a tag placed on them as token of cultural diversity. They are unique in their own way, so distinctly nuanced as Filipino.
Princess Dela Cruz (portrayed by actress Kristin Villanueva) is a huge chismosa (gossip), easy-going, and banters smoothly with nurses and doctors alike. Though hard-working like any overworked nurse, she finds ways to grab the easiest job if she can, not because she’s lazy, but then who wouldn’t? When you’re on your feet for over 15 hours a day, attending to patients (and their fluids) under severely stressful situations, why wouldn’t you want to try to pick the easiest task?
Her chismosa nature reveals a softer side when she and fellow nurse, Perlah Alawi (portrayed by actress Amielynn Abellera), find out it’s a student doctor’s birthday. Through the entire season they try to plan a celebration for her.
Perlah Alawi comes across as a representation of Filipino muslim women. This, to me, was a pleasant surprise, because the Philippines is typically portrayed as Roman Catholic. It warmed my heart to see not just Filipino representation, but also our diversity. Perlah is a little more gruff and straightforward, like many “titas” I know. She speaks without fear, and yet, like Princess, her caring heart shines through. Perlah tosses snacks at the student doctors, and sometimes takes a pause on a hectic day just to listen to someone.
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Both women are extremely capable in their jobs, hardly needing directives from doctors. They pick up the slack in the hospital and keep The Pitt (ER) running when the doctors can’t manage the never-ending line of patients.
They also serve as comic relief during heavy moments by speaking Tagalog and gossiping about the goings-on in the ER.
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Moving away from the Filipino nurses, we can’t neglect one of the main cast: Dr. Trinity Santos. She is played by Isa Briones, daughter of musical theater actor Jon Jon Briones, the gruff and prickly doctor in her second year of medical school residency.
Initially, in Season 1, Santos comes off as quite the bully to other student doctors. Brash and with no filter, she lacks bedside manners and is aggressive to learn everything she can. Strong-headed and abrasive, she’s bound to be the impersonal doctor who sees patients more like case studies than human beings.
But through time, we find out the reason she acts this way. Her sharp words emanate from a girl who doesn’t know how to talk to peers her age. She dominates a conversation because she never really knew how to listen. She is deathly afraid of being vulnerable and being perceived as weak—thus the tough exterior. But it is this toughness that makes her a fearless doctor in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Before a patient who abuses his daughter, she is the only one willing to stand up for his victims. Precisely because of such boldness, her character becomes divisive. Netizens either rave or despise her onscreen persona.
But that’s what makes me love her as well as the other Filipina characters. None of them is perfect— the best part about them. They are human with all their frustratingly beautiful flaws. The series’ writers treat them with utmost respect, not reducing them into one-dimension characters. They are not token inclusion that says, “Look at us! We have Filipinos!”
Dr. Santos humming the Hiligaynon lullaby Ili-Ili, Tulog Anay—the clip that went viral—happens because she simply doesn’t know what else to do. At her wits’ end facing a wailing baby, she attempts to calm it down with a lullaby, which she most likely heard from her parents, from childhood. She is awkward with the baby at first, but defaults to singing—another very Filipino thing.
The Filipino characters don’t bog us down with the eccentricities of Filipino culture; they act organically, in the situations. Their characters are not tokens, but written in a way that helps make the world around them even better.
Their cultural differences aren’t paraded or made to seem exotic; they are celebrated with respect. We Filipinos are shown to be just as human and worthy of respect as any other character around them.
It made me cry when Isa Briones was interviewed and spoke about how proud she was to win this award with her Filipino co-stars—how much it meant for her to be a daughter of an immigrant, as well as to play a Filipino healthcare worker who is severely underrepresented, despite being such a mainstay in the American healthcare system.
It’s sad that representation often stops onscreen. It should go beyond a drama series. Representation matters because people deserve to be shown that they have always been worthy. Though Filipinos don’t need to be reminded of our capability to be excellent, especially by non-Filipinos, it means so much to see ourselves onscreen as nuanced and complex characters. Filipinos are not one-dimensional, and The Pitt has respect and love for Filipino healthcare workers.
Congratulations to Isa Briones, Amielynn Abellera, and Kristin Villanueva! Their portrayal of complex Filipina characters will go down in history, and will hopefully not be the last we see of them as actresses.
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