Kim Chiu

Chiu gained prominence by winning the reality series Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition.[5] For the show, Chiu left her hometown of Cebu City and moved to Manila. She, along with the rest of the housemates entered the Big Brother house on April 23, 2006. After 42 days in the Big Brother house, she was named the Teen Big Winner with 626,562 votes (41.4% of the total votes) at the Aliw Theatre inside the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex in Pasay City.[6] She was the only housemate who was never nominated for eviction.[7]

After winning, Chiu became part of Star Magic.[8] She and her on-screen partner Gerald Anderson became regulars in ASAP XV and appeared together in several ABS-CBN shows Love Spell, comedy sitcom Aalog-Alog and in the film First Day High.

In 2007, Chiu starred in the primetime TV series entitled Sana Maulit Muli alongside Anderson which was released to significant acclaim.[9] That year, she was nominated and eventually won the 38th Guillermo Mendoza Box Office Awards as Most Promising Female Star and Best New Female TV Personality (for Sana Maulit Muli) at the 21st PMPC Star Awards.[10] Sana Maulit Muli was later released in Taiwan under the PTS network, under the title Chances.[11]

Chiu then launched her debut album Gwa Ai Di (我爱你; Minnan, "I Love You") under Star Records, which included the single Crazy Love.[12] It reached a Gold Record status.[13]

Chiu in 2008.

Gaining much recognition for her acting roles, she then starred in the movie I've Fallen For You under Star Cinema[14] and continually appeared in numerous advertisements. In 2008, Chiu was cast in the Philippine adaptation of the South Korean TV series My Girl.[15]

In 2009, Chiu secured her name as a top actress in the highly acclaimed TV series entitled Tayong Dalawa. She garnered several acting awards for her portrayal of Audrey, a woman who is loved by two military men.[16]

Her movie I Love You, Goodbye became part of Star Cinema's official entry to the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was Chiu's first role as a villain and her first film to hit P100 million mark, with her receiving several nominations under different award-giving bodies including PMPC, 12th Gawad PASADO Awards and the 34th MMFF for Best Supporting Actress.[17]

Chiu in April 2010

In 2010, she then starred in the romance film Paano Na Kaya, released nationally and internationally.[18] She also starred in the well-received primetime drama, Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo, the highest rating teleserye of 2010 in the Philippines.[19] In October 2010, Chiu and Anderson teamed up for the last consecutive time in the film Till My Heartaches End. In the midst of movie promotions, it was reported that the long-time couple (known as Kimerald) had split, yet the reason for the breakup was not discussed.[20]

She top-billed in a weekly musical anthology series Your Song, as a sub-series for the 12th season called Your Song Presents: Kim. It ran for four months and led her to pair up with Sam Milby, Jake Cuenca, Pokwang, Derek Ramsay, Enrique Gil and Vice Ganda.[21] In 2011, Chiu starred in romantic-comedy television series titled My Binondo Girl alongside Xian Lim, Matteo Guidicelli, and Jolo Revilla.[22]

In 2012, Chiu starred in a horror film with Vilma Santos entitled The Healing. She played a woman who is cured of glomerulonephritis through a healer but must suffer a curse. From this film, she received a number of Best Supporting Actress nominations from almost all of the film award-giving bodies, missing only the Gawad Urian and The Young Critics' Circle.[23]

Chiu also returned to melodrama acting via Ina, Kapatid, Anak, alongside Xian Lim, Maja Salvador and Enchong Dee.[24] After the teleserye ended with an average TV rating of 30.3% via Kantar Media/TNS, it was awarded Best Teleserye of the Year at Philippine's 2013 Yahoo Awards and was aired internationally as Her Mother's Daughter, released in foreign territories including MIPTV in France and at DISCOP West Asia in Turkey.[25][26] Her portrayal also earned her an award for Best TV Drama Actress.[27] She reunited in a movie with Anderson titled 24/7 in Love, Star Magic's ensemble film in view of the agency's 20th anniversary.[28]

She starred in a film adaption of Ramon Bautista's novel co-starring Xian Lim, Bakit Hindi Ka Crush Ng Crush Mo?, released on July 17, 2013.[29] Her performance received positive feedback and critics praise in view of her first comedic role on the big screen.[30]

In January 2014, Chiu cemented her commercial draw with the romantic-comedy movie entitled Bride for Rent. Chiu plays Rocky, a poor woman who agrees to marry for money. As Star Cinema's first movie offering of 2014, the film met both critical and commercial success, earning more than P21.2 million pesos in its opening day[31][32] and broke the P200 million pesos mark on its 8th day.[33] The film established Chiu as one of the country's biggest stars having both a successful film and television career. Having grossed P325 million,[34] it is the sixth highest grossing Filipino film of all time, the second highest grossing Filipino romantic comedy movie of all-time, third highest grossing non-MMFF film of all-time and also the highest-grossing January-released film of all-time in the country.[35][36][37]

After the success of her two films, Chiu returned to television in the 2014 period drama, Ikaw Lamang. The series co-stars Coco Martin, Julia Montes, Jake Cuenca and KC Concepcion and dealt with social class, politics, and forbidden love. It held the first and second place viewer rating in its time slot and was awarded Best Primetime Drama Series at the 28th PMPC Star Awards for Television.[38][39] This followed with the romantic comedy film, Past Tense[40] and a portrayal as Mulan for Walt Disney Asia's 12 Days of Princess campaign.[41]

In 2015, she appeared as one of five mistresses (alongside veterans Kris Aquino, Claudine Barretto, Iza Calzado) in the high-profile film, Etiquette for Mistresses.[42] She recorded the Cebuano songs "Duyog" and "Labyu Langga" for the film's soundtrack.[43] She also top-billed in the rom-com, All You Need Is Pag-Ibig, which is Star Cinema's official entry to the 2015 MMFF.[44]

In 2016, she starred on the hit Philippine romantic drama, The Story of Us.[45][46] Her performance as Tin Manalo gave her another Best Actress Awards from 6th EdukCircle Awards, 6th OFW Parangal Awards and Guillermo Mendoza. Also, on the last quarter of 2016, Kimerald loveteam was announced to set back on television via a triathlon soap opera television series Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin for the celebration of their 10th anniversary in show business.[47][48]

In May 2017, Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin premiered on ABS-CBN's PrimeTanghali noontime block replacing Langit Lupa. The show debuted at Number 1 in its time slot, and consistently ranked ahead of its competition during its nine-month run.[49]

In November 2017, she appears in the horror movie, The Ghost Bride where she plays the role as Mayen Lim who is the main protagonist of this film that she will be torn between living a normal though difficult life or accepting a strange business proposal called the Ghost Wedding in exchange for wealth and a comfortable life for her loved ones. She is also accompanied by Matteo Guidicelli, Alice Dixson, Christian Bables and Cacai Bautista in this said movie project which was set to show on theatres on All Saints' Day. In April 2018, she appears in the Filipino horror-comedy film Da One That Ghost Away directed by Tony Y. Reyes together with Ryan Bang, Enzo Pineda and the duo of Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber.

In December 2018, her movie One Great Love became part of Regal Film's official entry to the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival. It was Chiu's first time working with Dennis Trillo and JC de Vera with her receiving nomination on the 44th annual MMFF Awards for Best Actress. She also won the Film Actress of the Year in the 50th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards for her performance in the film One Great Love.

Chiu uses her media influence to promote various causes. She began partnership with GSK for yearly asthma awareness campaigns, Win Against Asthma, after battling asthma as a child.[69][70] Chiu has since participated in disaster relief organizations such as Philippine National Red Cross and Sagip Kapamilya. She joined the PETA campaign Free Mali along with Xian Lim. Chiu made a video plea for Mali, asking that she be moved to a sanctuary for the sake of her well being.[71] In August 2012, she and Lim spearheaded a relief operation in Marikina.[72] Chiu was heavily involved with relief efforts for Typhoon Yolanda via Red Cross, which had affected parts of her hometown. Aside from giving food and water, she also held week-long clothes auctions to raise money for Typhoon victims.[73]

By 2013, it was also revealed that the actress was involved with regularly funding Isla Pulo, an impoverished community of 1,000 inhabitants in Manila Bay, Philippines.[74][75][76][77][78]

As one of Philippines highest paid endorsers,[79][80] Chiu addressed the ongoing Pork Barrel tax scandal and the government's alleged misuse of the PDAF in a press conference on August 28, 2013, noting the amount of tax celebrities like herself pay to the government: "The money isn't a joke [...] we pay so much tax and we don't know where it's going."[81] The Bureau of Internal Revenue confirmed Chiu as 131st top taxpayer in the country with ₱9.3M in income taxes in 2013.[82]

In 2015, Chiu passed the UPCAT and enrolled in University of the Philippines's UPOU program for business courses.[83][84][85]