Rhea Santos

Rhea Santos was born on June 1, 1979[4] in San Mateo, Rizal and stayed most of her childhood in Marikina.[1] She has an older brother and a younger brother.[1] She finished elementary and high school at St. Scholastica's Academy of Marikina.[4][5] She graduated magna cum laude at St. Paul's College Quezon City (now known as St. Paul University Quezon City) finishing AB Mass Communications.[4][6] One of her project in her freshman year in college was interviewing Arnold Clavio (her future co-anchor in Unang Hirit) about martial law.[7] She had an internship at ABS-CBN in her junior year in college.[2]

During her senior year in high school, it became clear to her that she would like be a broadcast journalist.[2] Although, her childhood dream was to become a beauty queen[2][7] and her mother fully supported her.[1][7] With that, she participated in the 1996 Body Shots competition where she became one of the finalists and won the "Best in Swimsuit" special award.[6][8] Standing at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m),[1][2] she was once a commercial and ramp model and an endorser for some products.[9] She also auditioned for Binibining Piipinas but after an argument with her mother in front of the judges, she did not pursue it.[2]

Upon graduating from college, Rhea Santos worked for an airline company and a PR firm.[7] Eventually, she decided to follow her aspiration to become a broadcast journalist and began to send job applications to television networks.[6] In July 2000, GMA Network replied on her application and started to work there as a segment producer.[2] One day, she had the opportunity to be one of the newscasters and hosts of GMA Network's morning show Unang Hirit, temporarily replacing Miriam Quiambao who was absent for a day.[6] She eventually became a regular of the show in 2001.[10]

In 2003, she was assigned to anchor Frontpage's segment GMA Action Force where she was also a field reporter interviewing different people such as criminal gangs in Tondo, Manila.[11] In 2004, she had her own show At Your Service-Star Power.[10] In the same year, she co-hosted Eat Bulaga! Silver Special, which was a co-production of TAPE Inc. and GMA News and Public Affairs, with her fellow anchor in Unang Hirit, Arnold Clavio.[12] The following year, GMA launched Pinoy Abroad, which she co-hosted with Ivan Mayrina.[10]

She had anchored prime time newscast News on Q (previously aired by QTV, renamed as Q and eventually became GMA News TV) from 2005[10] to 2010.[13] She also hosted public affairs program Women's Desk (later re-titled as Draw the Line) in 2005[10][14] and documentary show DoQmentaries in 2008[10][15] along with other presenters Connie Sison[16] and Pia Arcangel.[17] She co-hosted Reporter's Notebook with Jiggy Manicad in 2009 where she reported from the field and covered high profile cases such as the Maguindanao massacre.[13]

Santos left Reporter's Notebook in 2011 to host Tunay na Buhay,[18][19] a television program that features biographies of celebrities, which was first aired on January 21, 2011.[20] In 2013, she guested at The Ryzza Mae Show.[21] In 2016, she hosted the television special entitled Imagine You & Me: The Journey, which is a documentary for the film Imagine You & Me, starring the AlDub love team of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza.[22][23] In 2018, she anchored the Lenten special of Unang Hirit where they broadcast live from Israel.[24]

In 2019, she retired as a broadcast journalist after leaving the Philippines together with her family to pursue her further education in Canada taking up Broadcast and Online Journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.[3] With her 19 years experience in the television news industry in the Philippines, she has covered and broadcast major events during the 2000s and 2010s such as the Philippine national elections of those times, State of the Nation Addresses of Philippine Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III and Rodrigo Duterte, the 9/11 attack in New York, United States, the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, and Philippine Chief Justice Renato Corona's impeachment trial.[25][10][13] She has been the longest-serving female morning newscaster in the history of Philippine television.[13] On September 1, 2020, she resumed her career in the news industry, premiering as the anchor of the national Philippine edition of OMNI News in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[26]

On September 17, 2004, Rhea Santos married businessman and Hotshots Burger chain owner, Carlo de Guzman.[27] They have two children nicknamed Uno and Yuan.[28] Aside from being a media personality, she had a baking business through Curious Chef Philippines.[7][9] In 2010, she was named by Spot.ph, an entertainment website, as the third most hottest television newswomen in the Philippines.[29]

The last appearance of Santos in Tunay na Buhay features her life story.[30]

• Rhea Santos' Official Website
• Rhea Santos on GMA News Online