Gina Pareño is a Filipino actress born in Tondo, Manila. Her career began as an extra in several films throughout the 1960s, before starring in numerous roles with the Philippine film production company Sampaguita Pictures. In 2006, she gained international recognition for her role in Kubrador (The Bet Collector), winning Best Actress awards at the Osian’s Cinefan Festival and the Brussels International Independent Film Festival. Pareño also won the Metro Manila Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress as an outspoken and brash mother in the movie Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo and then later on received accolades for the same film and category in the FAMAS Awards as well as the Film Academy of the Philippines Awards in that same year.