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 Iya Villania
A Filipino who has been in news more for her foreign accent than for her many talents, Iya Villania is a ‘Pretty Young Thing’ (PYT)!
For many of us, the number 13 spells bad luck. But, not for Iya for at this young age, talent manager Arnold Vegafria discovered her, while signing Donna Summer’s dance hit ‘Last Dance’ as part of Geneva Cruz’s opening act. Arnold told her to get in touch with him, if she decided to come to Philippines. And she did just this!
Born on 29 June 1986 in Australia, Raelene Elaine Ebaler Villania a.k.a Iya Villania is now a TV host, Music VJ, and a print and commercial model. Iya sprang into spotlight in Philippine TV shows such as ‘ASAP’, ‘U Can Dance’, and the very popular ABS-CBN’s ‘Wowowee’, which she co-hosted from early 2005 to mid 2006.
The youngest of three sisters, Iya was a tomboy as a young girl and loved to play a less
"My accent is part of me. Although I have been criticized for having a foreign accent, I'm not about to lose it. People just have to accept me for what I am." - Iya
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physically violent variation of the rough sport ‘touch footy’. Asked how she came to be called Iya, she said that her name is borrowed from an anime character from the Globe XTM Commercial.
However, becoming successful was not easy. Initially, she was rejected in a lot of VTR tests and couldn’t get much work. But, the GameChannel gave Iya her first break in the role of Game Jock where she had to interact with players of the game show. After that, she did a few commercials and soon was hired to play the role of ‘Sydeny’ in GMA7’s youth oriented show called ‘Click’. From GMA 7 she moved to ABS-CBN and has been with them since.
Ranked #18 Most Beautiful Filipina for the year 2006, has acted in supporting roles in movies such as ‘Aishite Imasu’, ‘A Beautiful Life’. She also played the lead in ‘Exodus: A Tale of Enchanted Kingdom’ and the horror flick ‘Pamahiin’.
Currently, Iya is veejaying for the music video channel Myx in Philippines and is credited as being one of the brightest new faces of contemporary Philippine TV.
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