Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, better known in her stage name as Heart Evangelista, is a Filipina actress, singer, model and VJ.
Childhood
She was born on February 14, 1985 to parents Reynaldo and Cecilia Ongpauco, she was the youngest in her family, with one brother (Miguel) and four sisters (Lisa, Marjorie, Michelle and Camille).
She comes from the Ongpauco clan of Barrio Fiesta fame. Her uncle (Rod Ongpauco) is the founder of the Barrio Fiesta restaurant chain while her father founded several Barrio Fiesta branches in San Francisco. She grew up and studied in the United States and her family moved back in her late toddler years to the Philippines.
Career
She was first discovered by a commercial agent while shopping at the mall with sister Camille. She signed up with Star Magic (formerly known as Talent Center) and was paired with John Prats in the show G-Mik. Her relationship with John Prats gained tremendous popularity, and they starred in several movies together-Trip, Ang Tanging Ina and My First Romance. They also starred in a teen-oriented show "Berks." After which their real and reel life romance fizzled.
Since then, she was paired with Geoff Eigenmann in the primetime soap opera "Hiram" which also starred Kris Aquino, Dina Bonnevie, John Estrada and Anne Curtis. This TV show earned her a Star Awards Best Actress nomination at the age of 20.
She has also starred in a fantasy-action TV show called Panday with her current boyfriend, Jericho Rosales.
Another notable achievement is winning best new female personality for both Star TV and Star Movie awards. She also won texter's and listener's choice at Himig Handog Awards for her single "Love Has Come My Way." Heart also released a single "Tell Me" in Australia which made it into the charts, peaking at number 18.
She is now managed by Manila Genesis Entertainment after her decision not to renew her contract with Star Magic (formerly Talent Center of ABS-CBN).
After taking almost a year off work and focusing mainly on hosting gigs and on her charitable foundation Heart Can, she has recently renewed her ties with mother station ABS-CBN and is now under a per project basis. She is set to do a new sineserye for the station, a remake of the movie Hiram Na Mukha and a new variety show as well. She also has a new album coming out in 2007.
Romance and Controversy
She had an off-screen romance with on-screen partner John Prats. After this, she was linked to a non-showbiz political scion. She has since then confirmed these to be true. She was also linked to actor John Lloyd Cruz but she denied having him as a boyfriend but admitted to going out with him on several dates. She was also rumored to date Geoff Eigenmann probably because of their soap together (Hiram) and in MYX but these rumors proved to be false. She is currently dating Jericho Rosales, thus who was 6 years her senior and rumors of marriage keep cropping up and they both say it most likely will happen but not right now because Heart is too young.
Religion or Charity Work
Since early 2006, she has been very vocal about her conversion from Catholic to Born Again Christian. She attends the Victory Christian Fellowship. She has always stated that her conversion is the reason she moved from the Star Magic (backed by mega-media-corporation ABS-CBN) to the small and independent religious/secular Genesis.
Since September 2006, she has started taking on a humanitarian role and founded Heart Can, a foundation to help children with respiratory diseases. The Heart Can foundation is taking her through a series of mall shows and has distributed several cans for donations in order to raise money for the young children to be benefited by the charity.
Even if her transfer from Star Magic to Genesis has caused her to lose projects and her popularity has declined from what it was before, Heart says she has no regrets because she needed the spiritual counsel that Genesis could provide her. She has also stated that she is very happy with her life, "not just working but having...living a life."