AUDIENCES have seen Andrea Brillantes grow from a young, sweet girl to one of the country’s “It girls” of this generation. Despite only being 20, she’s already managed to buy her own house and has served as the breadwinner of her family for years.
From roles like the cute Annaliza, the boyish Princess on E-Boy, the villainous Marga on Kadenang Ginto, and finally, a mysterious teen in the forthcoming series Senior High, Brillantes has shown time and time again that she’s more than just a pretty face.
No matter the issues that have been thrown her way, Brillantes has continued to bounce back.
She’s weathered controversies related to romance, friendship and whatever else rumors may have been made up about her.
To celebrate the actress’s fruitful career, here are some films and shows on her roster that stand out from the rest.
- Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes (2018)
Perfect for: A good laugh
In Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes, Cindy and Lianne’s worlds are suddenly turned upside down after their husbands Felix and Gary leave them. Confused over the sudden change, the melancholy of the two soon turns into anger when they find out that Felix and Gary have left their wives to be with each other.
After meeting, the two wives set out on a plan for revenge on their cheating husbands. But what first starts as a means for vengeance quickly turns into a journey full of regret, newfound love, and eventually, acceptance.
In this film available on iWant TFC and Apple TV, Brillantes stars alongside Angelica Panganiban, Judy Ann Santos, JC de Vera, and Joross Gamboa. She plays the daughter of Cindy, who teaches her mother about the importance of being kind and loving to others no matter what their orientation may be.
What’s unique about this film in particular is that, though it may start as a journey of revenge, it eventually turns into a very heartfelt, meaningful film that discusses the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community through the discrimination felt by Felix and Gary.
And through characters like Brillantes’s character Macey, the audience is taught that it’s always best to choose kindness regardless of the situation at hand.
- Banal (2019)
Perfect for: Grabbing onto your crush’s arm as you hide in fear
Serving as Brillantes’s first-ever horror film, Banal follows a group of friends – Erika, Rich, Yel, Mac, and Thea – who go on an adventure in the mountains to find a cure for Yel’s sick mother. Soon enough though, terrifying things start happening, and members of the group suddenly start to disappear left and right.
As things start to escalate, the strength of the friendship between the five teenagers is tested by the forces that fight against them. They start turning on one another, blaming one another for what is happening, and trying to find out what’s causing all these hauntings to happen before it’s too late.
Brillantes plays the role of Thea, one of the friends in the group. Before hiking, she’s a casual, fun-loving girl, but as things get more and more freaky, she shows off her acting prowess as she’s placed in disgusting, gruesome situations.
Whether it be having insects crawling through her skin or eating a dog’s bloodied corpse, Brillantes braves through it all.
The film is available for viewing on YouTube.
- Saying Goodbye (2021)
Perfect for: A night filled with both kilig and tears
Starring alongside Seth Fedelin in this series available only on iQiyi, the pair play Elise and Ricky in this romance-filled story.
Elise and Ricky are two teenagers who, upon meeting, find out that they’re both fans of the popular Filipino singer Yeng Constantino. Starting off as enemies after they fight over Constantino’s last CD, they soon develop a budding friendship and decide to form the Pampanga chapter for Constantino’s fan club so that they can share their appreciation for the singer with others.
As they grow older, their bond only strengthens even as they take different paths in life, with Ricky pursuing becoming a pastry chef and Elise studying as a medical student. Slowly, they start to fall in love with one another, but are held back by one thing: Ricky’s illness, and the constant uncertainty of how much time he has left.
In this film, Brillantes manages to play a spunky punk girl with crazy hair and black lipstick as well as a more demure medical student, managing to switch to different personalities in a flash.
Her chemistry with Fedelin feels natural and easy to watch, and it’s hard not to get sucked into watching the entire series in one sitting once you see how comfortable they seem to be acting with one another.
- Lyric and Beat (2022)
Perfect for: When you feel like singing your heart out
Showcasing the talents of several talents in the music industry like Darren Espanto and AC Bonifacio, Lyric and Beat is a series on iWant TFC filled with musical numbers and enough drama to keep people on their toes even if they aren’t fans of musicals.
In this series, Brillantes plays the role of Lyric, a simple, happy-go-lucky girl from Baguio who works at her grandmother’s lomi shop. Despite her background, she dreams of becoming a singer and hopes to share her talents with the rest of the world.
Lyric’s dreams start to come true when she enters the Philippine National Conservatory of Music, where she meets different students that share the same talents and aspirations as her. Despite the doubts others may have of her skill as well as the constant nagging of her father telling her to give up on her dream, Lyric continues to push on, doing her best to prove everyone who doubted her wrong.
Serving as the underdog of this show, it isn’t hard to want to root for Brillantes’s character when she keeps a positive attitude and offers a warm smile to everyone she meets, even if they may not deserve it.
You can’t help but tune in to see if Lyric finally gets the recognition she deserves, or even just to sing along to the songs because that’s just how catchy they are.
- Drag You & Me (2023)
Perfect for: Appreciating drag while waiting for RPDR PH Season 2
For this iWant TFC series, Brillantes stars as the lead of the series: a bright, artistic student named Betty who serves as the makeup, costume, and props artist at her father’s drag comedy bar, Viveka’s.
In this series, Betty tries to live her life amid the homophobia and discrimination rampant in the Philippines, mirroring the reality that many queer people have to face today. When it’s revealed that Betty’s family runs a drag bar, she almost immediately loses her scholarship. And if that isn’t enough, her family soon has to pawn off the bar, losing their home in the process.
At a loss and unsure of how to continue on in life, Betty stumbles across a contest entitled the Manila Drag Supreme, and quickly she joins and plots to win the contest so she may have the money to get her and her family’s life back on track.
When this story was first revealed to the public, many were quick to ask: why is a cisgender woman the center of a story that talks about drag, which is primarily known to be something celebrated by the queer community?
To this, Director JP Habac said that the struggles of both the female and LGBTQ+ community in the Philippines – and in the rest of the world – go hand in hand; both do not get the same rights as straight, cisgender men, and both are still heavily discriminated against in the modern day.
Brillantes stuns in drag in this role, proving in yet another role that she’s an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and is passionate about making the issues that they face known to her millions of fans both in and out of the Philippines.
