Bernadette Balagtas

Short Biography

Bernadette Balagtas grew up in the Philippines. Her parents struggled to bring her and her three sisters to America in hopes of providing a better life. Once in America, Bernadette's main goal was to be a contestant on the legendary game show “The Price is Right”. While in the Philippines, she saw a man win a washer and dryer by bidding one dollar and thought to herself, "Wow, only in America.”Bernadette started performing after she grasped the English language. Occasionally, she would slip from English to her native language which made for very interesting school plays. After high school, she pursued a nursing career because if you were Filipino you had to be a nurse. It's the LAW! Her big break came when she beat out over a thousand girls for the lead role of Rose Mercado in the critically acclaimed movie "The Debut". This ground breaking film is the first Filipino-American movie ever made and released in the United States. Roger Ebert gave it a "thumbs up" and stated that "newcomer Bernadette Balagtas has marquis potential".Acting was a great outlet but Bernadette missed the immediate response she would receive while doing live theater. As a result, she decided to try stand-up comedy at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. After her set, Mitzi Shore told her she was very funny and charming and to keep at it. Bernadette then combined her acting and comedy skills to perform a one-woman show called “Faces of America”. The show consisted of nine different characters and dealt with issues of multi-culturalism and diversity. For two years she toured across the country at colleges and universities. During this experience Bernadette continued her education receiving her theater-arts performance degree from California State University of Long Beach.Since that day, Bernadette has continued pursuing her acting and comedy career at comedy clubs, college/corporate events, and church functions across the country. Her energy, stage presence and clever wit has made Bernadette Balagtas one of the most talked about newcomers in stand-up comedy. Since she will never be a nurse, she hopes to fulfill her mother's dreams by someday playing one on TV.