Maris Racal

Mariestella "Maris" Cañedo Racal (born September 22, 1997) is a Filipino actress and singer.

She came to prominence in 2014 after joining Pinoy Big Brother: All In where she placed second.

Aside from being a musician and singer, she also excels in acting.

After her stint in Pinoy Big Brother, Racal signed a deal with Star Magic.

After PBB, Racal was launched as part of Star Magic Circle 2014 and had been quickly molded as a budding actress, starting off on TV show Hawak Kamay followed by several more stints on TV shows like Maalaala Mo Kaya, Ipaglaban Mo!, Oh My G!, and Ningning, and on films like Halik sa Hangin, Just The Way You Are, and The Breakup Playlist.

She also starred with Roberto "Fourth" Solomon Pagotan IV in the 'Dear MOR' episode, the "Kate and Red Story".

In July 2014, the PBB All In housemates including Maris Racal released their "Pinoy Big Brother: All In - Originals" album, composed of three songs (Teen Love Song, Turtle Song, and Bibimbap) originally written and sung by them.

On October 28, 2014, she uploaded her cover of Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" song on her official YouTube account.

The hashtag 'Thinking Out Loud Cover by Maris Racal' immediately trended worldwide on Twitter as her fans expressed their delight with her cover song.

Racal released her first single "Tanong Mo Sa Bituin" in April 2015 as part of Star Record's compilation album "OPM Fresh".

In June 2015, Racal was cast in her first main lead role on the big screen as Elena in Tandem Entertainment's film Stars Versus Me, which also starred Manolo Pedrosa as her leading man.

In February 2016, she was introduced as one of the members of the all-girl dance group, Girltrends.

In February 2016, Racal was introduced as one of the members of all-girl dance group "Girltrends" in the noontime show It's Showtime.

She was then tagged as "Magnificent Girltrend Maris" and became the group's Team Young member.

Maris subsequently played Jenny Bonanza in the teleserye We Will Survive later in the month.

In October 2016, Racal performed in her first OneMusicPH's Digital Concert dubbed as "Double Hearts" (together with co-performers Loisa Andalio, Sue Ramirez and Kristel Fulgar), where she debuted her original song Take It All Away.

In the same month, Maris appeared in the film The Third Party as Joan.

In December 2016, Racal became notable as Maxine in the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival's box office entry film Vince and Kath and James.

On January 22, 2017, Racal was officially launched as one of the members of ASAP's sing-and-dance group, BFF5.

Mariestella Cañedo Racal grew up in Davao del Norte and graduated high school from St. Mary's College in Tagum City.

In school, she used to sing the responsorial psalm, sing in mass and sing intermission numbers.

She also did cover songs on SoundCloud.

She attended Trinity University of Asia taking up medical technology but had to stop due to her busy schedule.

In January 2017, Racal was launched as one of the members of ASAP's new all-girl song-and-dance group, known as BFF5 (pronounced as BFFs), along with Ylona Garcia, Andrea Brillantes, Loisa Andalio and Kira Balinger.

Inclusion in the new group led Maris to leave her previous group Girltrends.

Later in the month, Maris started her guest appearance as Rona, Carreon's daughter, in the hit primetime TV series FPJ's Ang Probinsyano.

By April 2017, Racal starred as Fairy Sylvia in weekend primetime series Wansapanataym Presents: Annika PINTAsera.

Later in the month, Maris was entrusted with Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin theme song "Paano Mo Nalaman", the tagalized version of the song 'How Did You Know'.

On July 8, 2017, Racal held her first major concert together with Loisa, Sue and Kristel titled 4 Of A Kind: The Un4gettable Concert at the Music Museum.

Maris was also one of the cast in the horror-thriller film Bloody Crayons, playing the role of Richalaine Alcantara, that was released on cinemas by July 12, 2017.

In November 2017, Racal join the cast of Hanggang Saan as Nessa, and paired with Yves Flores.

In December 2017, Racal became part of Regal Films's official entry film Haunted Forest with Jane Oineza, Jameson Blake and Jon Lucas on 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival.

On February 8, 2018, Racal headlined the first-ever Star Events FanCon held at Teatrino, Promenade with Iñigo Pascual as her special guest.

"Tala", Maris' original song, was also released as her newest single during the event.

A few days later, Racal debuted as the co-host of Iñigo Pascual's online show, One Music POPSSSS, appearing on the show's Season 4 pilot episode.

In May 2018, her latest single "Ikaw Lang Sapat Na" launched as the sub-theme song of the teleserye Since I Found You on Primetime Bida.

In September 2018, Racal became a certified recording artist with the release of her first album entitled "Stellar".

In October 2018, Racal was launched as one of the 10 interpreters of Himig Handog 2018 with a song of Jan Sabili from Muntinlupa entitled "Sugarol".

In 2020, following the loss of ABS-CBN's franchise in the middle of the ongoing pandemic, Racal temporarily went to blocktimer shows that are aired on TV5 such as Sunday Noontime Live! and Stay-In Love.

Racal returned to ASAP on April 18, 2021, following an appearance on Pinoy Big Brother: Connect's Big Night in March 2021.