Coney Reyes

Constancia Angeline Reyes Nubla (born May 27, 1954), better known by her screen name Coney Reyes, is a Filipino film and television actress, comedian, television host and producer.

Reyes made her acting debut in the 1972 film Return of the Dragon.

She was a Baron Travel Girl of 1974 finalist before she entered Philippine Showbiz.

Before being exposed to acting, she served as a "TV girl" (equivalent of radio VJs) introducing shows and reading advertisements for BBC-2.

Reyes made her first film appearance in The Return of the Dragon (1974) alongside Ramon Zamora playing the lead role.

She became the primary female co-host for noontime variety shows Student Canteen (1975–1982) and Eat Bulaga! (1982–1991).

Following her debut in for films, she made her maiden appearance on Student Canteen, a Philippine noontime variety show on GMA-7, on January 6, 1975, where she served as primary female co-host with Pepe Pimentel, Eddie Ilarde and Bobby Ledesma up to 1982.

After Student Canteen, Reyes then named "Coney Reyes-Mumar", got her own television series to host titled Coney Reyes-Mumar Studio (1977).

The series only lasted one year.

In the late 1980s, rumors spread of Reyes and Eat... Bulaga! co-host Vic Sotto having a romantic relationship.

Four years later, Reyes was given another series – Coney Reyes Mumar on Set (1981), but like Coney Reyes-Mumar Studio, it only lasted one year before ending.

On March 7, 1982, Coney Reyes-Mumar was unceremoniously sacked by the management of Student Canteen for reasons not widely known.

Shortly after, she was offered to be Eat... Bulaga! 's new female co-host, replacing Chiqui Hollman (her counterpart in the said program), who left to join its rival show, Student Canteen.

For two months, Reyes contemplated on joining Eat... Bulaga!.

In the meantime, she did a movie with Joseph Estrada, and a week-long co-hosting stint at Daigdig ng mga Misis sa Telebisyon (BBC-2 with former Student Canteen co-host Pepe Pimentel.

On May 18, 1982, Coney Reyes-Mumar was heralded as the newest member of the Eat... Bulaga! family, coinciding with the DOMSAT (Domestic Satellite) launch of the program in a television special at RPN-9.

On that same television special, Eat... Bulaga!'s now-famous theme song debuted, with Coney being mentioned in the lyrics for being the only female co-host.

She was warmly received by the viewers of the then-number one noontime variety show, bringing with her the sympathy of the audience due to her firing at Student Canteen.

Nine years following her debut in The Return of the Dragon, she starred in Bago Kumalat ang Kamandag (1983) and won Best Actress during the 1983 Metro Manila Film Festival.

This was further cemented by her eponymous Coney Reyes on Camera (1984-1998) which ran for eighteen years, as well as her main role in Ang Munting Paraiso (1998-2002).

After a long career in day-time television, she started to appear in primetime teleseryes in supporting roles, and even as an antagonist.

In contemporary Filipino popular culture, Reyes is famous for her lead roles in family-oriented television dramas 100 Days to Heaven, Nathaniel, and My Dear Heart, as well as for her role in Four Sisters and a Wedding. Her most recent television project was being the lead in the ensemble cast of Love of My Life.

Reyes earned a degree of Bachelor of Arts major in Communication Arts at Maryknoll College (now Miriam College).

Reyes was a student leader and consistent dean's lister during her college days.

In 1984, Reyes starred in a lead role in Lovingly Yours: The Movie, the movie adaptation of good friend Helen Vela's Lovingly Yours, Helen, in the segment "Akin Ang Walang Diyos", a horror drama starring Julie Vega.

The series ran from 1984 to 1998 making the longest running Philippine anthology television series before Maalaala Mo Kaya broke the record in 2011.

The drama was a success and won the PMPC Star Awards for Television category for Best Drama Anthology three consecutive times.

Reyes portrayed different parts in the series – host, lead star, and also producer.

Vega and Reyes starred in the segment one year before Vega's death in 1985.

After the cancellations of Coney Reyes-Mumar Studio and Coney Reyes Mumar on Set, Reyes was given her own anthology series called Coney Reyes on Camera, rival to Lovingly Yours, Helen on GMA-7.

By then Reyes' marriage to Larry Mumar was annulled, and Sotto having separated with his wife, Dina Bonnevie, in 1986.

Vic and Coney's relationship, for a while, went public until Coney filed for a maternity leave at EB just after the program's move from RPN-9 to ABSCBN-2 in February 1989.

The program, along with other TAPE, Inc. produced shows, moved to ABS-CBN in 1989 after the government sequestration of RPN-9.

Despite the 'network drama anthology' rivalry of Reyes's Coney Reyes on Camera and Helen Vela's Lovingly Yours, Helen (which actually ran on Saturdays and Sundays, respectively), Reyes starred in an episode in Lovingly Yours in 1990 with Vela and with other close friends including Vilma Santos and Tina Revilla-Valencia.

In December 1991, a year after becoming a born-again Christian, Reyes left Eat... Bulaga! permanently, although her name was still mentioned in the theme song until 1995.

After Eat... Bulaga!, she focused on her weekly drama anthology, Coney Reyes on Camera.

Returning the favor, Reyes starred again with friends Vilma and Tina for a tribute episode in 1994 to Helen, who died of cancer two years prior.

By 1995, when TAPE, Inc. left ABS-CBN (along with Eat... Bulaga!) for GMA-7, Reyes was in charge of her show with CAN Television and Productions (derived from her real name, Constancia Angeline Nubla) along with the network's production unit, and thus Coney Reyes on Camera remained in ABS-CBN.

On the later years of the program, she stopped acting in the show and only did the opening and closing segments.

Reyes returned to the program in time for its 10th-anniversary celebration in September that year, only three months after giving birth to son Vico.