Binibini Gandanghari (formerly Rustom Padilla;
. Robinpadilla.net. Retrieved on August 17, 2012. ; 4 September 1967), also known professionally as BB Gandanghari, is a Filipino-American actress, model, entertainer, comedian, and director. She is the elder sibling of

Robin Padilla Robinhood Ferdinand Cariño Padilla (; born November 23, 1969), also known by his Muslim name Abdul Aziz, is a Filipino actor, film director, and politician serving as senator of the Philippines. He is known as the "Bad Boy" of Philippine cin ...

and the younger sibling of Royette and

Rommel Padilla Rommel Cariño Padilla (; born January 4, 1965) is a Filipino actor, model, businessman, politician, and movie producer. Early life He was born to Camarines Norte governor Roy Padilla Sr. and actress Eva Cariño. Padilla's siblings from t ...

, all of whom are actors. Gandanghari enjoyed success in Philippine films in the early 1990s (as "Rustom Padilla"), before taking a hiatus in 2001. She returned to prominence in 2006 when she joined the '' Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition'' where she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as a gay male after 44 days. She would later came out as a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

in 2009 when she adopted her current name and became an American citizen in 2022.

Career

Gandanghari entered show business as a matinee idol and later as an action star. She was also the presenter of Philippine franchise for '' Wheel of Fortune'' on ABC. After her hosting stint, Gandanghari left the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and studied film making in the United States. Gandanghari appeared in the film adaptation of the comic book Zsazsa Zaturnnah (her first film role as a gay man) as the gay salon owner Ada (Adrian), the alter ego of Zsazsa Zaturnnah. She appeared in the television series ''

La Vendetta La Vendetta may refer to: * ''La Vendetta'' (film), a 1962 French comedy film * ''La Vendetta'' (novel), a novel by Honoré de Balzac * ''La Vendetta'' (TV series), a Filipino drama-suspense-thriller TV series * '' La Vendetta...'', 2014 album by A ...

'' on GMA and the '' Happy Hearts'', later appearing on the

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

teleserye Philippine television drama, also known as ''teleserye'' is a form of melodramatic, serialized, televised fiction in the Philippines. ''Teleserye'' is derived from two Filipino words: "tele", short for "''telebisyón''" (television), and "''se ...

'', Eva Fonda. In 2006, Gandanghari became one of the 14 housemates in '' Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition''. On March 2, 2006, she came out as gay on the show. On day 45 of the competition, Gandanghari opted to voluntarily leave the house. In 2009, Gandanghari hosted the ''National Kidlat Awards'' on the resort island of

Boracay Boracay (; sometimes shortened by non-natives as Bora) is a resort island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located off the northwest coast of Panay, Panay Island. It has a total land area of , under the jurisdiction of thre ...

in Malay, Aklan. She appeared again in '' SRO Cinema Serye: Rowena Joy''. In September 2017, Gandanghari signed with the Brogan Agency in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

. On 9 August 2019, she made her American television debut in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' GLOW'', where she played a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

named Patricia in the eighth episode of the series' third season.

Personal life

Binibini Gandanghari was born Rustom Cariño Padilla in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

to Casimiro Bustamante Padilla, a film director and Lolita Eva (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Cariño) who was also an actress. She has seven siblings: three brothers and four sisters. She, her mother, Robin, and three siblings were raised as

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and later converted to the Jehovah Witness religion in 1985.

Former marriage

Prior to her public gender transition, Padilla married actress Carmina Villarroel on June 24, 1998, in a civil ceremony in

Parañaque Parañaque, officially the City of Parañaque (, ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

. Villarroel then filed for

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning alm ...

within the same year, which was formally granted by the Court of

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

on June 21, 2002. Ultimately, they separated in 1996 and Villaroel filed for

in 1998, which was formally granted by the Court of

on June 20, 2002. Villaroel later married Filipino actor Zoren Legaspi on 15 November 2012.

Gender identity

In January 2009, Gandanghari came out as a

and chose to undergo gender confirmation surgery. Her brother

at first fully accepted the decision, but later recanted his earlier statements and admitted that he was still shocked and not on good terms with her. Their mother, and all of Gandanghari's other siblings continue to address her by her former male deadname, ''Rustom''. Gandanghari originally used the name ''Patricia Padilla'' but later sourced her newfound name from an art student in

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

whose actual name was ''Ganda—Hari''. She later altered this name which is derived from the Filipino words: * Bb. — (abbreviation of ''Binibini'', an honorific equivalent to "

Maiden Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

") * Gandanghari — a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

combination of the words ''ganda'' (beauty) and ''hari'' (royalty, kingship) She also uses the word "Bb." refers to the saying "'Be' all that you can 'be'". Gandanghari holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

in Baguio, Philippines and studied filmmaking at University of California Los Angeles in 2010. The

Superior Court of California Superior courts in California are the State court (United States), state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governm ...

in Orange County approved both her legal name and gender in 2016. She previously worked as a bookkeeper for a debt collection agency. In 2017, Gandanghari reportedly obtained employment as a driver for

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

and later as a

caregiver A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

for elderly in the United States. In 2022, she became a citizen of the United States while her current name is also recognized on her U.S. passport.

Filmography

Television

Film

*''Onyong Majikero'' (1991) *''Magnong Rehas'' (1992) *'' Narito ang Puso Ko'' (1992) *''Ngayon at Kailanman'' (1992) *''Hanggang Saan Hanggang Kailan'' (1993) *''Kapag Iginuhit ang Hatol ng Puso'' (1993) *'' Gagay: Prinsesa ng Brownout'' (1993) *''Ikaw'' (1993) *''Kadenang Bulaklak'' (1994) *''Brat Pack'' (1994) *''Hindi Magbabago'' (1994) *'' Mistah'' (1994) *'' Mars Ravelo's Darna! Ang Pagbabalik'' (1994) *''Marami Ka Pang Kakaining Bigas'' (1994) *''Sana Dalawa ang Puso Ko'' (1995) *''The Jessica Alfaro Story'' (1995) *''Maruja'' (1996) *''Bilang Na ang Araw Mo'' (1996) *''Paano Kung Wala Ka Na'' (1997) *''Abuso: Case #6433'' (1997) *''Walang Katapusang Init'' (1998) *''Ganito Na Akong Magmahal'' (1998) *''May Isang Pamilya'' (1999) *''Ako'y Ibigin Mo ... Lalaking Matapang'' (1999) *''Bilib Ako Sa'yo'' (1999) *''Ganito Ako Magmahal'' (1999) *'' Yamashita: The Tiger's Treasure'' (2001) *'' Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah, ze Moveeh'' (2006) *'' Happy Hearts'' (2007)

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandanghari, BB 1967 births Living people Filipino male television actors Filipino television actresses Filipino television variety show hosts Filipino male film actors Filipino film actresses Transgender female models Transgender comedians Filipino transgender actresses Filipino LGBTQ comedians GMA Network (company) people ABS-CBN people Star Magic personalities Radio Philippines Network personalities TV5 Network people Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition contestants Filipino LGBTQ film directors Filipino women comedians Filipino film directors UCLA Film School alumni BB Saint Louis University (Philippines) alumni 21st-century Filipino LGBTQ people 21st-century American women 21st-century Filipino actresses 21st-century American LGBTQ people Naturalized citizens of the United States Comedians from Quezon City Converts to Jehovah's Witnesses