Maria Kristina Cassandra "KC" Cuneta Concepcion (; born April 7, 1985) is a Filipino actress, singer, dancer, TV host, entrepreneur, socialite, and humanitarian. She has starred in films '' For The First Time'' (2008) and ''

When I Met U ''When I Met U'' is a 2009 Filipino romantic comedy film directed by Joel Lamangan and starring Richard Gutierrez and KC Concepcion. The screenplay by Aloy Adlawan was written for Jose Javier Reyes to direct; Reyes later left, citing "creat ...

'' (2009), and television series such as ''

Lovers in Paris ''Lovers in Paris'' () is a 2004 South Korean television series starring Park Shin-yang, Kim Jung-eun and Lee Dong-gun. It aired on SBS from 12 June to 15 August 2004 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. The series is the fir ...

'' (2009), '' Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala'' (2013) and '' Ikaw Lamang'' (2014). She is often dubbed as the "Mega Daughter", in reference to her mother

Sharon Cuneta Sharon Gamboa Cuneta-Pangilinan (born January 6, 1966) is a Filipino actress, singer, and television personality. Prolific in multiple fields of entertainment, she is known for playing dramatic and comedic leading roles in film and television. ...

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

as the "Megastar". Concepcion is also known for her humanitarian work; she is the first Filipino Goodwill Ambassador of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

. She is also the ambassador of

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

(WWF) Philippines.

Early life and education

Concepcion is born on April 7, 1985 in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

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 ...

. She is the daughter of singer-actress

and actor Gabby Concepcion. She reconnected with her father after thirteen years since her parents'

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 ...

and his immigration to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1995. She graduated grade school at Saint Pedro Poveda College in

Mandaluyong Mandaluyong ( ; ), officially the City of Mandaluyong (, ), 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 popula ...

. In 2003, she graduated from the International School Manila, and in 2007, graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in International

Corporate Communications Corporate communication(s) is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating a favourable point of view among stakeholders on which a company depends. Riel, Cees B.M. van; Fo ...

with a minor in

Theatre Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

from the American University of Paris.

Career

Concepcion made several guest appearances in her mother's concerts and television shows. In 2003, she became a product endorser both on television and in print ads. She started her career with global franchise MTV as an

MTV Asia MTV was a pan-Asian music pay television channel that was launched on 5 May 1995 as a standalone pay television service. The channel was owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. History Pre-launch The first incarnation of MTV Asia was launched on ...

VJ. As

's Philippine ambassador, she shared the stage with

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 2008 to present the former US leader's foundation its commitment to feed more people in impoverish countries. In 2009, she starred in the Philippine remake of her first primetime drama series, ''

''. In 2010, she returned to do a film with Star Cinema with her first movie with her father, Gabby Concepcion, for Father's Day, '' I'll Be There'', directed by Maryo J. de los Reyes. In her 2010 studio album titled ''KC'', she sang "Girl Most Likely To" by

Skye Sweetnam Skye Alexandra Sweetnam (born May 5, 1988) is a Canadian Rock music, rock and Heavy metal music, metal singer. She first entered the music industry in 2003 with the release of her debut single "Billy S." More than a year later, her debut studio ...

from the soundtrack of

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

's 2006 film '' The Barbie Diaries''. In the same year, she joined ''

Star Magic ABS-CBN Center for Communication Arts, Inc., doing business as Star Magic (formerly known as ABS-CBN Talent Center), is a Philippine talent agency owned by ABS-CBN Corporation based in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Founded in 1992, Star Magic ha ...

'' but after a year, she left and joined Viva Artist Agency, a talent management of Viva Entertainment. On the April 11, 2010 episode of '' The Buzz'', it was announced that Concepción had been chosen to be the replacement co-host after

Ruffa Gutierrez Sharmaine Ruffa Rama Gutierrez (born June 24, 1974) is a Filipino actress, model, TV host, and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the 1992 Look of the Year - Philippines, Binibining Pilipinas World 1993 and Second Runner-up to Miss World 199 ...

's departure. She was also featured on the cover of

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

Mexico. In 2011, she made another film with Star Cinema, a romantic, drama film '' Forever and a Day''. Along with Agnez Mo and

Jaclyn Victor Jaclyn Joshua Thanaraj Victor (born 4 December 1978) is a Malaysian singer, actress and businesswoman who won the inaugural '' Malaysian Idol'', '' Ikon Malaysia'', ''Gegar Vaganza Season 9'' & ''Gegar Vaganza All Stars''. As the winner of ''Mal ...

, she sang in the 2011 SEA Games opening ceremony in Indonesia. In 2012, she hosted the first and only season of ''

The X Factor Philippines ''The X Factor Philippines'' is a Philippine television reality competition show broadcast by ABS-CBN. The show is based of British reality television series of the The X Factor, same title. Hosted by KC Concepcion, it aired on the network's Yes ...

''. She was also featured in USA's

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

Magazine as one of ''The 25 Sexiest International Actresses''. In 2013, she starred in her first lead antagonist role in '' Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala''. In 2014, she starred a lead role as Natalia in the second season of the

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

series '' Ikaw Lamang''. In 2015, she starred in an episode of

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 ...

Christmas anthology series '' Give Love on Christmas''. She was named one of GQ India's ''Hottest Actresses Around the World'.'' In 2016, she returned as the host in Binibining Pilipinas 2016 with actor

Xian Lim Alexander Xian Cruz Lim-Uy (; born July 12, 1989) is a Filipino actor. He is currently an exclusive actor of GMA Network and GMA Pictures. He is best known for his roles in ''My Binondo Girl'' (2011), ''The Reunion (2012 film), The Reunion'' (2 ...

. She previously hosted the 2011 edition of Binibining Pilipinas five years ago with actor Derek Ramsay. She took a step back from showbiz for a while to focus as being the UN Ambassador of

for Hunger and made an online shop website KC's Closet and reached and being donated in Public School in

Maguindanao Maguindanao (; Maguindanaon: ''Dairat nu Magindanaw''; Iranun: ''Perobinsia a Magindanao''; ) was a province of the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). From 2014 to 2022, its provincial capital ...

. In 2019, Concepcion was the first Filipina celebrity to represent global brand Shiseido as an ambassador and endorser. In February 2020, she signed an exclusive management contract with Cornerstone Entertainment.

Music

2008–2009: ''a.k.a Cassandra''

In 2008, Concepción released her first studio album on July 15, 2008, entitled "a.k.a Cassandra", on the Sony BMG Philippines label, which ranked number 1 based on the total album sales in all Odyssey Record Bar branches nationwide. In fact, 1,102 copies of the album were sold in all Odyssey branches alone. KC Concepción made Philippine music history with her lead single "Imposible" during that year. KC has the most number of music downloads in the Philippines in the same year, which marked 1 million downloads online. KC Concepción thought that she would just perform her newest single, "Doo Be Doo", on the noontime TV show Wowowee on ABS-CBN Channel 2 on November 15, 2008. However, she was surprised when she was given a Platinum Record Award for her album "a.k.a. Cassandra".

2010–2011: '' KC''

In 2010, Concepcion released her Second Studio Album entitled KC, KC ranked number 3 based on OPM charts, in Astrovision Stores the album KC reached number 1. '' KC'' was launched on ASAP XV. '' KC'' was released on March 24, 2010, under the Sony Music label. she also set KC Mall Tour to promote KC album.

Acting

Theater

*2003, ''The Little Mermaid'' *2005, ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'' *2008, ''Katy, the Musical Concert''

Personal life

Concepcion had previously dated Rivermaya frontman

Rico Blanco Rico Rene Granados Blanco (born March 17, 1973) is a Filipino singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, endorser and entrepreneur. He began his career as one of the founding members, and served as the chief songwriter, ...

from 2003 to 2005. She also briefly dated director Lino Cayetano in 2007. Her first highly-publicized relationship was with actor

Piolo Pascual Piolo Jose Nonato Pascual (, born January 12, 1977) is a Filipino actor, model, singer, television host, comedian and film producer. Pascual began a career in 1993 after landing a bit role in the film ''The Vizconde Massacre Story (God Help ...

. The two worked together in the 2009 television series ''

Lovers In Paris ''Lovers in Paris'' () is a 2004 South Korean television series starring Park Shin-yang, Kim Jung-eun and Lee Dong-gun. It aired on SBS from 12 June to 15 August 2004 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:55 for 20 episodes. The series is the fir ...

''. They ended their relationship in 2011. She also dated actor

Paulo Avelino Michael Paulo Lingbanan Avelino (born May 13, 1988) is a Filipino actor, singer, model, and film producer. He has starred in multiple hit television series such as '' Walang Hanggan'' (2012), '' Bridges of Love'' (2015), and '' The General's D ...

, who confirmed their romance in a 2015 interview, having previously revealed that he had been courting her in 2013. They briefly worked in an episode of

's Christmas anthology series '' Give Love on Christmas''. She also dated Filipino-American footballer Aly Borromeo from 2017 to 2018. The two reunited in October 2024 at one of Borromeo's football games. Concepcion's last reported relationship is with Swiss businessman Steve Michael Wuethrich. In May 2024, her mother, veteran actress

, publicly admitted that she and Concepcion were estranged, though Concepcion later posted a vlog where she paid tribute to Cuneta on Mother’s Day, despite their reported estrangement.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Studio albums

* '' a.k.a Cassandra'' (2008) * '' KC'' (2010)

Soundtrack

* ''For the First Time'' (2008) * ''When I Met You'' (2009) * ''Forever and a Day'' (2011)

Awards and recognitions

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Concepcion, KC Filipino child actresses Filipino film actresses Filipino television actresses 21st-century Filipino women singers Filipino people of American descent Filipino people of Spanish descent Filipino expatriates in France 1985 births Living people Pangilinan family American University of Paris alumni Filipino video jockeys Filipino people of Kapampangan descent Viva Artists Agency ABS-CBN people Filipino musical theatre actresses Ambassadors of supra-national bodies World Food Programme people Actresses from Manila