Carol Claire Aguilar Banawa-Crisostomo (born March 4, 1981), better known in the Philippines as Carol Banawa, is a US-based

Filipina Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...

singer, actress, and nurse. She is a

Star Magic ABS-CBN Center for Communication Arts, Inc., doing business as Star Magic (formerly known as ABS-CBN Talent Center), is the talent agency owned by ABS-CBN Corporation based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines that was founded in 1992. ...

Batch 4 alumna.

Early life and career

Raised in

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and La ...

, she has two siblings, Alexander and Cherry. Banawa started singing when she was a little girl while her family lived in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. Her family then moved back to the Philippines. There, she was invited to join the new roster of

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

stars through the children-oriented show ''

Ang TV ''Ang TV'' ( en, The TV) was a youth-oriented comedy variety show in the Philippines. The show's format was inspired by its predecessor ''Kaluskos Musmos'', (a popular Philippine kiddie gag show in the 1970s) and its foreign counterpart ''The ...

''.
She has performed at the Madison Square Garden in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

at the 2003 New York Music Festival. In 2010, she made her comeback in the music industry, and starred in the hit Philippine TV series, ''

Mara Clara ''Mara Clara'' is a Philippine drama television series on ABS-CBN, which aired from August 17, 1992 to February 14, 1997, replacing ''Sebya, Mahal Kita'' and was replaced by ''Esperanza''. The series stars Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes. It w ...

'', where she sang the opening song of the said TV series. She also covered ''Till My Heartaches End'', the theme song of the 2010 film of the same name. In 2016, her song "Bakit 'Di Totohanin" was featured in one of the scenes of the U.S. drama series ''

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW on September 10, ...

''.

Discography

Studio albums

Other appearances

Compilation appearances

Filmography

Television

Film

Theater

Awards and nominations

2011

# Nominated in 3rd Star Awards For Music for "Female Pop Artist Of The Year" # Winner in ASAP Pop Viewers Choice 2011 for "Pop Movie Themesong"

2004

# ''Follow Your Heart'' album received platinum record award # Awit Awards Nomination for "Awit sa Ina ng Santo Rosaryo"

2003

# "Special Award" New York Music Festival # ''Follow Your Heart'' album received gold record certification after three weeks from its release date # ''Transition'' album garnered platinum record award # Awit Awards 2003 – nominated Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for "Stay" # MTV Pilipinas Awards 2003 – nominated for Favorite Female Artist

2002

# ''Transition'' album garnered gold record award # Repackaged self-titled album, ''Carol'' garnered multi-platinum status

2001

# Awit Awards' record of the year – "Iingatan Ka" from the ''Tanging Yaman – Inspirational Album'' # Self-titled album, ''Carol'' garnered platinum award # Special citation for her participation in the 1999 Asian Songfest in which she represented the Philippines # People's Choice Awards 2001 – Most Promising Host Entertainer Awardee

1999

# Silver winner for

Asia New Singer Competition ''Asia New Singer Competition'' () is a singing competition established by Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation in Shanghai, China, featuring younger and relatively unestablished contestants from many Asian countries, although contestants from ...

at the Shanghai Song Festival # Gold record for self-titled album, ''Carol'' # Best Pop Female Vocal Performance in the 5th Katha Music Awards

1998

* 3rd prize winner in the Metropop Song Festival # Finalist for Munting Mutya

Hiatus

Banawa took a break from the Philippine music scene in August 2003 to attend to the treatment of her father who was exposed to lethal levels of carbon monoxide. She is married to Ryan Crisostomo and has three children together. She obtained an associate degree in nursing and graduated summa cum laude from the

Northern Virginia Community College Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC; informally known as NOVA) is a public community college composed of six campuses and four centers in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia Community College is the third-la ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 2018. She later obtained a

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

in nursing from

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on c ...

in 2020. Presently, she is an OR registered nurse based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. In 2004, Pinoyvision Records released her ''Platinum Hits Collection'' album, a compilation of her songs. The album also comes with a VCD of Banawa's hit music videos such as "Stay", "Ocean Deep" and "Noon at Ngayon".

References

External links

Carol Banawa (Artist Info)

The Carol Banawa Story (Entertainment Feature)

Star Records Music Publishing

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banawa, Carol 1981 births 20th-century Filipino actresses 20th-century Filipino women singers 21st-century Filipino actresses 21st-century Filipino women singers American Idol participants Expatriate actresses in the United States Filipino child actresses Filipino child singers Filipino expatriates in the United States Filipino film actresses Filipino television personalities Filipino women comedians Living people People from Pasay Singers from Metro Manila Star Magic Star Music artists