is a

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

screenwriter of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ancestry. Her screenwriting credits include '' Magnifico'' (2003), ''

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros ''The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros'' () is a 2005 Filipino coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Aureaus Solito in his directorial debut, based on a screenplay by Michiko Yamamoto. Set in the slums of Manila, the film is about a gay tee ...

'' (2006), '' Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings'' (2013), ''

On the Job ''On the Job'' (abbreviated as ''OTJ'') is a 2013 Philippine neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Erik Matti, who co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Michiko Yamamoto. Starring Gerald Anderson, Joel Torre, Joey Marquez and P ...

'' (2013), and '' Honor Thy Father'' (2015).

Background

Yamamoto was born in 1979 in

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

, Philippines. Her father is a native of Japan who had separated from her mother. They had together Yamamoto and her two sisters, Mariko and Noriko. She has a half-sister from her mother's second marriage, Stephanie Jane. Yamamoto attended

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

s and graduated from the

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 ...

(UST) with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in math and computer studies. She is married to director

Erik Matti Erik Matti (born December 21, 1970) is a Filipino filmmaker. He is known for directing ''On the Job (2013 film), On the Job'' (2013), ''Honor Thy Father (film), Honor Thy Father'' (2015), ''Seklusyon'' (2016), ''BuyBust'' (2018), and ''On the Jo ...

, with whom she has two daughters.

Career

Before starting out as a screenwriter, Yamamoto worked for two years in

Viva Entertainment Viva Communications Inc., also known as Viva Entertainment Inc. and simply Viva (stylized in all caps) is a Philippine multinational private conglomerate headquartered in Ortigas Center, Pasig. It was founded in 1981 by Vic del Rosario ...

doing

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

-related work, and in

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 ...

. She attended the

Film Development Council of the Philippines The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is the national film agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines responsible for film policies and programs to ensure the economic, cultural and educational development of ...

' screenwriting workshop in 1999. Yamamoto's first screenwriting credit was for 2003's '' Magnifico'', which reportedly won first place in a screenwriting contest. She said the ''Magnifico'' script was inspired by a personal experience she had with her late grandmother. In 2006, she wrote the screenplay for the gay-themed drama film ''

'', which was directed by

Auraeus Solito Auraeus Solito, also known as Kanakan-Balintagos, is a Filipino filmmaker and indigenous peoples rights advocate who comes from a lineage of shaman-kings from the Palaw'an tribe. He was one of the first to be born outside of his tribal land of ...

in his feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2005 Cinemalaya Film Festival, and was the first to be produced by her own film outfit, UFO Pictures, Inc. In 2013, Yamamoto co-wrote '' Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings'' with Raymond Lee and Jade Castro, and ''

'' with

. She collaborated with Matti for 2014's '' Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2'', and 2015's '' Honor Thy Father''.

Filmography

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

, Yamamoto has an average career score of 62. *'' Magnifico'' (2003) *'' Santa Santita'' (2005) *''

'' (2006) *''

My Big Love ''My Big Love'' is a 2008 Philippine romantic comedy film directed by Jade Castro as well as written by Michiko Yamamoto and Theodore Boborol. Starring Sam Milby and Toni Gonzaga together with ''Prinsesa ng Banyera'' lead actress Kristine Hermosa ...

'' (2008) * ''Endo'' (2009) *'' Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings'' (2013) *''

'' (2013) *'' Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2'' (2014) *'' Honor Thy Father'' (2015) *'' On the Job 2: The Missing 8'' (2021)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Michiko 1979 births Living people Filipino people of Japanese descent Filipino Roman Catholics Filipino screenwriters Writers from Bulacan Writers from Manila Tagalog people University of Santo Tomas alumni Viva Entertainment Women screenwriters