Carina Afable

Biography

Carina Afable began her professional career as a member of The Philippines' singing Agoncillo family; the singer-actor Ryan Agoncillo is the son of her brother Chito. At age 7, her aunt, Dori Villena, began taking her to Filipino radio and television stations, and Afable started appearing in soap operas and doing commercials, including one for Carnation milk. In 1960, she joined the cast of the radio program Botika sa Baryo, and went on to the daytime television variety show Stop, Look & Listen, which ran from 1968 to 1972 on ABS-CBN. In her teens, she starred in such musical-variety shows as Chelsea Dance Time, Spotlight on Carina (which aired on Channel 3), Carina (Channel 11) and May I Sing to You (Channel 5) and went on to appear in movies, beginning with Vera Perez Pictures' version of Tawag ng Tanghalan (1958), and going on to I’m a Tiger and 1967's I’ll See You in September. She also starred in the children's television show Kiddie Land’ (Channel 5). In the 1970s, Afable, who recorded albums on the Villar label, sang in the girl group Hi-Pertensions with Norma Ledesma and Linda Magno.

Other films include “We Only Live Wais (1968), Agents Wen Manong (1968), Patria Adorada (Dugo ng Bayani) — an action-drama in which she played a nun in her best-known Filipino role — and Intensity '70 (1970), her last Filipino movie.

When martial law was declared in 1972, shutting down television production and curtailing live musical performances, Afable's career waned. Prior to this, she had toured North America, Germany and France as a solo act, and subsequently, in the late 1970s, she emigrated to the United States. There she appeared in the final episodes of the American police sitcom Barney Miller, in the recurring role of Deputy Inspector Frank Luger's (James Gregory) mail-order bride, then went on to do TV commercials, including for the Reggie Jackson barbecue grill and Wienerschnitzel hotdogs, for which she sang the commercial jingle.

As of 2012, Afable works for the insurance company Anthem-Blue Cross.

Personal life

Afable married young, to TV director Raul Silos, and had the first of her several children at age 16. Before their divorce, the couple had four offspring: Richie, Robert, Cherry and Ronnie Silos. After Afable married Leonard Bell, an American, in the 1970s, she had another son, Christopher. She and Bell were married seven years, until his death. Sometime later, she married Samuel H. Gray.

Awards and nominations

1970 nomination, Supporting Actress, Famas Awards.