Left and right, everybody is talking about diversity and inclusion but still, the Filipinos still feel like a minority. Although you will see Filipinos in every corner of the world, we don’t see ourselves represented well on media. Most of our children had moved overseas, had families, and bore children and they grow up without the cultural influence of their heritage. But slowly, we are seeing an emerging trend that our talented Filipinos bring to the children’s media, allowing cultural diversity and representation. And how do they do that? By singing, dancing, and making art, of course! If you are bogged down with a question on how to teach culture to your kids, we got the right resource for you. Let’s dive in to find out who are the five Filipinos working in children shows.
You’ll be proud of our list!
1 / Josh of Blues Clues
Josh or Joshua de la Cruz is a Filipino-American who now leads our then-favorite show Blues Clues. He replaces Steve Burns’ role, topping among 3,000 applicants even the likes of John Cena. The entry of Josh in the Nickelodeon scene was through his work in the broadway shows The King and I and Aladdin. Josh was only 7 years old when he watched the original Blues Clues. Children now on this generation can get excited opening mails and finding clues.
2 / John of The Wiggles
The third generation of The Wiggles had been announced last year and we are happy to see another Filipino coming to the limelight. John Pearce is not new to TV as Australians have seen him sing and dance being a member of the dance group called Justice Crew that was first introduced in Australia’s Got Talent. This ARIA Award-winning crew member then joined Australia’s Ninja Warrior before landing the purple Wiggle uniform. His role in the Fruit Salad series is to introduce physical education to meet fundamental movement skills in the early years as he has been also working as a personal trainer in Sydney.
3 / Jelly, Ben, and Pogo
We’ve seen the rise of animated short films written or directed by Filipinos like Blush by Joe Mateo on Disney, inspired by the story of the time when he lost his wife and Float by Bobby Rubio on Pixar featuring the relationship of a father and son impaired by the child’s disabilities.
During the last quarter of 2021, PBS Kids had launched an entire series of Filipino animated series called Jelly, Ben, and Pogo. Jelly is the eldest sister in the story while Ben is the younger brother. Meanwhile, there is another imaginary character called Pogo who might be a dinosaur that looks like a pogo stick, we’re not really sure.
It looks like your ordinary cartoon series but you will see the characters have brown skin and a recognizable mole on both siblings (like did you ever see a Filipino without a mole? That’s weird! Again, we’re not sure.) The story is fit for children 3+ who like to collaborate on a problem-solving adventure with their families and friends. It encourages SEL or social-emotional learning and social competence in the early years. We like that the show features Filipino culture even food like Halo-halo (and no, we don’t advertise this on TV)!
4 / Angelo Soriano from Song for Littles
A resident singer of the group from Ms. Rachel‘s show, Angelo Soriano is a broadway performer, music producer, filmmaker, and photographer. He has been featured in NY Times as “A Star is Made”, debuting as an Understudy in the broadway Aladdin and performed together with celebrities on stage.
5 / TJ, the Muppet
A Filipino muppet named TJ debuted in the “confidence” themed episode on Sesame Street. I’ve met Filipinos overseas coming coming from mixed and multilingual families who have a hard time speaking the native tongue. In the show, TJ shows confidence in learning the language through his trusting relationships with his “lola”, which means grandmother in Tagalog.
Get ready for smoother days~!
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