Constancia Angeline Reyes Nubla (professionally known as Coney Reyes) is a Filipino film and television actress, comedian, television host, and producer. She was a long-time host of Eat Bulaga! from 1982 up to 1991.
Coney made her showbiz debut in 1975, first on the film "Return of the Dragon" – and then on television in the noontime variety show Student Canteen (1975–1982). Shen then moved to the latter's competitor Eat... Bulaga! to great fanfare in 1982, She has since been an acclaimed and respected actress in the industry.
In recent memory, Coney has become known for her various portrayals in Philippine teleseryes, including – but not limited to – the main antagonist role in Ysabella, and lead anti-heroine roles in 100 Days to Heaven, Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala, Nathaniel, and My Dear Heart – all of which were aired at ABS-CBN 2. Her most recent teleserye performance was her performance as the formidable but loving matriarch Isabella Gonzales in GMA 7's Love Of My Life.
Coney entered EB just before it sky-rocketed to fame – with some even crediting it to her entry into the programme – and as such is considered one of the programme's pillars in its budding years. After leaving in 1991, she has made only two appearances back in the programme, the most recent being her guesting on 30 July 2022 for the programme's 43rd anniversary celebration.
Early life[]
Constancia Angeline Reyes Nubla was born in Metro Manila on 27 May 1954. She was first-born to the five children of Hermann Nubla and Noemi Reyes.
She studied as an elementary and high school student at St. Scholastica's College in Malate, Manila. She then took her Bachelor of Arts degree for Communication Arts at Maryknoll College (now Miriam College).
As a child, Coney describes herself as 'naturally shy'. Nonetheless, she was often picked by her teachers for oratorical contests and declamation in her younger days. In college, Coney was a student leader and was also a consistent dean's lister.[1]
Life before Eat... Bulaga! []
Before gracing television screens, Coney worked as a "TV girl" (equivalent of radio VJs), introducing shows and reading advertisements for ABS-CBN 2. She became infamous within the network's production circles for mistelling a station ident when introducing such a show. However, by handling it gracefully, she became a favourite for the producers. Her then-manager then took Coney to fill-in absentee hosts in the then-network's evening variety shows.[1]
Coney made her first appearance on film co-starring with Ramon Zamora in the 1974 movie Return of the Dragon. She then went on being cast, often as a 'leading lady' for more movies in the 1970s.
Following her debut in films, she made her maiden appearance on GMA 7's then-noontime variety show, Student Canteen, on 6 January 1975, where she served as primary female co-host with Pepe Pimentel, Eddie Ilarde and Bobby Ledesma.
By the time Coney first appeared on film, she was married to PBA player Larry Mumar.
Coney in Eat... Bulaga![]
The search for a new co-host[]
In early 1982, Helen Vela, Coney's close friend and co-host in Student Canteen, quit the program after she got tired of the chauvinistic ways of people in SC's production. Coney openly sympathized with her friend Helen and it didn't sit well with the producers of Student Canteen. In 7 March 1982, the day of the grand launching of Chiqui Hollmann (who had already left EB in September 1981 on her birthday) as the newest female host of Student Canteen, Coney Reyes-Mumar was given her walking papers and was unceremoniously sacked by the management of Student Canteen. Shortly after, she was offered to be Eat... Bulaga!'s new female co-host.[2]
For two months, Reyes contemplated on whether to accept the offer. In the meantime, she did a movie with Joseph Estrada, and a week-long co-hosting stint at Daigdig ng mga Misis sa Telebisyon with former SC co-host Pepe Pimentel on BBC 2 (the Marcos-era iteration of ABS-CBN 2).
"Kasama pati si Coney!"[]
On 18 May 1982, Coney was welcomed as the newest member of the EB family with the television special Eat... Bulaga!: The DOMSAT Launch at the Folk Arts Theatre. Her entry coincided with the domestic satellite launch of the programme, allowing it to be viewed almost simultaneously all over the country. On that same television special, Eat... Bulaga!'s now-famous theme song was debuted, with Coney being mentioned in the lyrics (until now, being the only female co-host ever mentioned in the song). On that momentous day, Coney's close friend and former co-host in Student Canteen, Helen Vela, witnessed the television special as part of the audience as show of support to her friend Coney (Helen Vela would later on also became part of the EB family as the program's pinch hitter and hosting the program's quiz segment Kilometrico Quiz Date along with Tito Sotto.)
Coney was warmly welcomed by the viewers of the then-number one noontime variety show, bringing with her the sympathy of the audience due to her firing at SC. By joining Eat... Bulaga!, Coney was became known further to the avenues of show-business. In return, Coney's entry to then-three year old EB cemented its place as the number one noontime show in the Philippines.
Coney Reyes... on Camera[]
In 1984, Reyes was given her own anthology series called Coney Reyes on Camera, which was run after Eat... Bulaga!. The show was produced by TAPE, Inc. (the production company behind EB), as well as Coney's own production company, CAN Television and Productions (derived from her real name, Constancia Angeline Nubla). Throughout the series' run, Reyes portrayed different parts in the series — host, lead star, and also producer.
Her Eat... Bulaga! co-hosts (notably Vic and Aiza) appeared in the programme as guest cast members.
Later years in Eat... Bulaga![]
In 1987, Aiza Seguerra joined the Eat... Bulaga! family after gaining recognition for her jolly character in the programme's 1987 edition of Little Miss Philippines. Coney often joined Aiza in her segment, Aiza's Kiddie Korner. The mother-daughter dynamic of Coney and Aiza (sometimes joined by Vic as the father), a relatively new concept on variety television, boosted ratings for the programme who saw fierce competition with GMA 7's replacement for Student Canteen, Lunch Date.
Coney was one of the main hosts that led the transfer of Eat... Bulaga! (and other TAPE-produced shows, including her Coney Reyes on Camera) from RPN-9 to ABSCBN-2. This move is said to have boosted further the resurgence of ABSCBN into Philippine television, with it eventually becoming number one.
In the late 1980s, rumours spread of Coney and Eat... Bulaga! co-host Vic Sotto having a romantic relationship. Reyes was by then annulled to her marriage with Larry Mumar, and Sotto having separated only with his wife, Dina Bonnevie, in 1986. Vic and Coney's relationship, for a while, went public until Coney filed for a maternity leave at EB sometime in 1989. She eventually returned to the programme, just in time for its 10th Anniversary celebration in September that year. She had by then given birth to her son by Vic, Vico, three months prior .
In 1991, a year after becoming a born-again Christian, Reyes left Eat... Bulaga! for good, although her name was still mentioned in the theme song until 1995.
Life after Eat... Bulaga![]
After leaving Eat... Bulaga!, Coney focused on her young son with Vic. She stopped appearing daily on television, but was still present with her weekly drama anthology, Coney Reyes on Camera. The programme, along with other TAPE, Inc. produced shows, had moved to ABS-CBN 2 in 1989 after the sequestration of RPN 9.
Then, after a dispute with the network, TAPE again had to move their shows to GMA 7 in 1995. Coney Reyes on Camera, however, stayed with ABS-CBN 2 because it was now co-produced by the network's production unit, along with her CAN Television and Production. By that time, Coney made less and less appearances in the programme (which she admitted was due to her greater concentration on her three children, and due as well to a diagnosis of throat cancer). She made her appearances during only its opening and closing segments. Three more years passed, and on 26 December 1998, Coney Reyes on Camera aired its final episode.
One year after Coney Reyes on Camera ended, Coney returned to television by starring in the weekly family drama-comedy Ang Munting Paraiso (1999-2003), co-starring with Ronaldo Valdez, Jericho Rosales, Sarah Christophers, and Jericho Rosales. During the programme's run, Coney also starred in Sa Puso Ko Iingatan Ka (2001–03) alongside Judy Ann Santos and Piolo Pascual. The series would be her last year in a soap opera following an almost four-year hiatus from television and also films.
However in 2004, Coney appeared in Eat... Bulaga!'s 25th Anniversary Special held in Expo Pilipino at Clark, Pampanga. She appeared in the TVJ's performance of Kenny Rogers' "Through The Years" sung as a tribute to past co-hosts. Although unlike the rest of the former co-hosts, Coney appeared during an interlude to "Through The Years" wherein Diana Ross' "It's My Turn" was played (the song, which she sang in her entry in EB and served also as the theme song in Coney Reyes on Camera, has since became attached to her and her celebrity personality). Her special entrance was met with rapturous applause and cheers, which made her tearful, as she said in an interview for the Silver Special's behind-the-scenes post-production documentary. Apart from the interviews she provided in that same behind-the-scenes documentary, Coney did a short trivia video discussing and celebrating the EB segment, Send In Your Dreams. A light-hearted moment included in said video was Coney singing with children aboard a padyak on a rail track while singing "Isang libo't isang tuwa, buong bansa... Eat Bulaga!" - the last verses of the EB theme song.
Coney came back on television in 2007 to be reunited with her Sa Puso Ko Iingatan Ka co-star Judy Ann Santos in Ysabella (2007–08). Her character, Victoria Amarillo, became one of the most iconic villains in Philippine television due to her attitude, schemes, and looks. Coney then made another return to television in Rubi (2010), a remake of the 2004 Mexican Televisa series of the same name. The series stars Jake Cuenca, Shaina Magdayao, Diether Ocampo, and Angelica Panganiban.
It was in the 2011 critically-acclaimed 100 Days To Heaven that Coney once again became a lead star in her own right. In it, she portrayed Madam Anna Manalastas, a cold-hearted businesswoman who was sent back to earth in her childhood form in order to correct her mistakes. Starring with her are Jodi Sta. Maria as Sophia, Anna's long lost daughter, and Xyriel Manabat who portrays the child-form of Madam Anna. The series received five nominations and won four of the five. Reyes and Manabat were nominated for Pop Kapamilya TV Character for their portrayal of Anna Manalastas in the ASAP Pop Viewers' Choice Awards.
Two years later, she Coney made her return to primetime television in Judy Ann Santos's Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala in 2013. And in that same year, Coney co-starred in Four Sisters and a Wedding as Grace Salazar. Her character portrayal and lines, as well as the movie itself, has since become a part of Filipino popular culture. Four Sisters and a Wedding is Coney's most recent film to date.
After almost 25 years with ABS-CBN, Coney made a return to GMA Network - coinciding with the fortieth year since she entered the said network. With her transfer on GMA-7, she co-starred in Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real (2014) alongside Maricel Soriano, Lovi Poe, and Dingdong Dantes. In part as a promotion for Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real, Reyes guested on Startalk, an entertainment news television series, for an emotional reunion with former EB co-host and long-time friend, Joey de Leon.
Coney then returned to ABS-CBN a year later for Nathaniel (2015), a fantasy television series focusing of faith and restoring goodness to humanity. In it, Coney portrays the role of AVL, a rich businesswoman who forgets her faith in God and gets followers in becoming rich and successful. She was joined in the series by alongside Marco Masa, Gerald Anderson, Isabelle Daza, and Shaina Magdayao. Another anti-heroine role for Coney saw here starring in in My Dear Heart (2017) with Zanjoe Marudo, Bela Padilla, Ria Atayde, and Nayomi "Heart" Ramos as Heart De Jesus. The series revolves around Heart De Jesus, a sick kid who becomes a spirit. Reyes plays the role of Dr. Margaret Divinagracia, a rich doctor who in the end is revealed to be the biological grandmother of Heart. After My Dear Heart ended, she guested on ABS-CBN 2's morning talk show Magandang Buhay with her children Vico Sotto and L.A.
In 2018, Coney returned to GMA after for a Norse mythology-inspired teledrama, Victor Magtanggol. She starred with Alden Richards, who plays the title role as well as her son, and in 2020, Coney returned once again on television as Madam Isabella Gonzales in Love of My Life. The drama series revolves around her struggle as the family matriarch to keep her family together despite of the numerous problems that threatens to break them up. She was joined in the series by Carla Abellana, Rhian Ramos, Mikael Daez, and Tom Rodriguez (in a special participation role). However, due to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, shooting for the drama was temporarily halted, returning eventually on the final days of the same year. Love of My Life, which concluded on 19 March 2021 was a high-rating television drama in GMA 7, and has been well-received by viewers.
On 30 July 2022, to mark the 43rd anniversary of the programme, "OG Dabarkads" Coney returned to Eat Bulaga! as a guest host - coinciding with her 40th year since joining the show, and her reunion with Tito, Vic & Joey on the EB stage since the Silver Anniversary Special.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oblIknXUWAo
- ↑ Noontime shows through the years (First of Two Parts), 6 December 2001, STARBYTES - Butch Francisco, The Philippine Star