Biography
Carvajal was born in Manila in 1898, the daughter of sarswela actors. By the age of four, she was appearing on stage, appearing alongside her parents. In her teens, she was touring the bodabil circuit together with Manuel Silos as a comedy duo known as "Monang & Sano". Silos would later become a prominent film director.
Carvajal made her film debut in 1920, in the silent film El Trust de los Tenorios. Soon, she found herself frequently cast in horror films, often as a monster, a witch (mangkukulam) or some other supernatural being. Along her roles in this vein were in such films as Sumpa ng Aswang (1935), Gamu-Gamong Naging Lawin (1937), Halimaw (1941), and Malaya, Mutya ng Gubat (1948).
Carvajal was also adept as a film comedian as well, appearing in comic roles in Ay Monang (1939), Victory Joe (146), and Principe Amante (1950). In 1962, she would be nominated for a FAMAS Best Supporting Actress award for her role in El Filibusterismo, Gerardo de Leon's film version of Jose Rizal's second novel. Thirty two years earlier, Carvajal had appeared in a silent film version of Rizal's first novel, Noli Me Tangere.
Carvajal maintained an active film career until nearly the end of her life, appearing in Mga Bilangong Birhen (1977). She died from cancer at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in June 1980.
Read more about this topic: Monang Carvajal
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people, if he’s any good.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)