AlDub

Maine Mendoza

Nicomaine Dei Capili Mendoza (born March 3, 1995), popularly known as Maine Mendoza,[3][4] is a Filipina actress, singer-songwriter,[5] and television and internet personality. She is best known for her viral Dubsmash videos[6] and her role as Yaya Dub in the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga!'s "Kalyeserye" segment airing on GMA Network and worldwide via GMA Pinoy TV.[7][8] After Mendoza was accidentally paired with Alden Richards forming the love team AlDub, the ratings of Eat Bulaga! were further increased[9] and the popularity of Mendoza as well as Richards resulted in wide exposure.[10][11]

Besides Eat Bulaga!, Mendoza featured in the film My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore where she received a Best Supporting Actress award at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival. She also starred in and wrote the theme song of Imagine You & Me, which is her very first film as lead actress.

    Early life

Mendoza was born and raised in Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippines, to Mary Ann Capili Mendoza and Teodoro Mendoza, Jr. She has two brothers and two sisters.[12]

She finished her elementary education at St. Paul School of Sta. Maria and high school at St. Paul College of Bocaue in Bulacan. She completed a bachelor's degree in hotel, restaurant and institution management major in culinary arts at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde .[13] She had her internship at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing, New York.

Career

Acting career
In the early part of 2015, Mendoza's career started after she posted a Dubsmash compilation on Facebook. A compilation in which she impersonated Kris Aquino went viral with one million views overnight.[6][14] This earned her the title "Queen of Dubsmash" in the Philippines.[2] Subsequently, she was cast as Yaya Dub (also known as Divina Ursula Bukbukova Smash[13]), the personal assistant of Lola Nidora (portrayed by Wally Bayola), on Eat Bulaga!'s "Juan For All, All For Juan" segment[15] and first appeared on July 4, 2015. Her character in the segment was paired accidentally with fellow Eat Bulaga! co-host Alden Richards, on July 16, 2015, in a romantic-comedy sketch part of the show titled "Kalyeserye"; the couple became popularly known as "AlDub".[9] In November 2015, Mendoza joined the cast of Princess in the Palace as Chef Elize,[16] her first appearance in an actual teleserye. In December 2015, she appeared as a guest star in the TV sitcom Vampire Ang Daddy Ko[17] and in the Sunday noontime variety show Sunday PinaSaya.

Mendoza and Richards starred in a 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry entitled My Bebe Love #KiligPaMore together with Vic Sotto and Ai-Ai de las Alas.[18] Jose Javier Reyes, the director of the film, confirmed the inclusion of Mendoza in the motion picture.[19] Mendoza plays Anna Carillo, the stubborn and rebellious child of Vic Sotto's character.[20] She was given the Best Supporting Actress award by the MMFF for her role.[21]

In December 2015, they appeared in GMA Network's station ID commercial for Christmas.[22] Even though she appears in GMA, she is not a member of the GMA Artist Center and her career is being managed by Triple A, the talent management arm of Antonio P. Tuviera who is the executive producer of Eat Bulaga!.[1]

Mendoza participated in the Lenten season drama specials of Eat Bulaga! in March 2016.[23] She reprised her role as Divina/Yaya Dub in Kaputol ng Buhay and starred as Dani in God Gave Me You where she won the Darling of the Screen award and was nominated for Most Dramatic Performance by a Lead Star in Eat Bulaga!'s 3rd EB Dabarkads Awards held on April 2, 2016.[24] Mendoza and Richards starred in film Imagine You & Me as lead actors.[25] Some of the scenes of the film were shot in Como, Italy and the lyrics of the film's theme song is written by Mendoza herself while the music is done by Vic Sotto.[26][27]

Modeling and endorsements
Mendoza and Richards have done a number of product endorsements while Mendoza also appeared in a number of advertisements by herself.[28][29][30][31] She has appeared as the cover girl for Meg magazine and Preview magazine for November 2015.[32] Mendoza and the cast of "Kalyeserye" segment were featured on YES! magazine's November 2015 issue.[33] Mendoza and Richards appeared on the covers of Reader's Digest Asia,[34] a special issue of YES! magazine,[33] and Inside Showbiz[35] and PeopleAsia[36] in December 2015. Aside from being in the cover of PeopleAsia, Mendoza together with Richards received the People of the Year award in 2016 from the magazine.[37] In recognition of Mendoza's effectiveness as a product endorser, she became the Trinitian Awardee for Most Valuable Female Advertising Endorser during Platinum Stallion Awards (Awards for Advertising) in 2016.[38]

Mendoza and Richards were on the cover again of the January 2016 issue of YES! magazine.[39] On the same month, the couple was the first showbiz personalities to land on the cover of BizNews Asia.[40] In the 2016 calendar of Disney Channel Asia, Mendoza appeared as Elsa from the Disney film Frozen.[41] Mendoza appeared in the February 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine with Richards[42] and Esquire Philippines with Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola and Paolo Ballesteros.[43]

In July 2016, Mendoza together with Richards graced the cover of YES! magazine for the third time and led the magazine's list of Most Beautiful Stars of 2016.[44] In the same month, Mendoza landed in the 21st rank of FHM Philippines' 100 Sexiest Women for 2016 as a new entry.[45]