Antoinette Taus

Antoinette Cherish Flores Taus (born August 30, 1981) is a Filipino-American actress and environmentalist. Taus started out as a child actress for ABS-CBN and Viva and rose to popularity starring in the GMA drama series Anna Karenina (1996–2002) T.G.I.S. (1995–1999) and Click (1999–2004), where she was first paired with Dingdong Dantes. Taus famously hosted the Philippine coverage of BBC Millennium Celebration 2000 Today, which was broadcast over 67 countries around the world. She spent ten years living in Los Angeles.^[1] She recently has returned to the Philippines to resume her career.^[2]

Aside from her showbiz stints, she is actively part of humanitarian works and serves as an advocate in various campaigns about climate change and mental health. She founded the non-profit Cora and is a UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador.

Life and career

Antoinette Taus was born on August 30, 1981,^[3] to Thomas Sr. and Maria Corazon Flores Taus.^[4][5] Her younger brother Tom, a DJ who lives in the United States, is the former child actor who starred in Cedie (1996).^[4][6] Taus started out as a child actress under the agency ABS-CBN Talent Center. She appeared on the ABS-CBN children's television series Hiraya Manawari and in Patayin Sa Sindak si Barbara (1996) as the possessed daughter of Dawn Zulueta's character.^[7]

In 1996, Taus moved to VIVA Artists Agency and got a lead role in Anna Karenina (1996–2002), a VIVA-produced teledrama which aired weekly on GMA-7. She played the kind and reserved Anna Serrano, one of three girls claiming to be the titular missing heiress.^[7] Anna Karenina's success led to Taus being cast as Bianca in the second batch of the GMA weekly teenage drama T.G.I.S. (1995–1999).^[7][8]

After her mother died from cancer in 2004, Taus became depressed and organized a feeding program to cope. Although it was intended to be a one-off event, Taus was inspired to continue after it received attention on social media and eventually founded Communities Organized for Resource Allocation (CORA), a non-profit organization named for her mother.

Filmography

Television

Film

Theatre

• The Wizard of Oz
• I Ought to be in Pictures
• Les Misérables (as Gavroche)
• The Little Mermaid at the Ayala Center (2003)^[10]
• Grease The Musical (as Betty Rizzo, 2014)^[11]
• Bituing Walang Ninging The Musical (as Lavinia Arguelles, 2015)^[12]

Discography

Album

Single

Philanthropy

Aside from her stints on television, she is currently active on advocating Sustainable Development Goals, and Mental Health in the Philippines. She founded an organization named CORA (Communities Organized for Resource Allocation) that aims to help the need especially the poor, and to raise awareness and take actions against environmental problems like climate change.)^[16] On September 26, 2019, Antoinette Taus was hailed as National Goodwill Ambassador for the Philippines by UN Environment Programme to continually promote sustainability and environmental protection.^[17]