Willie Revillame is a TV host, an actor, singer, songwriter and a comedian hailing from the Philippines.
His career started out there and he thought that he wasn’t going to be international, but soon he gained worldwide popularity.
Early years
He was born on January 27th in 1961 by his full name Wilfredo Buendia Revillame. His parents are Myrna Buendia and Onorio Revillame, an engineer. They have invested in him a lot, and they wanted him to be successful in life.
He spent his childhood in Cabanatuan City with only his mother because his parents split up when he was a kid. This was a very tough thing for him, but he managed to go through it once he accepted his faith.
He has a lot of siblings. Some of them are Grace, Noemi, Naomi, and Angelo. Some of them are his half-sisters and half-brothers due to the fact that he had 5 siblings from his mother’s side and 7 from his fathers.
He went to Central European University and studied dentistry but dropped out after 2 years. He moved to study music but also gave up on that because he didn’t know how to read notes. He said that it was very hard for him to find himself and that he was one of those people that tried a bit of everything, but it never seemed to work.
Before he went into acting and hosting he was a professional drummer and did beats for Francis Magalona when hip-hop was very popular in the Philippines. It was an interesting experience and he thought that he could actually find his way into the showbiz industry.
He was also a concert drummer for Alma Moreno’s show called “Loveliness”. He also drummed for some rising stars like Gary Valenciano. This helped him get into the world of fame.
Career development
Willie made his first album “Parental Guidance” with the help of the rapper Andrew E. He had a lot of fun doing it and learned a lot from the rapper, which helped him in his work later on.
It went Platinum but wasn’t loved by radio stations because some songs had double-meaning and lyrics weren’t appropriate. Those songs are “Ang Cute ng Pokémon” and “‘Wag Mong Pigilan”.
Willie started his career working for GMA Network as one of their hosts. He hosted a program “Lunch Date” alongside Randy Santiago.
After he finished hosting this program he wanted to try himself in actin and played a lot of roles alongside known stars. He actually thought that he may make a career in movies and shows soon, and that’s why he got very invested in those.
In 1991 he was in “Lovingly Yours, Helen”, a TV drama he did for GMA Network. Some of the stars in this series are Christopher de Leon, Sheryl Cruz, Maricel Soriano, etc.
From 1993 to 1995 he was on a comedy series called “Kate en Boogie” with Nanette Medved (Kate) and also Dennis Padilla (Boogie).
In 1998 he co-hosted “San Linggo Napo Sila”, a noontime show made by ABS-CBN. People loved him and found him very relatable, which lead to him getting cast more and more as time went by.
After this show was canceled he started hosting “Magandang Tanghali Bayan” alongside Randy Santiago, Christine Jacob-Sandejas, Vanessa del Bianco and others.
After that, he had an appearance in “Richard Loves Lucy” hosted by Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres.
He hosted several more shows on this network and some of them were “Willingly Yours”, “Wowowee”, “Wil Time Bigtime”, “Willing Willie” and so on. These were all really interesting experiences and he was happy to be a part of them.
In 2015 he returned to GMA Network where he worked at the beginning of his career.
He returned with his program “Wowowin” which started airing in May that year every Sunday. In 2016 it became so popular that it started airing on weekdays.
In 2004 and 2005 he released two albums under Universal Records and they were called “Pito Pito” and “Para Sa ‘Kin Ay Ikaw”. In 2009 he released “Ikaw Na Nga”. He worked very hard on them, but he didn’t get the outcome he was looking for, so he had to keep finding features.
From 2010 until 2012 he was under Viva Records. There he had albums like “I Love You” from 2010 and “Kendeng Kendeng” from 2011. Working with this company wasn’t his best move because they didn’t fully throw him into the market and they decided to keep him back.
In 2013 he released an album called “Christmas Wish” with MCA Music. He became a one-hit-wonder in his country but still didn’t get too much attention from the outside.
In 2015 he released “Nando’s Ako” with GMA Music.
After that, he signed to Star records where he was releasing albums for his series from 2005 to 2009. Some of them are “Wowowillie” from 2005 and “Dododo Dadada” from 2007. He was very interested in working with this company because he heard that there are a lot of great opportunities for all the people who work with them.
Willie also made a business, “the Will Tower Mall” located in Quezon City. He did so with his partner Manny Villar. This mall was opened in September of 2013 for the first time.
He also owned a W Bar and Will Steak Town in the past. It was located near his Mall in Diliman in Quezon City.
In 2015 he was in an episode of “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” and he was interviewed in his house located in Tagaytay City. This was after he signed for GMA Network.
In this interview, Willie talked about his plan to build a 5-star hotel on the land he got from the Madrigal Family. His own house was on that land. He wanted to create something back at home because he missed being there and he thought that it would be a good idea to be back home.
Willie married Liz Amoro, a beauty queen. The wedding as a civil ceremony was held in Lipa located in Batangas in March of 2005. In June of the same year, they married in church. They loved spending time together so they decided to exchange their vows.
In 2008 their marriage annulled.
Before he married Liz he was married to an actress called Princess Punzalan.
He made a lot of movies from 1990 until 2009. Some of them are “Joe Pring 2: Kidlat Ng Maynila”, “Sam & Miguel (Your absurd, no problem)” where he played Angelo, “Abrakadabra”, “Kasangga Kahit Kailan” where eh played Muerte, “Matalino man and matching na-Bishan din!” where he was Mando and “Nobody Nobody but Juan” where he played himself.
When Willie was hosting his show “Wowowee” in February of 2006 a stampede at the PhilSports Arena happened.
In the summer of 2017, the Department of Justice dropped all charges they had against Willie for this stampede. This was a very turbulent time for him as he found himself charged for many things he didn’t even encounter until that moment.
In August of 2009, there was an episode of his show “Wowowee” that was interrupted because of the transfer of the president at that time (Cory Aquino) to the Manila Cathedral.
Willie stated that he couldn’t do the show and laugh while the whole country was mourning.
Some Journalists thought he disrespected Aquino with his statements.
In May of 2010, he had another rant about columnist and radio host Jobert Sucaldito. He said that he had enough of Jobert’s criticism on the Willie of Fortune segment of his show. The columnist wasn’t happy that high-school students below the passing mark were competing in this.
Willie threatened the network that he will resign if Sucaldito isn’t dealt with. After that Willie left but the network declined his resignation letter.
A few days after Willie said that he will end his contract with ABS-CBN although it expires next year. He also talked about how the network violated some things from his contract.
In March of 2011, Willie received criticism after a 6-year-old boy performed a “macho dance” on his primetime show “Willing Willie”. The country’s Department of Social Welfare and Development described the situation as child abuse.
Willie sincerely apologized for this segment to the public. He said that he just wanted to be funny and make everyone laugh, but missed the point of the whole segment.
There was an investigation of this program by the Commission on Human Rights. This investigation targeted Willie and created more turbulence in his life.
In October of 2015, the prosecution of Willie was approved for this case.
Willie’s lawyer stated how Willie already posted two bails in September of 2013. This was getting out of hand so they needed to calm the situation down.
In 2019 there was another accident on “Wowowin”. Two girls fell from the bleachers while they were singing and dancing during the opening segment of the show.
One of the girls fractured bones but unfortunately, another one hit her head and died.
Revillame has a lot of awards, mostly for his TV shows. Some of them are Consumers Award Outstanding Variety Show (2008) , PMPC Star Awards for TV in the category “Best Male Game Show Host” (2015), Illumine Awards for Television (Global City Innovative College) for “Most Innovative Game Show” (2016) and Consumers Award Outstanding Male TV Host (2008).
Personal life
He has a daughter Meryll Soriano and she is also an actress.
He also has a son from his marriage with Liz. He is called Juan Emmanuel.
Quick summary
Full name: Wilfredo Buendia Revillame
Date of birth: January 27, 1961
Birthplace: Cabanatuan City, Philippines
Age: 59
Profession: singer, host, actor
Height: NA
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $11 million