Ruben V. Nepales

@nepalesruben
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About Ruben V. Nepales

Based in Los Angeles, Philippine-born and raised Ruben V. Nepales is a multi-awarded journalist.

Edging out entries from mainstream entertainment outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap, Nepales’ “Only IN Hollywood” (published on Rappler) won first prize in the individual blog category in the Southern California Journalism Awards in 2021 and 2022, and first prize in the entertainment news or feature category in 2017.

He is the author of My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood (2012), which won in the print journalism-book category of the Migration Advocacy and Media Awards presented by the Philippines’ Commission on Filipinos Overseas. His nonfiction book, Through a Writer’s Lens, won first prize in the 2020-2021 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. He also copped first prize in the Film Feature on Actors (Online) category in the same awards in 2023.

Nepales was the first Filipino to be elected to membership in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which was renamed the Golden Globes, the body of international journalists that votes on and presents the prestigious Golden Globe Awards. He served for many years as a board member of the HFPA, one of Hollywood's biggest philanthropic organizations.

In 2012, he became the first and only Filipino to be elected as chairman of the board of the HFPA. He later served as executive secretary from June 2019 to 2021. He was the managing editor of a special anniversary commemorative book, Hollywood Foreign Press Association: A History (75 Years of the Golden Globe Awards).

In September 2022, Nepales received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from President Joe Biden during The Outstanding Filipinos in America (TOFA) Award in New York.

Nepales co-founded the Manila International Film Festival (MIFF), the first overseas edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival, the Philippines’ long-running film festival which marked its 50th edition in 2024. Nepales currently serves on the boards of the Asian World Film Festival and the SOHO International Film Festival.

He is also a founding board member of the Los Angeles-based Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines.

Nepales graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and immigrated to the US in the 1980s. A proud native of Calasiao, Pangasinan, Nepales is married to journalist Janet Susan Rodriguez Nepales, with whom he has two daughters, Bianca Nicole and Rafaella Angelica.