Ruben V. Nepales

@nepalesruben
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About Ruben V. Nepales

Based in Los Angeles, Ruben V. Nepales is an award-winning journalist whose honors include five first prizes from the National Entertainment Journalism Awards, a U.S.-wide competition, and the Southern California Journalism Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Press Club.

In a field that includes entries from mainstream entertainment outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap, Nepales’ “Only IN Hollywood,” published on Rappler, won first prize, individual blog category, for two consecutive years, 2021 and 2022, in the Southern California Journalism Awards. He also bagged first prize, entertainment news or feature, in 2017 in the same journalism contest.

The Philippine-born and raised writer also won first prize, non-fiction book, for his “Through a Writer’s Lens” in the 2020-2021 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.

In the 2023 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, held December 3, Nepales copped first prize in the Film Feature on Actors (Online) category.

Nepales, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s, was the first Filipino to be elected to membership in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which was recently re-named the Golden Globes, the body of international journalists which votes on and presents the prestigious Golden Globe Awards.

Nepales served for many years as a board member of the HFPA, which is one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in Hollywood (it has donated more than $55 million over 29 years to entertainment-related charities, scholarships and grants).

In 2012, he became the first and only Filipino to be elected as chairman of the board of the HFPA. After serving in that capacity, Nepales was elected executive secretary of the HFPA in June 2019 and served until 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 2012, Nepales published his first book, “My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood,” which won in the print journalism – book category of the Migration Advocacy and Media Awards presented by the Office of the President of the Philippines’ Commission on Filipinos Overseas.

In September 2022, the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. was awarded to Nepales at The Outstanding Filipinos in America (TOFA) Awards held in New York.

He co-founded the Manila International Film Festival (MIFF), the first overseas edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival, the Philippines’ long-running film festival approaching its 50th edition. The inaugural MIFF, launched in Los Angeles in November 2023, will be held in LA from late January to early February 2024.

Nepales currently serves on the boards of the Asian World Film Festival and the SOHO International Film Festival.

The University of Santo Tomas (Manila) alumnus was one of the founding board members of the Los Angeles-based Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines.

A proud native of Calasiao Pangasinan, Philippines, Nepales is married to journalist Janet Susan Rodriguez Nepales, with whom he has two daughters, Bianca Nicole and Rafaella Angelica.