Performing Arts
Proudly Pinoy: Three Filipino Stars Make It Big in This Year's Tony Awards
The Tony Awards celebrate the best of Broadway.
by Leana Vibal
Published on Jun 9, 2025
(SPOT.ph) Earlier in the year, Lea Salonga proudly commended seven Filipinos making their mark on Broadway. Cut to a few months later and the spotlight just got even brighter for us as three Filipino thespian talents bag major wins in this year's Tony Awards.
It's another uy, Pilipins-moment as Darren Criss, Nicole Scherzinger, and Marco Paguia win big in Broadway's biggest award show. Find out more about these talents and the roles that gave them one of the biggest theater nods across the board.
Darren Criss:
Darren Criss bagged two Tony Awards in 2025 for his work in the 2024 musical love story, Maybe Happy Ending. Criss was recognized as the Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his portrayal of Oliver, the male helperbot in this South Korean musical about friendship, love, and mortality adapted for Broadway.
Maybe Happy Ending was considered the big winner of this year's Tony Awards as it took home six major awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score for the Theater, and Best Book of a Musical.
Criss' second award is for his producer role in the same musical.
If Criss looks familiar it’s probably because you’ve seen him as Blaine Anderson on the TV show Glee. He also starred as Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story—a role that earned him both a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe.
And if you're wondering about the Filipino connection, Criss is proudly Filipino-American. He may have grown up in San Francisco, but his mom hails from Cebu.
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Nicole Scherzinger:
If you only remember Nicole Scherzinger from her time as the lead performer in the early 2000s girl group The Pussycat Dolls, then you're missing out. Following her exit from the group, Scherzinger has continued to make waves through her solo music and acting stints on TV and the stage.
In this year's Tonys, Scherzinger bagged Best Actress in a musical for her role as Norma Desmond in the 2024 revival of Sunset Boulevard. For the uninitiated, the musical tells the story of a fading actress, Norma, who is determined to return to the spotlight after she meets a young screenwriter serendipitously. What follows is a tale of love, ambition, and inevitable tragedy. Sunset Boulevard took home three Tonys this year.
Here’s a proud Pinoy connection: Scherzinger’s father, Alfonso Valiente, is Filipino, which makes her officially part of this year’s Pinoy winning streak at the Tonys.
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Marco Paguia:
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Meet Marco Paguia, the Musical Director of Buena Vista Social Club. Photo from Screenshot/ The Broadway Show Video.
Marco Paguia is a musical director, arranger, and pianist based in New York. For the 2025 Tony Awards, Paguia took home the Best Orchestrations Award for his work on the Buena Vista Social Club.
ICYDK, Buena Vista Social Club is inspired by true events. It tells the story of four musicians and their careers in Havana, Cuba, from the 1950s to the 1990s. It's one of the Broadway shows with the most Tony Awards this year.
On top of the Tony Award for Best Orchestration, Paguia and the band of Buena Vista Social Club are also the recipients of the Special Tony Award for Musicianship, honoring the band for bringing the magic and sounds of Havana to the stage.
Aside from Buena Vista Social Club, Paguia was also the musical director for other Broadway musicals such as Gutenberg! The Musical!, Girl From the North Country, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Everyday Rapture. He also performed as pianist on Steven Spielberg's West Side Story with the New York Philharmonic.
This isn't the first time Filipino talent has been recognized in the Tonys.
Criss, Scherzinger, and Paguia join other Filipino awardees such as Lea Salonga, Jhett Tolentino, Raymond Poliquit, Clint Ramos, Robert Lopez, and many more Filipino-blooded creatives who have shown the world what Filipinos are killer thespian talents. So go ahead, book that ticket to the theater. Who knows? You might just be watching the next Tony winner before the rest of the world does.
Leana is Spot's go-to for Arts & Culture and Things to Do. On any given day, she’s either glued to her screen—or gliding underwater like the mermaid she swears she is. Contact: leana@spot.ph
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