Nikki Gil is Monica Pauline Gil in real life who is a Filipino actress, singer, model, host and VJ with a Spanish and German bloodline. Nikki has been a singer since she was as young as four years old. Her singing talent was inspired by her mother who is a church choir member and her father being a piano player. She is the batch valedictorian from her school in 2005 and pursued a major in English literature course at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Nikki had her movie career in the making when she started to do television dramas. Among these include “Pieta” of Carlo J. Caparas and “Nagsimula sa Puso.” After then she received more television commercials and movie offers that launched her career as an actress in full swing. Nikki was discovered by a talent manager after she sang in the church in 2004. She was then recruited to do her first commercial advertisement for Coca-Cola a year after. Nikki launched her first music album in 2005 under EMI Philippines. In 2006, the same album was re-launched with some additional songs including the hit “Glowing Inside.”
Nikki was launched as an international singer upon receiving her break to become a star of the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” when she sung the movie’s theme song “Breaking Free.” Her additional music video for the movie entitled “Gotta Go My Own Way” reached a double platinum record. Nikki’s sister Dani is a music artist as well and together they wrote the song “Hear My Heart” which is Nikki’s carrier single for her second music album. Dani also wrote Nikki’s carrier single for her third album “Somebody to Love.”
Nikki made some series of projects with Walt Disney in Hong Kong where she recorded the music video “It’s A Small World After All.” She was then made to record its tagalong version to the Hong Kong Disneyland’s grand opening of its “It’s A Small World” theme park. She also portrayed the character of Elle Woods in 2001 for the musical play “Legally Blonde.”
Nikki also became a professional VJ for MYX, a music channel subsidiary of ABS-CBN in 2005. She also had some stints for television hosting for ABS-CBN’s talk show MRS. She also became a host for the ASAP Mania, a weekly variety show. She then became a host for the Pinoy Dream Academy which is Endemol’s reality musical show in 2006. She is also one of the casts of an anime-inspired fantasy “Rounin.” Her hosting career takes a flourishing path when she co-hosted again for the season 2 of Pinoy Dream Academy in 2009.
Nikki Gil, a Filipina singer, actress, host and VJ was born as Monica Pauline Gil on August 23, 1987 in Manila. Nikki is of Filipino, Spanish and German descent. She was born to a musically inclined family, her father, Dino was a great piano player and her mother, Julie is a church choir member. Her sister, Dani, also plays the piano. In 2005, Nikki, finished her secondary education in Shekinah Christian Training Center as the batch valedictorian. She pursued a course with a degree in English Literature at the Ateneo de Manila and graduated in March, 2005.
She started working an early age. As early as four years old, Nikki was already singing and doing voiceovers for commercials. Her first commercial was for Coca-Cola in 2005. In the same year she was also given a VJ stint at MYX, a music channel subsidiary of ABS-CBN and a hosting job for a morning show, Breakfast which aired in ANC. Later on, she was part of the cast of a variety show ASAP Mania. The following year she hosted the first season of a singing reality show, Pinoy Dream Academy together with Toni Gonzaga and Bianca Gonzales. In 2007, Nikki then became a part of a fantasy series in TV Rounin and got an extended cast for the hit drama series Pangarap na Bituin. Again in 2008, Nikki was chosen to host the second season of Pinoy Dream Academy again with Toni Gonzaga and Billy Crawford. She also hosted a talk show E-Live and occasionally hosted in a noon time show Showtime which both aired on ABS-CBN. Nikki is known for her roles in TV series like Pieta and Nagsimula sa Puso, Mundo Man ay Magunaw and Florinda. Nikki appeared in movies like One More Chance, a hit movie in 2007 and And I Love You So which was released in 2009. In 2010, Nikki also played a lead actress role in the romance film The Red Shoes that won The Best Picture award at the 27th Bogota International Film Festival. She will be playing a lead role in the upcoming remake of the 1996 film Ikaw Naman Ang Iiyak.
Nikki’s passion is also for singing. She released her first self-titled album in 2005 which includes the song Sakayan ng Jeep as its carrier single. In 2006, this album was later repackaged and released with an additional song, Glowing Inside. Nikki, through EMI Philippines and Walt Disney Records was introduced to other Asian artists like Vince Chong of Malaysia and Alicia Pan of Singapore to sing and star in the music video of Disney Channel’s original movie High School Musical’s theme song, Breaking Free and also sang Gotta Go My Own Way, which climbed the charts and lifted High School Musical’s status to double platinum record in July, 2006. Her second album was released in 2008 which was titled Hear My Heart with the song Hear My Heart as the carrier single, which she co-wrote with her younger sister Dani. During that year she was again asked by Walt Disney in Hong Kong to do a music video for the pop version of the song It’s a Small World After All. She was also asked to perform the Tagalog version of the song It’s A Small World for the grand opening of It’s a Small World in Hong Kong Disneyland. Her third music album, Somebody To Love was released in 2010.
