Actors - Maui Taylor

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	Actors - Maui Taylor

Maui Taylor (born Maureen Anne Rodriguez Taylor) (b. June 28, 1983) is a Filipina/British model, singer, and actress.

Background

Taylor was born in Brighton, United Kingdom and was raised there until the age of six; the youngest of four children. Her mother Annette. met her father, Ricardo Taylor, a landscape artist, while on vacation in Britain. She lived in London until her teens when she was sent to live in the Philippines by her parents. Aside from her mother's longing to return to her homeland, her father insisted that she leave Britain with the rationale that she be raised with "Filipino values". Her older sisters are also in the entertainment field with one being an opera singer for the London Opera House while the other a choreographer.

Career

Taylor initially got into show biz with the assistance of her late cousin who was a member of a dance group in the Philippines. Because of her mestiza features, Taylor quickly found herself as a sought after actress despite the fact that she had no prior acting experience. She was eventually cast on the Filipino TV soap opera "Anna Karenina" at the age of 14. This lead to other roles in various TV shows as well as cinema.

Taylor first gained nationwide attention when she appeared on the cover of the April 2002 issue of FHM (Philippine edition). Because of her matured body and her very youthful face, she instantly became a hot sex symbol among men. This was justified when she appeared in her first starring role in the movie Gamitan, which grossed almost Php 70,000,000 ($1,300,000 USD) in the local box office.

Maui Taylor had early movie appearances in films such as Tatarin and S2pid Luv, both from Viva Films.

But she had her big breakthrough in 2002 when she got her first starring role in Gamitan, a movie where she played a young college girl who lost her virginity to an abusive and traitorous basketball player (who only used her in a big bet with friends), and latter plotted schemes of vengeance against those who hurt her. Gamitan was also the first movie where the young actress appeared nude and performed in steamy sex scenes on the screen (no frontal nudity however).

That same year, Taylor appeared in the film Hibla where she shared the lead with fellow actress Rica Peralejo. In separate situations in the film, both actresses appeared nude and performed sex scenes with different actors. Hibla grossed over Php 60,000,000 ($1,100,000 USD) and enjoyed stealing people's attention as it featured a French kissing scene between Taylor and Peralejo (non-lesbian situation). The film is noted for its stunning capture of natural scenery.

2003 was the last year Taylor was active in films. In April that year, she starred with actress Katya Santos in the sex comedy Sex Drive, which was deeply inspired by the movie Y' Tu MaMa Tambien. Although it was blasted by critics for its pointless plot and sex scenes, Sex Drive made around Php 64,500,000

For her next movie titled Ang Huling Birhen Sa Lupa (international title: The Last Virgin), Taylor had to work extra hard as she played a mentally retarded girl and had to live up to the acting prowess of Ara Mina and Jay Manalo, both veterans in the local film industry. Not only that, she had to go through rigid training in order to think and act convincingly like a 10 year old girl (her character in the story is 16 years old) and had to prepare herself for a rape scene.

While not as popular as her three previous movies, Ang Huling Birhen Sa Lupa was the big awards winner for the 2003 Manila Film Festival (including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress) and gained a financial boost from its victory. Taylor gained her first acting nomination with the film, particularly for Best Actress (which went to her co-star Ara Mina). The controversial movie grossed a reported Php 48,000,000.

Later in 2003, Taylor's film career started sliding as two of her films with Viva, Masamang Ugat and Bugbog Sarado failed to ignite in the local box-office. On the home video front, the star enjoyed a rise in her popularity boosted by the hot sales of the sexy music video collection Sex Goddess.

She continues to be one of the most popular models and actresses in Filipino entertainment. The November 2005 issue of FHM featured an exclusive interview of Taylor as well as a hot-looking cover of her.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Maui Taylor ]

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