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Vice Ganda Wins the 51st MMFF Best Actor Award for 'Call Me Mother'

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&quot;Ako nga!&quot; were Call Me Mother star Vice Ganda&#x27;s first words as he took to the stage to accept his Best Actor in a Leading Role Award at the 51st Metro Manila Film Festival&#x27;s &quot;Gabi Ng Parangal,&quot; held on December 27. In utter disbelief, he looked at the card with his name on it to confirm if he did win and took a moment to gaze at the trophy he was holding. For a moment, he was speechless. &quot;Maraming, maraming salamat,&quot; he began. &quot;At last!&quot;Vice Ganda went on to thank the director of Call Me Mother, Jun Robles Lana; his co-stars, especially Nadine Lustre and Lucas Andalio; and their producers at ABS-CBN Studios/Star Cinema, Viva Films, and The IdeaFirst Company. <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176686660562751st mmff best actor vice ganda for call me mother 3.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Vice Ganda hugged his co-star Nadine Lustre before accepting his award | Screenshot from TV5</div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>&quot;Bago ho sa akin ang pakiramdam na ito,&quot; Vice Ganda continued. He&#x27;s been nominated for Best Actor at the MMFF in the past for movies Sisterakas (2012); Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy (2013); and And the Breadwinner Is... (2024), but it&#x27;s only this year that he finally won the coveted award. Last year, he received the Special Jury Citation award for And the Breadwinner Is...<div></div><div></div>&quot;Usually, alam ko magaling ako magsalita e,&quot; he giggled, finding the words to express his gratitude for the recognition. He said he doesn&#x27;t usually prepare acceptance speeches, especially for MMFF, because he doesn&#x27;t expect to win. &quot;Mas ine-expect kong hindi nananalo. Mas ine-expect kong hindi nakikita. Mas ine-expect ko &#x27;yung nagugustuhan pero hindi pinipili. O mas nasasanay ako du&#x27;n sa napipili pero hindi maaari. But tonight, maaari na!&quot; <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176688895539951st mmff best actor vice ganda for call me mother 2.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>&quot;Salamat po nakita niyo po ako. Salamat po kinilala niyo po ako. Maraming, maraming salamat po,&quot; he told the MMFF jurors. For Vice Ganda, this victory is not his alone to celebrate, as it&#x27;s also a win for the LGBTQIA+ community. &quot;It&#x27;s really 2025, and it is really possible. And it is real. Queer people can be Best Actors. A queer person in a gown can be a Best Actor. It&#x27;s 2025. It&#x27;s about damn time,&quot; Vice Ganda declared. He went on to thank his producers and director once more, as well as MMFF, for allowing them to tell a wonderful story. In Call Me Mother, Vice Ganda plays the role of Twinkle Reyes, a queer mother and a beauty pageant coach who is in the process of adopting Angelo (Lucas) as her son. Nadine, as Mara de Jesus, a beauty queen-turned-high-fashion model, is Angelo&#x27;s biological mother. &quot;Maraming salamat sa direktor ko na hinayaan mo akong isabuhay ang isang karakter na realidad ng napakaraming indibidwal, lalung-lalo na ang bahagi ng LGBTQIA+ community. Binigyan niyo po ako ng pagkakataon sa pelikulang ito na ikuwento at isiwalat ang isa sa pinakamabibigat naming takot—hindi &#x27;yung takot na maaaring hindi kami, maaring wala kaming kakayanan, kundi &#x27;yung takot namin na baka hindi kami payagan. Sa storyang ito na ginampanan ko sa Call Me Mother, ginampanan ko po &#x27;yung isang tao na may sapat na kakayanan. May sapat na laki ng puso at kalusugan para magmahal pero takot na takot dahil baka hindi payagan.&quot;Vice Ganda went on to express gratitude for the opportunity to voice out a powerful script about how being a mother can be genderless: &quot;Kaming mga bakla, maaaring hindi kami magdalang-tao, mabuntis, at manganak, pero nanay kami. Nanay kami ng mga sarili at pinipili naming pamilya. Nanay kami. Magulang kami. At tahanan kami.&quot; <div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176686729200351st mmff best actor vice ganda for call me mother 1.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> </div><div></div>&quot;I also want to share this award sa mga magulang, sa lahat ng piniling maging magulang,&quot; Vice Ganda continued, before proceeding to honor his own family and his &quot;mothers&quot; in the entertainment industry. &quot;Sa Nanay ko, maraming, maraming salamat. Na may sakit nu&#x27;ng lumisan para panindigan &#x27;yung pangako niya na bubuhayin kaming mga anak niya. Sa Nanay kong umalis para magsakripisyo, para malungkot, para mag-isa. Para may kainin kami at huminga. Sa kapatid ko, kay Tabug [Marivic] na araw-araw pinipilit niyang subukang magpaka-ina, at sa isa ko pang kapatid, ang Ate Tina ko na naging nanay ko nang umalis ang nanay ko. Sa kapatid kong si Babot na naging nanay ko rin at pinalaki ako sa takot sa pamamagitan ng tingin niya. Kaya pinipilit kong maging magaling para hindi ako mapagalitan niya. Sa mga nanay ko sa industriya, kay Tita Cory [Vidanes], kay Wenn Deramas na nanay ko, maraming, maraming salamat.&quot; As someone whom many consider their mother and mentor in showbiz, Vice Ganda also thanked Ryan Bang, who was like his first child in the industry. Lastly, he said, &quot;At lalo&#x27;t higit na inaalay ko itong parangal na ito to my baby, my partner, my husband, my soul mate, my best friend, Ion, this is also for you.&quot;<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176686825670751st mmff best actor vice ganda for call me mother 4.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>He went on to share a heart-tugging story about how he and Ion have been wanting to have their own child, but couldn&#x27;t because of Vice Ganda&#x27;s busy schedule and responsibilities. He said this is one of the reasons why his portrayal in Call Me Mother resonated deeply with him—it&#x27;s because it&#x27;s close to home. <div></div>&quot;Kaya gusto kong mag-sorry kay Ion dahil taun-taon pina-plano naming magka-anak, pero dahil sa dami ng iniisip ko at obligasyon ko, trabaho ko, at napakaraming gusto ko pang gawin, taun-taon hindi rin namin natutuloy &#x27;yung plano namin. Kaya parang taun-taon namamatayan din kami ng anak,&quot; he shared. &quot;Kaya sana magkaroon pa ako ng mahaba pang buhay... at sana makapag-desisyon na talaga ako para maibigay ko na &#x27;yun sa pamilya namin, kasi gusto ko na talagang maging nanay. Kasi gusto ko nang magmahal ng bata, na sarili ko, na akin, na p&#x27;wedeng-p&#x27;wede, dahil nanay talaga ako. Maraming, maraming salamat po.&quot;Vice Ganda was nominated for Best Actor at the 51st Metro Manila Film Festival alongside Carlo Aquino for Bar Boys: After School, Earl Amaba for I&#x27;mPerfect, Will Ashley for <a href="https://metro.style/people/2025/12/27/watch-metro-talks-with-love-you-so-bad-stars-will-ashley-bianca-de-vera-and-dustin-yu-1430" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">love you so bad</a>, Piolo Pascual for Manila&#x27;s Finest, and Zanjoe Marudo for <a href="https://metro.style/people/2025/12/23/angelica-panganiban-zanjoe-marudo-unpack-why-unmarry-was-worth-doing-1700" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Unmarry</a>.Call Me Mother also received the Gender Sensitivity Award, and Vice Ganda&#x27;s onscreen son, Lucas Andalio, won Best Child Performer.Congratulations, Vice Ganda! <div> </div>Photos from TV5<div></div><div> </div>

Vice Ganda honored the mother figures in the LGBTQIA+ community and his own family in his acceptance speech, where he also revealed that he and his husband, Ion Perez, have been wanting to have a child he can call his own. "Gusto ko na talagang maging nanay," he said.

Vice Ganda honored the mother figures in the LGBTQIA+ community and his own family in his acceptance speech, where he also revealed that he and his husband, Ion Perez, have been wanting to have a child he can call his own. "Gusto ko na talagang maging nanay," he said.

"At Last!" Vice Ganda Wins the 51st MMFF Best Actor Award for 'Call Me Mother'

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"At Last!" Vice Ganda Wins the 51st MMFF Best Actor Award for 'Call Me Mother'

Grace Libero

Published December 28, 2025 07:00 AM PHT

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Updated December 28, 2025 11:08 AM PHT

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