Mothers are well-represented on television through different characters that are depicted in teleseryes.
After all, they are the core audiences of these TV shows.
Since there are a lot of these teleseryes, writers and producers have become creative enough to come up with different characterizations for mothers in every project and they make sure that anyone who watches these shows can relate.
But there are select actresses who have made an impact playing mother roles with memorable character plot twists.
CHERRY PIE PICACHE AS THE Nanay na laging nawawalan ng anak
This is a typical plot for family dramas where the mother is searching for her missing child or children. She is led to believe that her child is already dead, only to find out that he or she is alive. Or sometimes, the mom wouldn't even know that she has a missing child, and it would only later be revealed in the story.
This is the case for most mother roles of Cherry Pie Picache, who, in several shows, has given birth to twins or triplets.
In Saan Ka Man Naroroon (1999-2001), she played Dolores, a mother to triplets Rosenda, Rosario, and Rosemarie/Rosita—all played by Claudine Barretto.
Dolores's scorned lover Arsenio (Nonie Buencamino) fooled her into thinking that Rosita was stillborn. Out of revenge, he stole the baby and named her Rosemarie.
Years later, Dolores's two children Rosenda and Rosario would become rivals for her attention. A confrontation between the two kids led to Rosario falling off a cliff and going missing.
In Cherry Pie’s next two shows, Tayong Dalawa and Ina, Kapatid, Anak, she did not know that she gave birth to twins and that she lost one of them because of cruel machinations of the show's kontrabidas.
Cherry Pie would see herself giving birth to triplets again in The Blood Sisters, headlined by Erich Gonzales. Loosely based on Saan Ka Man Naroroon, Cherry Pie played a mother-for-hire, went through surrogacy, and later gave birth to triplets.
Due to different circumstances, she lost her two other children and was only able to raise Agatha, who grew up to be rebellious toward her.
At one point during the series, Kapamilya viewers realized that Cherry Pie would often play as a mother to twins or triplets that she was dubbed “the woman with the most powerful matres.”
CARMINA VILLARROEL as the nanay ng kambal
If Cherry Pie had triplets, Carmina Villarroel played several mother roles to twins.
It's a case of art imitating life as she’s also a mom to twins Mavy and Cassy Legaspi in real life.
Her first mother-to-twins role was in the 2017 Kapuso series Kambal, Karibal headlined by Bianca Umali, Pauline Mendoza, and Kyline Alcantara.
In the series, Bianca and Pauline played twins who got separated from their mom Geraldine (Carmina). Pauline’s character Crisel would later die of an illness and became a ghost. She later possessed the character of Kyline Alcantara.
In 2019, Carmina played mom to Barbie Forteza and Mika dela Cruz in Kara Mia. The twist of the story: Kara (Barbie) and Mia (Mika) are two faces living in one body, with Kara in front and Mia at the back.
Carmina’s latest role was playing a mom to twins, this time to her real-life children Mavy and Cassy, in the recently concluded afternoon series Hating Kapatid.
JEAN GARCIA AS Nanay ng mystical characters
From alakdan to ahas!
Who says playing mother roles have limitations?
When she took a rest from portraying kontrabida roles, Jean was offered to play mother roles to lead stars in teleseryes.
But what’s unique about Jean’s characters: she’d play mother to mythical characters in urban fantasy shows.
One such role was in the 2008 GMA-7 remake of Dyesebel, where she played the mother of Marian Rivera, who was a mermaid.
Next was in the 2011 afternoon series Alakdana, where she played mom to Louise delos Reyes who plays as Adana, a young woman with a scorpion’s tail.
In 2013, Jean played the mom of Kim Rodriguez in Kakambal ni Eliana, which tells the story of a young girl (Kim) who has a twin snake attached to her back.
In the same year, Jean played the mother of Kylie Padilla’s humanoid bird character in the primetime series Adarna.
SUSAN AFRICA AS Nanay na mahirap
Veteran actress Susan Africa has become iconic for her mother roles in teleseryes, as she is dubbed to be the “nanay na laging inuubo sa teleserye.”
While it may not be completely true as her mother roles do not necessarily have always an illness, Susan was always assigned to mother roles who come from an impoverished background.
Of course, her most iconic role would be Susan Davis, the poor but kind-hearted mother of Judy Ann Santos in the Kapamilya series Mara Clara (1992-1997).
Probably the two roles closest to her “laging inuubo” title were in TV5’s Babaeng Hampaslupa (2011) where she played as the adoptive mother of Alex Gonzaga, and in ABS-CBN’s Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala (2013) as the sickly mom of Judy Ann Santos.
Aside from mother roles, Susan is also known to play motherly yaya roles in the shows Rubi and Kadenang Ginto.
BEAUTY GONZALEZ AS Nanay na bagets
Like how she is in real life, Beauty Gonzalez has also been tapped to play several young and sexy mommy roles on television.
Not only that she plays young mom roles, she was also too young to play mother roles to lead actors in some of her shows.
One particular role was in the 2017 Kapamilya afternoon series Pusong Ligaw, where she played the adoptive mother of Enzo Pineda. In the teleserye, they had to make Beauty look older and Enzo younger. But in real life, Enzo is actually a year older than Beauty.
Soon after Pusong Ligaw, Beauty would play her iconic young mother role in the afternoon show Kadenang Ginto as the mom of Francine Diaz.
When she started doing projects for other networks like TV5 and GMA-7, Beauty was also assigned to play mother roles to teen stars like Elijah Canlas in Paano ang Pasko? (2020), Chanty Videla in I Got You (2020-2021), and Sofia Pablo in Prinsesa ng City Jail (2025).
Now, she plays a young mother to Sparkle artist Kayla Davies in the ongoing Kapuso afternoon drama series House of Lies.
DIMPLES ROMANA as Nanay ng teen stars
Ever since Dimples Romana started dabbling into mother roles, she would be assigned to play mom to ABS-CBN artists being built up for lead roles.
One of her remarkable mother roles was her short stint in the fashionserye Magkaribal, (2010) where she was the mom of Kathryn Bernardo, who played the young Gretchen Barretto in the series.
Dimples and Kathryn would continue playing a mother-daughter role in the remake of Mara Clara (2010), which aired a few months after Magkaribal.
Dimples then played mom to then up-and-coming stars of ABS-CBN—or those who have just received their big break—like Zaijian Jaranilla in Ikaw ay Pag-ibig (2011), Julia Barretto in Mirabella (2014), Joshua Garcia in The Greatest Love (2016-2017), Andrea Brillantes in Kadenang Ginto (2018), and Charlie Dizon in Viral Scandal (2021).
SYLVIA SANCHEZ AS Nanay na maraming anak
Sylvia Sanchez was once known as a kontrabida mom, making Judy Ann Santos’ life miserable in the primetime series Esperanza (1997-1999).
After Esperanza, Sylvia would play several mother and tita roles of lead stars in her teleseryes.
But in 2016, Sylvia got her first lead role on television–the role of Gloria in the afternoon series The Greatest Love where she played a mother to four children played by Dimples Romana, Matt Evans, Arron Villaflor, and Andi Eigenmann. One of the main drivers of the story is her character being diagnosed of Alzheimer's disease.
Sylvia would again play a mother to a huge family in the drama series Pamilya Ko in 2018. This time, she played a mother to the characters portrayed by JM De Guzman, Kiko Estrada, Kid Yambao, Maris Racal, Kira Balinger, Jairus Aquino, Mutya Orquia, and Raikko Mateo.
If not playing a mom to a big family, Sylvia would also become mom to at least two children, like in Tween Hearts (2010) with Barbie Forteza and Bea Binene, Be Careful with My Heart (2012-2014) with Jodi Sta. Maria and Ice Seguerra, and Hanggang Saan (2017-2018) with Yves Flores and her real-life son, Arjo Atayde.
