Bridging art and activism through acting

Manila-based independent actor, director, and cultural worker Serena Magiliw has recently completed the highly competitive The Master Series: FDCP Acting Workshop for Filipino Talents 2026 hosted by the Film Development Council of the Philippines. This signifies Magiliw’s growing influence as a multidisciplinary artist who challenges established structures of power through queer and trans narratives.

Magiliw, who studied Filipinology at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, has built a career blending transmedia storytelling with social critique.

Magiliw’s portfolio spans critical performance research like “Rampa” at the Asian Performing Arts Camp 2021 and directing for the Tokyo Festival Farm 2022 Farm-Lab Exhibition. As a writer, Magiliw’s play “KASARIAN 101” was shown online by New York’s New Perspectives Theater Company in 2022.

Magiliw, a fixture in local independent cinema, has secured multiple acting honors in various indie festivals. This includes recent credits across film, television, and theater, highlighting the actor’s range.

Magiliw portrayed Betchay in the TV series “A Secret in Prague” (2026) starring Andrea Brillantes and Enrique Gil, shared the screen as Jessi in “The Happy Homes of Diane Hilario” (2025) with Angeline Quinto and Eugene Domingo, co-starred as Barbie Ann in the Cinemalaya film “Warla” (2025) with KaladKaren and Lance Reblando, and played a significant role in another Cinemalaya feature “Huling Palabas” (2023) and this year’s Cinemalaya short film “Muli Na Ka, Merlie” (“Merlie, Go Home”).

Beyond the screen, Magiliw remains deeply embedded in systemic advocacy, active across several fronts, being a member of Society of Trans Women of the Philippines or STRAP, the country’s pioneer transpinay human rights organization, and Concerned Artists of the Philippines, serving under the Membership and Alliance Committee to advance freedom of expression.

Magiliw’s current efforts focus heavily on SARÍ/SÁRI, her proprietary Queer-Trans Embodiment practice, along with Trans Midya, an independent creative platform for Filipino trans and nonbinary artists. Supported by a grant under the “Shift the Narrative Fellowship” via the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Rights, Trans Midya focuses on dismantling harmful narratives surrounding trans experiences.

As a full-time working artist, Magiliw continues to collaborate across film, theater, and cultural organizing with those who share the same values and principles with. Interested collaborators may contact Magiliw at serenamagiliw@gmail.com or check out @ma.giliw on Instagram.