Sharlene Santos San Pedro (born 5 April 1999), better known as Sharlene San Pedro, is a Filipino actress and VJ.
She made her first television appearance at the age of four when she joined ABS-CBN’s talent search Star Circle Quest: Kids Edition in 2004, and came in at second place. She is known for portraying the roles of Gigi, Calla & Lily, and Shirley in the series Mga Anghel na Walang Langit, Calla Lily, and Luv U respectively. She was also chosen among all the child actresses of ABS-CBN to reprise the role of Princess Sarah in 2007.
San Pedro received her first acting award as the “Most Popular Child Actress” by the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation in 2009. In 2012, San Pedro was nominated in the 17th Asian Television Awards as Best Actress in a Lead-Drama Role for her portrayal as a teenage mother in the Maalaala Mo Kaya episode, “T-Shirt”.
Sharlene San Pedro was born on 5 April 1999 in Pulilan, Bulacan to parents Hector, a business man, and Myleen. She has two brothers named Jeremy and Clark: the former being the oldest of the three, while the latter is the youngest. She attended Sto. Cristo Elementary School during kindergarten.
In 2004, San Pedro joined the reality-based talent competition Star Circle Quest on ABS-CBN. Together with the other contestants, San Pedro had undergone talent training, physical enhancement and different challenges to test their talent skills.
She managed to be in the “Magic Circle of 5” with fellow competitors Nash Aguas, Aaron Junatas, Mikylla Ramirez, and CJ Navato. During the ‘Grand Questors Night’ held on 5 June 2004 in Araneta Coliseum, she won first runner-up. Soon after, she became a part of Star Magic with an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN. Her acting career began in the same year, portraying the young Faith/Tala in Krystala.
In February 2005, San Pedro was cast in the then newly launched sketch comedy gag show, Goin Bulilit, featuring children in various comedic situations. She was in the main cast until 2011, when she graduated. The ‘Seventh Batch Graduates’, including San Pedro, left due to the fact that the show is for kids, while they were already growing older.
Aside from being one of the original mainstays in Goin Bulilit, San Pedro also starred in OK Fine Whatever sitcom, again, with Aguas. In addition, she was one of the main cast in Mga Anghel na Walang Langit, portraying as Gigi. Her performance involved heavy drama acting since the series depicts the lives of exploited and unfortunate children. She was next cast to play two different characters on ABS-CBN’s television series Calla Lily. The story was about Calla and Lily (both played by San Pedro) who have different personalities: one is outspoken while the other is shy.
In 2007, San Pedro became the main lead once again in ABS-CBN’s Princess Sarah after Calla Lily. The next year, Sharlene was chosen to portray the role of Young Selene in Rounin, a fantasy and martial arts series shot using high-definition video technology, a first in the Philippine series. The series marked San Pedro and Jairus Aquino’s first team-up; they were once again paired up later on as on-screen teenage sweethearts in Luv U in 2013.
In October 2008, she was cast on her first film, Mag-ingat Ka Sa… Kulam, with Judy Ann Santos. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Movie Child Performer of the Year at the 25th PMPC Star Awards for Movies. She also appeared as a guest star in the series Kung Fu Kids, playing the role of Reyna Ungga-Ungga, the person who eventually helped the seven Kung Fu kids in their battles. The next year, San Pedro joined the cast of Kamoteng Kahoy, an indie film by Maryo J. de los Reyes. She was also cast with Jairus Aquino in ABS-CBN’s Pieta as Kakai Angeles.
San Pedro received her first acting award as the Most Popular Child Actress by the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation. In addition, she was nominated the Best Comedy Actress by the PMPC Star Awards for TV for two consecutive years since 2008 for her character roles in Goin Bulilit. Her portrayal of young Mabel in the horror suspense film Segunda Mano marked her fourth film and her first official entry to the 2011 Metro Manila Film Festival. The following year, she played Nene in Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang.
Following the start of her teenage years came the end of her spot in Goin Bulilit. After six years, she left the show in 2011.
During her career gap, she frequently stars in Maalaala Mo Kaya series, which features weekly real-life stories or anecdotes of common people or even famous celebrities and personalities through letter-sending.
In 2012, she starred in Larong Bata, a film promoted and supported by the Department on Education for it showed the effects of bullying among kids. The film received positive reviews and was frequently shown in the different schools in the Philippines. In the same year, she was nominated in the 17th Asian Television Awards as Best Actress in a Lead-Drama Role for her portrayal as a teenage mother in the Maalaala Mo Kaya episode, “T-Shirt”. The next year, she starred as Lavinia in Star Cinema’s Must Be Love released on 13 March. She later joined the second season cast of Luv U.
In 2014, she starred in Wansapanatym’s month-long special “Si Lulu At Si Liit” with Jairus Aquino and Francis Magundayao. The story and their team-up received favorable reviews and consecutive high ratings. She started appearing in the Primetime series again soon after, now as a teenager. She received guest roles in FlordeLiza and Ang Probinsyano, wherein she was reunited with Nash Aguas in the latter. She also starred as one of the supporting cast in Nathaniel in 2015.
Together with Jairus Aquino, San Pedro was announced to be one of the new video jockeys in the music channel MYX in the beginning of the year 2016. According to the announcement, ever since “they… won as the MYX Celebrity VJ Duo in the show’s weekly online poll in February 2015, their followers have shown interest in seeing them again on the music channel”. Both were also cast in Wansapanatym’s “Susi Ni Sisay” by Wenn V. Deramas and Written in Our Stars, reassembling with Marco Masa from Nathaniel.
Aside from acting, she also sings and plays the guitar. She also collects watches as she values time.
Despite her work schedule, she finished her high school as a regular student.
Star Cinema recognized San Pedro as the most promising female star in 2014 after she won the votes from the fans. The production company lists that she is a “versatile teen actress”, “hard worker”, “talented”, “the next big thing”, and “being an inspiration to people”.