FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 75

Filipinos have been in the United States since the 16th century, yet many of their stories remain untold. For the past years, Positively Filipino has been running a series on notable Filipino Americans who have made their marks in this country. There are hundreds, or maybe even thousands more, that need to be added to this story, and we need your help. If you know of a Filipino American who deserves to be included in this line-up, please send us their names and any supporting documents you may have to pfpublisher@yahoo.com. For now, we are including only those who are currently active and visible in the media and the community, regardless of their religious, sexual or political orientation. Thank you.

Jason Myers, Football Player

Jason Myers (Photo courtesy of Steve Angeles)

Myers is the professional football placekicker for the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. Born and raised in Chula Vista, California, Myers played varsity football for four years and was named Mesa Kicker of the Year. He is of Filipino descent through his great-grandfather, who immigrated from the Philippines to Pensacola, Florida, while serving in the U.S. Navy. Myers was instrumental in defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl LX after making a record five field goals and scoring 17 of Seattle’s 29 points. During that game, Myers set the record for most field goals made in a Super Bowl and for most points scored by any player in an NFL season.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Cinematographer

Autumn Drald Arkapaw (Source: Wikipedia)

Born in Oxnard, California, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Arkapaw is a cinematographer and director known for Sinners (2025), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and Loki (2021). She is married to Adam Arkapaw, and they have one child. She studied at Loyola Marymount University and graduated from the American Film Institute. She won the 2025 Best Cinematography award for Sinners at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, and the National Society of Film Critics Awards. She is a nominee for Best Achievement in Cinematography at the 2026 Academy Awards for the same film, becoming the first woman of color nominated for the award. Arkapaw is of Filipino descent on her mother’s side and African American Creole on her father’s side.

Dr. Raoul Carlo F. Angangco, Choral Educator

Dr. Raoul Carlo F. Angangco (Source: Hastings College/Facebook)

On December 6, 2025, choral conductor and educator Angangco was among the national winners of The American Prize, earning third place in the highly competitive Professional Division of the Choral Performance category. Unique among choral ensembles at the renowned Jacobs School of Music, the Conductors Chorus is a professional ensemble that performs for master’s and doctoral choral conducting students’ degree recitals every semester. In the spring of 2023, the ensemble was assembled and directed by Angangco. Having received a grant from the Presser Graduate Music Award in 2022, Angangco led the Conductors Chorus in a unique recital project involving the commissioning, premiering, and recording of four new works by U.S.-based Filipino composers: Nilo Alcala, Saunder Choi, GP Eleria, and Robin Estrada. The project was titled Sa Inang Bayan: To the Motherland, in line with its theme of exploring Filipino identity. The new works were professionally recorded by the Conductors Chorus in collaboration with Dominick DiOrio (recital mentor and recording producer) and Jamie Tagg (audio engineer). The album is available on major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Angangco’s success underscores the growing presence and impact of Filipino musicians and conductors in international classical music. Rooted in Filipino heritage, Angangco’s Sa Inang Bayan project demonstrates how diasporic artists can build bridges between cultures, enriching the global choral repertoire while honoring their origins. A product of two Philippine institutions—the Ateneo de Manila University (BS Management ’13) and the University of the Philippines (BM Choral Conducting ’18, summa cum laude)—Angangco came to the U.S. in 2019 to pursue graduate studies in choral conducting, eventually earning degrees from Westminster Choir College (MM ’21) and Indiana University (DM ’24).

Angangco is currently based in Hastings, Nebraska, where he proudly serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Hastings College. He is also Artistic Director, Conductor, and Co-Founder of LALÒ, a trailblazing new Filipino American choral ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the mission of championing Philippine choral music in the U.S.

Tallulah Proulx, Alpine Skier

Tallulah Proulx (Source: MYTV Cebu)

Proulx is a dual citizen of the Philippines and the United States. She is partly of African American descent, and her father is from Eastern Samar. She grew up in Berkeley, California, and took up alpine skiing while vacationing in Lake Tahoe. She started skiing competitively at age seven. Proulx began representing the Philippines in FIS-sanctioned tournaments in August 2024. This was inspired by Filipino American alpine skier Asa Miller’s participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, which led to the Proulx family’s move to Park City, Utah, in 2019. With earning a slot on the United States ski team being more difficult, Proulx decided to represent the Philippines. She skied for the Philippines at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in China, finishing 16th in the slalom. She qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Proulx is the first woman to compete for the Philippines in the Winter Olympics.

Dr. Pedro A. Jose, Professor of Medicine

Dr. Pedro A. Jose (Source: GWU)

Jose is Professor of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Physiology at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. He is also a guest lecturer at several universities and learned societies in the U.S. and many countries around the world. He received his MD degree, magna cum laude, meritissimus, from the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines, and placed first in the Philippine National Board Examinations in Medicine and Surgery. He received his PhD in Physiology from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and defended his dissertation with distinction. He is a past President of the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology. The primary goal of Dr. Jose’s research is to determine the genetic and pharmacogenetic bases of human essential hypertension and metabolic syndrome. He has published more than 380 scientific articles in book chapters and journals. Dr. Jose has received several academic and research awards, including the 2003 Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecture (American Heart Association), the 2007 Ernest H. Starling Distinguished Lecture (American Physiological Society), the 2007 MERIT Award (National Institutes of Health), the 2015 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research (American Heart Association), and the 2019 Pamana ng Pilipino Award (Research), Republic of the Philippines. (Submitted by Benedict Lund)

Terry Acebo Davis, Artist and Nurse

Terry Acebo Davis (Source: 90 Institute/Facebook)

Born in Oakland, California, the oldest of six children, Acebo Davis earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from California State University, Hayward, in 1976, followed by graduate coursework in Pediatric Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1991, she was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts by San Jose State University, followed by an MFA in 1993. Rather than becoming a full-time artist, Acebo Davis chose to balance making art with work as a professional nurse, serving as a Pediatric Critical Care Transport Specialist at Stanford Medical Center. About her artwork, Phoebe Farris writes, “Acebo Davis’ ability to not only manage but lucidly express her complex identity as a Filipino American printmaker, mixed-media artist, lecturer, and nurse fuels her highly meditative work… Acebo Davis presents to her viewers visual mantras, simultaneously pleasing in their careful compositions yet hauntingly thought-provoking in their subject matter.” Acebo Davis has served as Chairwoman of the Palo Alto Public Art Commission; as a Trustee for Arts Council Silicon Valley; and as board president and advisor for WORKS/San Jose. She is a member of the DIWA Filipino artists' collective and regularly lectures on Filipino identity, including at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Pennsylvania, and Mills College. (Submitted by Peter Bacho)

Leonor R. Fuller, Lawyer and College Board Trustee

Leonor R. Fuller (Source: Fuller and FUller)

Fuller earned her B.A., M.A., and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Washington. Fuller was one of the longest-serving community college trustees in the state and was twice elected Chair of the South Puget Sound Community College Board of Trustees. During her 17-year tenure, she worked to help promote the legislative priorities of SPSCC and Washington’s community college system. In 2019, the SPSCC Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name the college’s art gallery the Leonor R. Fuller Gallery to acknowledge Leonor’s “legacy of compassion, commitment, and support” of the college and her advocacy on behalf of community college students. She began her legal career at the Seattle City Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor and civil litigator. Leonor served as Chair of the Women of the Washington State Association of Justice and was a founding board member of the WSAJ Foundation. She is Vice Chair of the University of Washington Board for 2025–2026. (Submitted by Peter Bacho)

Paolo Pasco, Jeopardy! Winner

Paolo Pasco (Source: Facebook)

Filipino American Pasco is the winner of the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, with a dominant clean sweep, becoming the first contestant to do so in TOC history. In addition to the $250,000 prize, Pasco’s win also earned him a spot in the upcoming Masters tournament. A graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Computer Science, Pasco grew up in San Diego, California. His path to becoming a professional crossword constructor began on a family road trip when he was in the eighth grade. He had enjoyed other puzzles before then, especially Sudoku and the Dell Magazine puzzle books sold in airports. On that trip, he downloaded the New York Times crossword app to his tablet; by the end of the trip, he had found a new passion. Only twenty-five years old, Pasco constructs crosswords for The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, AVCX, and Defector, among other venues. He was the champion of the 2024 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is also skilled in editing, computer science, mathematics, and creative writing. He is the Games Editor at TED. (Submitted by Dr. Agnes Alikpala)

Clarissa Reyes Falcon, Chair of the California Transportation Commission

Effective March 1, 2026, Falcon chairs the California Transportation Commission, becoming the first Asian American to be elected from the San Diego region since 2008. She is a government and public relations professional with 30 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including 14 years working for the State Assembly and State Senate. In 2010, she founded Falcon Strategies, a firm that specializes in strategic communications, project and issue advocacy, coalition building, and public policy analysis, guiding clients through complicated government processes while deploying holistic approaches to engaging with commuters. She was recognized as Woman of the Year by former Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and former State Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez.

Rick Rocamora, Photographer

Rick Rocamora (Photo courtesy of Rick Rocamora)

Rocamora is an award-winning documentary photographer whose work focuses on the immigrant community and their contributions to America, as well as human rights, civil liberties, and social and economic inequalities in the Philippines. Rocamora is the author of eight photo books: Filipino WWII Soldiers: America’s Second-Class Veterans, Human Wrongs, Alagang Angara, A Long Road to Dignity, Muslim-Americans (published by the Tokyo University for Foreign Studies Press), DARK MEMORIES of Torture, Incarceration, Disappearance and Death under Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law, Blood, Sweat, Hope, and Quiapo; Rodallie S. Mosende Story, and Sigma Rho Way of Life, published in June 2025. His work is part of the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the U.S. State Department Art in Embassies Program, as well as private and institutional collections. His work is widely exhibited in national and international museums and galleries, published in print and online, and aired on various broadcast news outlets. Before pursuing a career in documentary photography, he held sales, marketing, and management positions in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry for 18 years.

Erwin Mina, FANHS Museum President

Erwin Mina (Photo by Minerva Amistoso)

Mina is the Board President of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Museum, based in Stockton, California. A product of San Jose State University, Mina has over 20 years of experience in the technology field, specializing in program, account, and project management and sales support. The museum presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore, and celebrate the history of Filipinos in the United States. It is the only museum of its kind in America.

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