Anna Maria Perez De Tagle back in PHL, misses Pinoy food most

Filipino-American television and broadway actress Anna Maria Perez de Tagle is in the Philippines for a singing engagement, a report of GMA Network's "24 Oras" newscast on Friday said. The 22-year-old De Tagle, who first appeared in Disney's Hannah Montana and Camp Rock, was all smiles when she was welcomed by her Filipino fans and the media. When asked what she missed most in the Philippines, she told "24 Oras" host Pia Guanio, “The food! Everything!” “Every.. possible.. thing that I could eat... Filipino [food], I would eat,” she said, adding “So great, I absolutely love the Philippines.” De Tagle said she wants to extend her stay in the Philippines to visit some of the country's tourist spots. The California-born De Tagle is the granddaughter of Kundiman Queen Sylvia La Torre is also an accomplished singer. De Tagle won the Best Featured Actress award for her role in the Broadway musical “Godspell” which also won the Best Revival of a Musical award in June 2012. She bested 28 other actresses in the online poll presented by BroadwayWorld.com Awards and participated by thousands of theatregoers. According to her IMDB profile, De Tagle always had a knack for being a performer both infront of the camera and on stage. She first started out with regional productions "Cinderella," "Bugsy Malone" and "The King and I." and modeled for catalogs such as Macy's and Mervyns. She became a junior finalist for the reality search show “Star Search” in 1983 and got her big break in 2006 after pleading with her parents to allow her to audition in Disney's Hannah Montana. After 12 years, she finally returned to the Philippines as the opening act of the Jonas brothers' concert in October last year. - VVP, GMA News