September 17, 2025 | 2:05pm
MANILA, Philippines — During the 70th Emmy Awards in 2018, “Saturday Night Live” cast member and that year’s co-host Michael Che touched on television’s diversity issues in the opening monologue.
“Can you believe that they did 15 seasons of ‘ER’ without one Filipino nurse? Have you been to a hospital?” Che joked, earning laughs from the audience and his co-host Colin Jost.
There is some truth in Che’s joke though. According to the United States’ National Institutes of Health, Filipinos made up just 1% of the country’s population but 4% of the nursing workforce.
Pinoys are very much aware of how significant the Filipino presence in American healthcare, given how many of our countrymen fly across the Pacific in search of better opportunities.
That’s why it can be frustrating that medical shows like “ER,” “Scrubs,” or “House MD” do not have Filipino characters, or in the case of the latter, took until the final season to introduce one (Charlyne Yi as Dr. Chi Park).
Even the long-running “Grey’s Anatomy,” which until its 10th season starred part-Korean actress Sandra Oh as a main character, did not feature a Filipino nurse. It was only in Season 17 did the show introduce Gerlie Bernardo (played by Aina Dumlao), who became the first Filipino-American nurse to headline the show.
Other medical shows began making small steps in recent years like “New Amsterdam,” “St. Denis Medical,” and “The Good Doctor” by having part-Filipino actors play Filipino characters in substantial storylines.
The big gamechanger was HBO Max’s “The Pitt,” created by “ER” producer R. Scott Gemmill and starring “ER” alum Noah Wyle.
Each episode of the show covers around an hour of the work shift of the emergency department staff in the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.
Since premiering earlier this year, “The Pitt” was well-received for its accurate depiction of the medical community and the challenges healthcare workers face.
Related: Medical series ‘The Pitt’ wins Emmys 2025 best drama
Lending to that accuracy is the presence of three Filipina characters: Isa Briones as first-year resident Dr. Trinity Santos, Amielynn Abellera as ER nurse Perlah, and Kristin Villanueva as another ER nurse, Princess.
“The Pitt” won five of its 13 Emmy nominations this year, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Wyle, Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Drama Series for Katherine LaNasa, and Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series.
Not only do the Filipino characters more accurately depict what American hospitals look like — plus Perlah and Princess being very modern Filipino names — they show different sides of Pinoys in the United States.
Perlah is a Muslim that wears a hijab and loves to gossip with Princess especially in Tagalog. In fact, the two contribute to the show’s first pieces of dialogue.
Abellera even believes that outside the hospital, her Perlah is a single mom, identifies as queer, and grew into her faith and culture as an adult.
It helps a lot that Abellera’s parents and Villanueva’s in-laws have medical backgrounds, adding another layer of accuracy.
Conversations in Tagalog, dedication to their work, and support for their companions have made Princess and Perlah fan-favorite characters, and viewers are eager to see more of them in the upcoming second season.
Reception like this shows how big of a deal it is to have Filipino characters in an environment that everyone knows they play a crucial and pivotal part in.
It goes beyond the typical “Pinoy pride” or “Uy Pilipins” moments. Many will say Filipino nurses and doctors are the backbone of American healthcare and it would not be stable without them.
The creatives behind “The Pitt” can certainly enjoy the awards the show reaped knowing they have done Filipino healthcare workers justice, and further explore the many stories they can still share.
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