Maria Isabel Pagunsan Lopez—Melrod (born 14 September 1958), is a Filipina movie and television actress.
Lopez was the Binibining Pilipinas Universe 1982 titleholder and represented the Philippines in the 31st Miss Universe Pageant in Lima, Peru. She became controversially known as a Filipina beauty queen and an actress provocatively known for acting Sex in film. Lopez was previously married to a Japanese national, Hiroshi Yokohama, later annulled. Lopez then married Jonathan Melrod in the United States. She is a mosaic artist and a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and acts in various roles in Philippine cinema.
Pageantry
Lopez is from Cagayan de Oro and was born to Benjamin Lopez and Crescencia Pagunsan. Prior to becoming a beauty queen titleholder, she worked as a fashion designer at The SM Store and Rustan's department store as well as a sexy model for various fashion salons, namely by gay fashion designer, Rodolfo Fuentes (1950—2011) who scouted her as a candidate in the national pageant that year and was assigned as candidate number # 15.
At age 24, she won the Binibining Pilipinas Universe beauty pageant in 1982, after being almost dethroned for her pre-discovery as a sexy lingerie model in a Girard Peter fashion show due to an immorality clause set by Stella Araneta. Lopez maintains that she was pressured to resign her title but refused. Lopez further gained notoriety when the famed mistaken question of virginity from Philippine judge and actress Rita Gomez (1935—1990) was attributed during her national competition (in actuality was for Janet Sales of Manila), creating an urban legend among beauty pageant connoisseurs during the 1980s. During her national competition, she was asked by American drummer Alphonse Mouzon regarding the independence of women. At her coronation night, her name was initially mispronounced as Maricar Isabel Lopez, later corrected.
Film work
Lopez became controversial when she entered the movies due to her highly sexualized roles not usually expected of a beauty queen titleholder. Her first movie Sana, Bukas Pa Ang Kahapon (English: “Hoping, that tomorrow is still what passed”) in 1983, starred Hilda Koronel, Lorna Tolentino, Dindo Fernando and Jay Ilagan, and was directed by Romy Suzara. She was in the original cast of Working Girls (1984), a comedy film where she starred as a young office worker who entered as a sex worker at night to gain more income, directed by National Artist Ishmael Bernal. In 1988, Lopez was hired as a commercial sexy model for White Castle Whiskey.
During the height of her popularity, Lopez began more intense sexual and romanticized movies, namely the following:
Silip: Daughters of Eve — by Elwood Perez (1985) Isla (English: “Island”) (1985) — by Celso Ad Castillo Hubo Sa Dilim — (English: “Naked in the Darkness”) (1985) Mga Nakaw Na Sandali — (English: “Stolen Moments”) (1986) Dingding Lang ang Pagitan — (English: “Only thin walls that separate”) (1986) among other sexualized films.
She won the Golden Screen Award Best Supporting Actress Award for Kinatay (English: “Butchered”) (2009). Lopez walked the red carpet at the Cannes International Film Festival in France for Brilliante Mendoza's award-winning film, Kinatay (2009).Lopez again walked the red carpet at the Cannes International Film Festival in France for Brilliante Mendoza's award-winning film, Ma'Rosa (2016).
Lopez was the line producer for Tulak (2009), and HIV: Si Heidi, Si Ivy at Si V (2010). She was also in the cast again for the modern sequel, Working Girls (2010 film) for GMA Films under the helm of Jose Javier Reyes. Lopez was one of the castaways in GMA Network's Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Doubles Showdown (2011-2012), in tandem with her daughter, Mara Lopez, also an actress in her own right having won Cinema One Originals Best Actress 2012. She played the mother of Sid Lucero in GMA-7's prime time series, Legacy (2012).
List of controversies
In 2009, Lopez became the center of controversy when she was not given a complimentary ticket for the Binibining Pilipinas 2009 pageant, an oversight she strongly resented in public due to not being allowed to sit in the box where former beauty titleholders were allotted after finally obtaining a ticket.