Born in Quezon City, Philippines, Janet Nepales pens the weekly column, “Hollywood Insider,” on GMA-7 News, one of the Philippines’ popular news websites. She is also the Hollywood TV correspondent of GMA-7 TV Network.

She is a co-author of the first Filipina Women’s Network book, “Disrupt: Filipina Women: Proud. Loud. Leading Without a Doubt,” and published her first coffee table book, “FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World,” featuring Filipino fashion designers on the red carpet.

Nepales graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila with a B.A. in journalism and edited the college journal and the university-wide paper.

After graduation, she wrote for top newspapers and magazines in the Philippines, including The Times Journal, Parade magazine, People’s Journal, and Manila Bulletin where she wrote a weekly column, “Hollywood Bulletin” for many years.

Awards include honors from the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Entertainment Journalism Awards and the Southern California Journalism Awards, Philippine American Press Club’s Plaridel Awards, The Outstanding Filipino Americans Awards for Outstanding Journalist, and the Los Angeles Philippine International Film Festival’s Outstanding Women in Film Journalism Award. The Outstanding Pilipinos (TOP) Awards, and Excellence in Journalism from the Friends of The Philippine Society USA, Inc.

She is the first Filipina journalist to join the HFPA in 2008. She was elected as the first Filipino Executive Secretary of the HFPA for two terms (2017-2019). She was also elected as the first Filipino Treasurer of the HFPA for two terms (2019-2021).