Dan Villegas is a director, producer and cinematographer based in Manila, Philippines. His 2nd feature film as the director, English Only, Please won him Best Director at the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival as well as Best Editing, Best Story, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress and 2nd Best Picture. He has since directed box office hits The Break-Up Playlist, How to be Yours, and Always be my Maybe, the latter named one of the best Filipino films of 2016 by CNN. His entry at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival, #WalangForever (There’s No Forever) won Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Story, Best Screenplay, the Fernando Poe Memorial Award and Best Picture and was in competition at the 2016 Osaka Asian Film Festival.

His entry to 2017 Cinemaone Originals Film Festival, Changing Partners won Best Actor, Best Actress, Special Citation for Ensemble Acting, Best Editing, Best Music, Audience Choice Award, Gawad Bughaw Best Film and Best Director. It also won Best Film, Best Musical Score, Best Editing, Best Screenplay and Best Director at the independent category of 2018 Star Awards for Movies. His film Ilawod won best actor at 2018 Fantasporto Film Festival in Porto, Portugal. Hintayan ng Langit (Heaven’s Waiting) his entry at the Qcinema International Film Festival won the 2018 Audience Choice and Best Actor award. His 2018 hit Exes Baggage earned over 350 million pesos worldwide and was one of the highest grossing movies that year.

Under Project 8—a film production company he co-founded— he produced various films that garnered critical acclaim and has travelled numerous international film festivals, including Never Not Love You, (Official Entry, World Panorama, International Film Festival of India Goa) and Changing Partners (CinemAsia, Amsterdam). In 2018 he produced Hintayan ng Langit, (Heaven’s Waiting) and Hospicio (The Hospice) an entry to 2018 Cinemaone Originals Film Festival which won Best Supporting Actress. He was also the co-producer of Patintero: The Ballad of Meng the Loser, as well as the 2014 hit That Thing Called Tadhana (That Thing called Meant-to-Be). Alone/Together, the 2019 film he produced made 380 million pesos worldwide.

He attended the First Cut Lab in the Philippines for Antoinette Jadaone’s Fan Girl and is one of the participants of the 2019 Cannes Producer’s Network at the Marché du Film. Boldstar, a film he is currently producing which is in pre-production, won the CJ Entertainment Award at the 2019 Asian Project Market in Busan.

He has also lensed over 20 films in his career, most of them under Star Cinema. He has two Balanghai trophies for Best Cinematography under his belt, for Huling Pasada (The Last Pass) in 2008 and Mayohan (Maytime) in 2010. His cinematography for Quick Change, an entry at the 2013 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, was reviewed by Variety as:

“Dan Villegas’ steady handheld camerawork captures all the razzle-dazzle of beauty pageants and the gritty reality of chintzy hotel rooms where excitable clients line up for Dorina’s services; lensing of flesh tones is exceptional. In synch with the central theme about the perceived importance of beauty and the risks associated with maintaining it by artificial means, most character faces are filmed in the most and least flattering of lights.”

He loves traveling, horology, books and coffee. Two dogs currently own him: Storm, a half Dachshund-half Labrador, and a Mini-Pinscher named Lightning.