Love Marie Payawal Ongpauco, better known for her screen name Heart Evangelista, is a Filipino actress, singer, model, and VJ.Evangelista was first discovered by a commercial agent while shopping at a mall with her sister.[citation needed] She signed up with Star Magic (formerly known as Talent Center) and was paired with John Prats on the show G-Mik. Her team-up with John Prats gained tremendous popularity, and they starred in several movies together— Trip, Ang Tanging Ina and My First Romance. They also starred on another teen-oriented show, Berks.
Evangelista was paired with Geoff Eigenmann on the primetime soap opera Hiram which also starred Kris Aquino, Dina Bonnevie, John Estrada and Anne Curtis. She earned her a Star Awards Best Actress nomination on this series.
She later starred on the fantasy-action TV show Panday.
Evangalista also won the best new female personality (Best New Movie Actress and Best New TV Actress) awards from Star Awards for Movies and Star Awards for TV. She also won Texter's and Listener's Choice at the Himig Handog Awards for her single "Love Has Come My Way". Heart also released the single "Tell Me" in Australia peaking at number 18 on the charts there.
Evangelista worked on and off for three years (2005-2008) and focused mainly on hosting gigs, starring on a few Maalaala Mo Kaya and Your Song episodes, and giving time to her foundation Heart Can. In early 2007, she renewed her ties with her mother station ABS-CBN and was under a per project basis. She finished a sineserye (TV series based on a film) for the station, the remake of the movie Hiram na Mukha, and appeared briefly on Pangarap Na Bituin. She also topbilled the reformatted version of Your Song under the title "Muntik Na Kitang Minahal".
Managed by Manila Genesis Entertainment for two years (2006-2008), she is now being managed by her father and co-managed by Annabelle Rama, Richard Gutierrez's mother.
She announced her sudden transfer to ABS-CBN's rival network, GMA Network, last April 23, 2008. She signed up a two-year exclusive contract and is now being paired with Richard Gutierrez. Their first teledrama together on GMA's upcoming Telebabad is Asero.