Rustica Carpio
Rustica Cruz Carpio (August 9, 1930 – February 1, 2022) was a Filipino actress, scholar, playwright, philanthropist, and public servant. Most notably an actress, she performed on stage, film, and television. She received acclaim for her role as Lola Puring in Grandmother (Filipino: Lola), a film by Filipino director Brillante Mendoza which was selected to compete in various international film festivals, including Venice and Dubai. For her acting work in the said film, she was critically well-received, earning nominations and awards, winning the Gawad Urian for Best Actress, the Crystal Simorgh for Best International Actress at the Fajr International Film Festival in Iran, and the Las Palmas International Film Festival Best Actress award in Spain. A scholar, she wrote more than 200 academic and journalistic articles, books, scripts, and stories published locally and abroad. She served also as dean of two schools of communication in Manila, and a graduate school. Early life and education Carpio was born on August 9, 1930, at Paombong, in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. She recounted that she started to sing in an operetta at age 10. She was educated at the Philippine College of Commerce in Manila, now Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP),