Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Ara Mina" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Ara Mina
Ara Mina in 2019
Born	Hazel Pascual Reyes (1979-05-09)May 9, 1979 (age 45) Mandaluyong, Philippines[1]
Other names	Ara, Dara Mina
Occupation(s)	Actress, endorser, entrepreneur and singer
Years active	1993–present
Agent	Viva Artists Agency
Political party	Lakas–CMD (2024–present)
Other political affiliations	Independent (2009-2024)
Spouse	Dave Almarinez ​ (m. 2021)​
Partner	Patrick Meneses (until 2015)
Children	1
Relatives	Cristine Reyes (half-sister) Venus Imperial (Mother) Romeo Reyes (Stepfather) Chuck Mathay (biological father) Mel Mathay (biological paternal grandfather) Princess Klenk (biological younger sister) Manilyn Reynes (cousin) Marissa Sanchez (cousin)

Hazel Pascual Reyes-Almarinez (born May 9, 1979), professionally known asAra Mina, is a Filipino actress, singer, endorser, and entrepreneur. Recognized as the "Millennium Goddess",^[2] Mina is a recipient of aFAMAS Award forBest Actress, 3 Golden Screen Awards including the 'Dekada Award'^[3] and an Asia's Golden Icons Award.^[4]

Mina became part of the Philippine entertainment industry at 14 years of age via the youth-oriented programThat's Entertainment, hosted and spearheaded by the late master showmanGerman Moreno ("Kuya Germs"). Since then, Viva Entertainment signed Mina after being noticed onThat's and Mina has starred in about 40 television shows and 60 movies and released 3 recording albums. She won her first acting award for Best Actress for the filmMano Po at theMetro Manila Film Festival in 2002. The following year (2003), she received 3 more Best Actress awards fromManila Film Festival, FAMAS and Golden Screen Awards for the movieAng Huling Birhen sa Lupa. She also won the Golden Screen Awards andStar Awards in 2004 for Best Supporting Actress in a drama in the Philippines for her role as Luna inMinsan Pa.

Mina also sings aside from acting. Her self-titled and first album fromStar Music (formerly Star records) which carried the hit song "Ay, Ay, Ay, Pag-Ibig" received a gold record award a few months after its release. Because of this, the record label decided to produce another album for her entitledHeavenly, which was also a big hit and included the track "Oops Teka Lang" which was also the theme song of the film of the same title starringRobin Padilla andClaudine Barretto fromStar Cinema. Her version of the Rey Valera hit "Kung Kailangan Mo Ako" was also used as the theme song of theABS-CBN miniseriesSa Sandaling Kailangan Mo Ako. In 2008, she produced her 3rd album which was released under Sony BMG. It consisted of acoustic covers of hit songs like "What Do We Mean To Each Other" by Sergio Mendes, "Somebody" by Depeche Mode, and "Very Special Love" by Maureen McGovern.

She truly showcased versatility by starring in television shows of different genres, from sitcoms to heavy drama. 1999, she starred in her first television sitcomSuper Klenk, wherein she played a super heroine. She was then included in the cast ofBubble Gang, which was her longest stint for television. The character that she played in the TV seriesMulawin, Vultra, is also remarkable. In 2007, she switched to freelance acting and transferred to ABS-CBN doing projects viaPrinsesa ng Banyera andLigaw na Bulaklak. She returned toGMA Network and did multiple teleseryes for over two years. From 2011-2016, she did stints withTV5 Network but was able to do shows with the Kapuso network throughTeen Gen andYesterday's Bride. In 2011, she returned to Viva Entertainment after 1995, which also manages her sister Cristine Reyes.^[5]

On April 17, 2015, Ara was part of the "Lucky Stars" ofKapamilya, Deal or No Deal and won₱1,000,000 (equivalent to ₱1,203,738 in 2021), making Ara as second millionaire of the season five.

Her most recent television stint was for GMA'sPinulot Ka Lang sa Lupa and was also part of the movieMy Ex and Whys starringEnrique Gil andLiza Soberano. She staged a teleserye comeback onABS-CBN inAraw Gabi after doing anthology roles with the channel. In the late 2019 until the end of 2022, she is known for her role of Ellen Padua inFPJ's Ang Probinsyano.

On October 7, 2024, Ara Mina filed her certificate of candidacy to run for 2nd district councilor ofPasig in2025, underLakas–CMD. She was named part of the ticket of mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya, who is running under Unyon ng mga Gabay ng Bayan (UGB).^[6]

The eldest of 9 children, she grew up inMarikina with her mother, Francis Marie Klenk, and stepfather, Romeo Reyes. At 18, she met and was acknowledged by her biological father, Chuck Mathay, a former congressman fromQuezon City. ActressCristine Reyes is her half-sister through her mother, whileSan Juan councilors Cris and Macky Mathay are her half-brothers through her father.^[7][8]

Mina has one child with formerBulakan Mayor Patrick Meneses.^[9]

On January 13, 2021, she got engaged to Businessman Dave Almarinez, CEO of the Philippine International Trading Corporation and formerLaguna Provincial Board member.^[10] They got married in a wedding ceremony inBaguio on June 30 later that year.^[11]

Mina supports children with birth defects through the Ara Mina Foundation, which she founded in 2007.^[12] Her youngest sister, Princess Klenk was born withDown syndrome, was the inspiration behind this cause.^[12]

This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately. Find sources: "Ara Mina" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Ara Mina (1999,Star Music)
• Heavenly (2001, Star Music)

• Ara Mina atIMDb
• Ara Mina atiGMA.tv

• 1979 births
• Living people
• 21st-century Filipino actresses
• 21st-century Filipino women singers
• ABS-CBN people
• Actors from Marikina
• Actors from Pasig
• Actresses from Metro Manila
• Filipino child actresses
• Filipino female models
• Filipino film actresses
• Filipino sketch comedians
• Filipino television actresses
• Filipino women comedians
• GMA Network (company) people
• Lakas–CMD politicians
• Star Music artists
• That's Entertainment (Philippine TV series)
• That's Entertainment Tuesday Group Members
• TV5 Network people
• Viva Artists Agency
• Actors from Mandaluyong

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• CS1 foreign language sources (ISO 639-2)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• BLP articles lacking sources from July 2010
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Use Philippine English from June 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in Philippine English
• Use mdy dates from January 2020
• Articles with hCards
• BLP articles lacking sources from December 2021