Isa Briones

Filipino representation on screen means more when characters are allowed to be complicated, ambitious and fully themselves. Filipino-American actress Isa Briones has brought that depth to Dr Trinity Santos, the sharp, headstrong intern she plays in HBO’s medical drama The Pitt, following her earlier role as Soji in Star Trek: Picard.

In The Pitt, Briones has helped bring a Filipina doctor into the centre of a major American television series without reducing her identity to a cultural shorthand. In the show’s second season, she drew on her heritage by singing the Visayan lullaby “Ili Ili Tulog Anay” to comfort an abandoned baby, a quiet moment that connected the character’s professional world with her background. The series received 25 Emmy nominations in 2026, while its ensemble won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the Actor Awards.

Briones’ work spans television and musical theatre, including her Broadway debut in Hadestown and a later role in Just in Time. Her growing visibility matters not simply because she is Filipino-American, but because the roles she plays give Filipino characters room to exist beyond familiar stereotypes.