Gina Aponte

Gina Aponte' is the Original Pin Up Foodie. She is best known as Hollywood Actress-Host and Published Cookbook Author, commissioned by Lulu Publishing for her original Vintage Hollywood Pin Up Cookbook Series: "Pin Up Foodie in the Kitchen!" Gina Aponte' has been a high-profile Hollywood Event Producer, owner of event company, Royal Palaces LLC., and a SAG-AFTRA working Actress--since 1996. She was cast in period-piece films like "That Thing You Do" and "Catch Me If You Can" --among a number of bit part TV and film roles and commercials. She is an ASCAP Songwriter, and has been since 2002. Her most recent 2.20.2020 released country-pop-dance song "I Need A Real Man" --can be downloaded globally on 40+ music internet engines. Gina Aponte' was an Actress long before she arrived to Hollywood, California. Her first role was a Vacuum Cleaner, in local community theater in Northern Virginia, in a production called "The Tickle," in early 1980s. She is proud of it being her first role, and says "it proves I built my career from cleaning scratch. Can't be more humbled than being cast in a stage play to blow noises through a microphone inside a scooter, waving an arm around in wild vacuum style. I did my time as an actress." She then went on to become etiquette-certified at Cappa Chell Finishing and Modeling School in Washington DC area, while attending school, and performing in multiple productions, on stage, in scholarship pageants, and in parades throughout the South--mainly DC, Virginia, and Maryland. She holds titles such as "Little Miss Big K-Radio" and NAPS [North American Pageant System] "Jr. Teen Miss East Coast" and "Jr. Teen Miss East Coast Continent." She shares that, "the first time I was ever clocked in the face by a girl, I was age 9, she was 11--we were in 9-11 age group--and she was angry that I won both qualification titles that day, to go to N.A.P.S. Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. I felt terrible after that!" Right out of pageants, parades, and University--upon arrival to Hollywood on January 1, 1996--Gina Aponte' began her unique stamp on the Entertainment Industry. She found immediate success in the late 90's as a SAG-inducted Film-TV Actress, 6 months after arriving to LA. She played roles opposite Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Weber, Willam Hurt, Miranda Richardson, Jack Wagner, and Heather Locklear. In 1996, she worked directly with Tom Hanks in "That Thing You Do," where he chose Gina for a featured close-up of her band reaction in their main performance crowd scene. From "extra to featured extra" honor by Tom Hanks himself, on set, as they shot one scene, for 4 days, 14-16 hour days. From 1996-2002, she played multiple roles throughout productions in Hollywood, in short films, student films, and cable films. Most notably, she starred in the production of "Pizza Man," honorably chosen as the finale production of a once-famous Hollywood theater before its closing. From accidentally attending that final stage production, Larry Bishop (Actor/Director/Writer and son of Rat Pack's Joey Bishop) expressed interest in her for two of his upcoming films. She was featured as a Maxim "Top 100 Hometown Hottie" at Maxim.com and Maxim Inc., and as "Glamour Model" in the Industry's go-to newspaper publishing, "Backstage West" in Los Angeles--in her first 5 years in LA. She befriended Gabriel Byrne during these years, whom she met in the dog park at her condo, behind the hotel where he was staying at that time, the Sunset-Marquis. Gina had shared with him some pick-up lines she had experienced during her work life in Hollywood. He later shared those lines with David Letterman during his on-air interview. It produced a roar of laughter from his audience, enough where David Letterman rolled back his chair, and spontaneously wrote down Gina's pick-up line onto his famous blue index cards--in jest for his own future use. Gina had under-fivers opposite Kiefer Sutherland and Stephen Weber in The Break Up, and opposite William Hurt and Miranda Richardson in The Big Brass Ring. She also played Lead Reporter opposite Heather Locklear on Melrose Place, reporting on the Bobby Parisi case. She was featured as a work-out girl in "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," as Morton Downey Jr's Girlfriend on Dick Van Dyke's "Diagnosis Murder," and as a student on the sitcom, "Boston Common." In 2002, she worked opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can," placed in his #1 chair of flight attendants. On one of her 12-hour days of filming Pan Am Flight Attendant scenes, she was picked out of the crowd of extras to shoot a direct one-on-one flight attendant audition feature, for Leonardo DiCaprio's character, there on set that day. She filmed her clip with other hopefuls on the spot, but hers didn't make final cut by Stephen Spielberg. She felt it was still an honor to be selected and later cut by him. In 2002, she was featured on "Wild on E--The West Coast" --her clip used as their 4-month commercial run for the E-Channel. As a film star Stand-In, she worked long hours being "lit and blocked" by Hollywood heavyweight Directors--until asked to step aside off-camera for the talent she stood in for, such as Marcia Gay Harden in "Desperate Measures," Rachel Weiss in "Chain Reaction," and Ashley Judd in "Kiss the Girls." Quote: "Michael Keeton (the original Batman) on the set of Desperate Measures, was the most brilliant actor I had ever witnessed work--up close and personal. Leonardo DiCaprio was a close second. But in all fairness, my experience was incomparable between the two. I worked for several months with Michael Keeton in the same room. Only days with Leonardo DiCaprio across the room." In 2003, as a last ditch effort to show writing and her lead acting talent, she produced "Seeking Harvey Weinstein..." with Director, H. Charles Riedl. The production was later dug into the ground--with the reputation of Harvey Weinstein. The Hollywood Event Producer: From 2003-2011, Gina Aponte' took a breather from Acting, to start "Royal Palaces LLC" - a special event production company. She yearned to express her more artistic side in life-size rooms of art. She solidified clients like Madonna and Mariah Carey backstage for the GRAMMYs, Stevie Wonder and Chris Tucker backstage for the NAACP Image Awards, Lone Star and Rob Schneider backstage for the AMC Country Music Awards in Vegas, among a long list of celebrities. She enjoyed for many years, creating dream rooms others never thought possible--out of simple white wall palettes. She and her company were featured on Bravo's Reality TV Pilot, "His And Hers" for a romance makeover, on Jillian Barberie's "Style File" on Good Day Live Fox National, and on KTLA Morning News, during Regional November Sweeps. The Royal Palaces experience solidified her solid business etiquette mixed with wow-factor reputation for her work behind the scenes in Hollywood. She stated that she closed the business after eight years to focus on her own path, outside of fulfilling the dream rooms of others. The Writer and Current "Hollywood Cookbook" Author: In 1995, her writing was published for the first time in The Tallahassee Democrat, while attending Florida State University, defending the incoming Sports Illustrated Cover Athlete, FSU Kicker, Scott Bentley, whom she briefly dated. Her Op-Ed Letter ignited great debate at the University over the public bullying that was taking place. She was 21. She was also an avid Seminole Ambassador, one chosen to lead campus tours for incoming Freshman families at Florida State University. After a BA in English/Language & Literature with Distinction in Creative Writing from Florida State, she furthered her English academia from 1998-2002, spending her evenings at UCLA in multiple Writing Extension Workshops, most notably, Linda Palmer's "Screenplay Development Workshop," which she took multiple times. In 2012, she became a globally-certified ESP-ESL-EFL Teacher, with 140 hours Oxford TESOL-TESL-TEFL Certification, Distinction in Business English. In 2018, her CV was enriched with a California TrustLine-Certification, solidifying her status as a Private Teacher-Governess. On July 5, 2019, her Vintage Hollywood Pin Up Cookbook Mini-Series launched on Amazon Worldwide: "Pin Up Foodie In the Kitchen" - Volume 1 of 111. She and her Vintage Hollywood Pin Up girlfriends of 20+ years plan to share their life-long "comfort-food-made-healthier" recipes, straight from their home kitchens for 111 Mini-Series Volumes. Volume 1 is straight from Gina Aponte's kitchen. All will have recipes mixed with Pin Up photo secrets straight from Hollywood. On September 2019, Gina Aponte's submission was officially accepted by LuLu Publishing Inc. Processing to release "Volume One" hard copy at Barnes and Noble and worldwide in 2021. In May 2020, Gina Aponte' received her e-Cornell Plant-Based Nutrition and Healthy Living Certification from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, Ithaca, New York. She continues to further her passion for Plant-Based Nutrition and Healthy Living, in hopes of sharing that information on television in 2021, under the title "Pin Up Foodie." As of April 2021, "Pin Up Foodie" television show is in Network pitch phase under representation of Ken Lindner & Associates with Trademark representation under Mitchell, Silberberg, and Knupp LLP.