Krista K

Krista Kleiner (born June 12 in Orange County, California), also known as Krista K, is a Eurasian American entertainer and creator. She is of Filipino, English, German, Spanish, Scottish, Finnish and Chinese descent. Spending four years achieving success in the Philippines hosting, acting, and performing on a number of primetime television shows, she ventured out to other parts of Southeast Asia, successfully branding herself as an international personality. She went on to win Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) in 2010, also bagging the titles Best in Swimsuit and Best in Talent. Upon auditioning for the man himself, Krista was mentored by world-renowned international balladeer Julio Iglesias after being asked to be his special guest on his world tour in 2010. Krista self produced a pop/dance/R&B album after returning to the Philippines, leading to her signing two major label deals (with Universal Records and Warner Music Group) across four different countries in Asia—the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Shortly after, Krista connected with Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas, who asked to and became her mentor, eventually leading to her recent return to Los Angeles.

Since returning to Los Angeles, Krista has become involved with a nonprofit called Club 42 (founded by John Branca and supported by the Michael Jackson estate) and has helped with the development of business technology firm JMAS Group. She is currently involved with fashion line Neoclassics and working with a number of production companies, including Language Media, Shorebreak International Inc., Execution Style Entertainment and more on developing new original content.

Background

Since the age of 4, Krista Kleiner has been performing both on and off the stage. Having enrolled in jazz, tap, hip-hop, ballroom, and ballet classes at such a young age, Krista soon found herself successfully competing in Latin ballroom styles (Pasodoble, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, and Jive). Later, she became a runway model. Kleiner started to slowly learn the ropes of the entertainment industry that she would soon call home.

At 18, she secured her first major contract with the top TV network in the Philippines. Having just begun her college education at the University of California in San Diego, the difficult choice between an education in the classroom or an education in the real world would present itself. In a leap of faith, Kleiner would uproot herself from California for an experience that was supposed to last but only a few months, but in fact lasted four years.

Over the course of her years in the Philippines, Kleiner co-hosted a primetime game show out of the gate. Her unique look and playful personality mixed with her uncanny ability to speak the native Tagalog language made her an instant hit with the Filipino audiences. This instant connection with her Philippine fans catapulted her to her next gig—a lead role in the primetime equivalent of Spiderman in the Philippines. Through this role she was able to display a new comedic side to her character as well as her ability to perform in action sequences by leveraging her black belt in Tae Know Do (along with highly dangerous nun chuck skills that she would take with her on another show Darna [Wonderwoman in the Philippines]). Her rising star power didn’t stop there. Successful showings while hosting lifestyle shows, daytime shows, and the number one variety show in the Philippines turned one-off spots into regular appearances, which continued to bring her into the hearts and minds of her loyal Philippine fans.

Truly immersing and assimilating herself into the Philippine culture created a sense of pride in her country that she could not ignore. That pride turned into a sense of obligation to be the best representative of a beautiful Filipino culture, so she joined the Binibining Pilipinas competition in 2010 (Miss Philippines). She was fortunate enough to qualify to compete and not only took awards for “Best in Swim Suit” and “Best in Talent” but also took home the crown as Miss Philippines International 2010.^[1]

This level of visibility as an official representative of the country, caught the attention of many more including the likes of the legendary Julio Iglesias. She was personally asked by Julio to join him on his world tour as a special guest performer that would sing and dance before sell-out crowds in the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, and even back in her own native United States. The wealth of knowledge and experience she learned training with one of the best in the music business had turned a light switch on forever. She had found her true passion in musical performance and writing.^[2]

Being no stranger to taking dreams into her own hands, Krista self-produced her debut album entitled Feels So Good. As if spearheading her own 14-track album wasn’t enough, she represented herself to labels and successfully locked in multiple distribution deals for her project (Universal Records in the Philippines and Warner Music Group in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei).^[3][4]

Appearances

Notes

References

• Tinnie Esguerra, Philippine Star- Krista K: From beauty queen to glam diva
• Isah Red, Manila Standard Today- Krista K now a Universal record singer
• Edwin Sallan, Interaksyon, Krista Kleiner reinvents herself as Krista K with feel-good dance album
• Melody Oei, MSN, Krista K
• Philippine Entertainment Portal, Krista Kleiner releases her debut album, Feels So Good
• Orange Magazine TV, Krista K To Perform with Craig David and Taboo of Black Eyed Peas In Malaysia