Mila del Sol

Who is Mila del Sol?

Clarita Rivera Villarba, better known as Mila del Sol, is a Filipina film actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Del Sol was born in Tondo, Manila. She gained fame in her very first lead role in the 1939 film Giliw Ko. She had been discovered by LVN Pictures President Doña Sisang de Leon, who insisted in casting her over the objections of the film's director, who felt she was too young for the part. It was the film's director, Carlos Vander Tolosa, who gave her the screen name "Mila del Sol", for "causing the sun to appear as if by miracle over his otherwise overcast set whenever she was called in to do her scenes".

Film production shut down during the Japanese occupation and was restored only in 1945. Del Sol returned to LVN and starred in its production of Manuel Conde's Orasang Ginto, the first post-war Filipino film. She starred in other LVN films of the 1940s, including Ibong Adarna and Villa Hermosa.

Del Sol retired from films to raise a family in the 1950s, but staged a comeback in 1960 with two films released that year, Pakipot and Tatlong Magdalena.