Biography

Noel I. Aparilla (born December 17, 1968), commonly known by the screen name Leon Miguel is a Filipino actor, model, and engineer. He received the Best Actor (Short) award from the International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM) 2016 in New York City, USA for his performance in Redlights. Earlier, he gained world-wide attention and notoriety for his role as the leading villain, Visel, in a Tribeca film crime-thriller entry, Graceland: A Life for Every Lie (2012) directed by Ron Morales. Graceland premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was awarded Second Place at the Audience Choice Award. Graceland also had its Canadian premiere in the Fantasia International Film Festival in July 2012 in Montreal, Canada and it also won Audience Award at the Gasparilla Film Festival in Tampa, Florida.

Some of the latest works that has caught the attention of international film festivals is Miguel's starring role in Mang Abe's Ube, a modern-day folktale about a Filipino ube farmer trying to protect his magical source of success from corporate crooks, directed by Paolo Bitanga. Miguel is currently premiering "EJK" (Extra-Judicial Killing), a timely and political film narrative by Red Carpet Philippines at Greenbelt 1, Cinema 2, Ayala Center, Makati.

Miguel was featured in the November 2014 issue of Manila Bulletin titled "International filmfest veteran is proudly from Masbate".