In the recent days, Francine Diaz has mesmerized us with her ethereal and flawless beauty through the pictures she posted on Instagram taken from her creative photoshoot to mark her 18^th birthday today, January 27!

And as a way of celebrating her special day, let’s look back on her wonderful and inspiring journey, along with her cute childhood photos, in this feature.

Born on January 27, 2004, she was raised by her hardworking parents Joaquin Diaz and Merdick Saenz in a simple life, alongside her beloved siblings Chantal, Cameron, Cali, Courtney, and their youngest and only brother Eisa. At an early age, she’s already experienced a lot of challenges in life as they struggled financially, especially when their father got laid off from his job in the United Arab Emirates during the economic crisis.

In their Magandang Buhay interview in 2018, Daddy JM recalled how it had been hard for him and his wife to provide the needs of their children and to send them to school. But in spite of this, Francine never felt self-pity because she firmly believed that they’re going to overcome it and she wanted to remember that she was strong and courageous during those trying times.

This encouraged her to grab the opportunity when she got scouted by her talent manager and invited her into a VTR, paving the way for her to score stints in commercials and television programs. She began accepting minor roles in teleseryes, mostly as young counterparts of leading ladies, starting off with her portrayal of young Sari (Ellen Adarna) in the 2015 series Pasion de Amor.

It was succeeded by her appearances in Be My Lady as young Pinang (Erich Gonzales), in We Will Survive as Anya San Juan, in The Greatest Love as young Gloria (Sylvia Sanchez), in Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin as young Bianca (Kim Chiu), in The Blood Sisters as Ginny Solomon, and in The General’s Daughter as the teen Rhian (Angel Locsin).

Francine finally had her biggest break in the highly successful 2019 soap opera Kadenang Ginto, wherein she enthralled us with her performance as the iconic Cassy Mondragon. Her dramatic chops were further highlighted in her portrayal of Joy in the inspirational serye Huwag Kang Mangamba. She was also able to show her versatility in the digital flicks “Silly Red Shoes” (2019) and “Tenement 66” (2021), as well as in iWantTFC Original series “Bawal Lumabas: The Series” (2020).

We may not know a lot about her personal life yet, but she gave us a glimpse of how she was as a young girl by sharing some of her throwback photos in one of her vlogs. And we’re able to collate a few of those, along with her other adorable old pictures from around the internet, in this gallery!