Do we like them?

Do we like Rain Valdez?

Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean search and real community-building, but a thin record and no deep reporting I could read in full, so not a top score.

Rain Valdez is a Los Angeles-based actress, writer and producer, born in the Philippines and raised on Guam, who moved to LA as a young woman. Coverage in the Philippine and Filipino-American press tags her as the first Filipina American trans woman nominated for an Emmy.

The Emmy nod came in 2020 for Razor Tongue, the web series she created, crowdfunded and produced. It follows Belle Jonas, a trans woman from Guam, and Out magazine framed it as part of a new era of trans creators writing their own stories instead of waiting to be cast in someone else's.

Scandal check: I searched for lawsuits, court matters, accusations and the usual culture-war flashpoints, and nothing came back about her. That is honestly the whole list. The lack of news is a result in itself, but I haven't read deep investigative coverage either way.

On the harm check, there are no harmful statements, no campaigning against anyone's rights, and no pattern of working with people who push that stuff. Her work points the other way: she founded ActNOW, an acting class for LGBTQ+ actors, and leads Rainbow Entertainment, a trans-led company that says it lifts up queer and BIPOC storytellers.

She has also kept producing. Trade coverage in 2020 had her and Rachel Leyco developing a trans-led rom-com, and her company's later slate included a Filipino-led indie rom-com, When Jupiter Returns, Mahal. I couldn't confirm a release date for it.

Nothing new on her lately: no recent news, controversy or announcement came up in searches for 2026. Fair warning too that the fetch tool was blocked while I researched, so this rests on search summaries rather than full articles. Still, everything that did come up is the sort of thing you'd want from someone you're cheering for.