Jasmine Curtis-Smith and yao to lead cross-cultural rom-com We Could Be in Love
Jasmine Curtis-Smith and yao will lead the romantic comedy We Could Be in Love, with Marie Jamora directing, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter on 5 October 2026.
Curtis-Smith plays Jasmine Aquino. Yao plays Ambrose Lee. Jamora, known for work across film and television in the United States and the Philippines, will direct from a script by Terence Chen.
The story centres on working-class Filipina American Jasmine Aquino falling for affluent Chinese-Filipino heir Ambrose Lee, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Their romance runs into class divides and prejudice. For readers new to the terms, Filipina American means a woman of Philippine heritage living in America, while Chinese-Filipino refers to Filipinos of Chinese descent.
The wider cast brings familiar faces from film, television and drag. Jamie Chung joins the ensemble. So do Lou Diamond Phillips and Tamlyn Tomita. Airline Inthyrath, widely known as Jujubee from RuPaul's Drag Race, rounds out the announced cast.
Behind the camera, the production team is led by Geri Leigh Tiu and Sonca Nguyen for Tiger & Dog Production, alongside Annie Huang, as producers. Terence Chen, Thea Jacinto Ugarte and Jon-Adrian 'JJ' Velazquez serve as executive producers, the credit given to senior figures who back a film financially or creatively. Hannah Kittell is costume designer. Dino-Ray Ramos is cultural consultant.
The film will shoot on location in New York and Manila in the Philippines. That two-city plan puts the story in both worlds its central couple come from.
What makes this stand out is the mix. A New York romance. A Manila root. And a cast drawn from Hollywood, Philippine cinema and reality television, all built around a love story shaped by money, family and background.
