MANILA – Anne Curtis feels honored to have been the first female recipient of the FPJ Memorial Award.

She was bestowed with the recognition at the 67th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards held at the Meralco Theater Sunday.

“Just as ‘Da King’ led the way to make a mark in the industry with his action films, I was given the opportunity to do the action film 'BuyBust' that had a strong female lead. In fact, last year I did 3 films, all of different genres with very strong female leads,” she wrote on Instagram.

“This goes to show it is an amazing and exciting time in the industry where females can take on the part as strong leads of any film, of any genre,” she added.

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A post shared by Anne Curtis (@annecurtissmith) on Apr 28, 2019 at 7:01pm PDT

Following her victory, Curtis said it is her prayer that there will be “many more films with kick-ass strong female leads.”

“Thank you again FAMAS! And thank you to the Poe family for allowing a female to receive this award this year. I truly appreciate it and I am very, very grateful,” she said.

Curtis said she is dedicating her award to her family and parents, especially her mom “who has always been supportive and the wind beneath my wings, I am in fact living out her dream to be an actress.”

She also dedicated the award to her husband, Erwan Heussaff “who understands my crazy schedule and sometimes not seeing me for a month.”

Likewise, Curtis offered the award to the Filipino youth “who continue to have high hopes and work hard to pursue their dreams.”