Lia Cruz


Maria Michelina Diaz de Rivera Cruz commonly known as Lia Cruz is a Filipina television host, magazine columnist, endorser and sportscaster in the Philippines.

Life and career

Lia was born Maria Michelina Diaz de Rivera Cruz on July 13, 1985. Lia is noted for being one of the youngest and most popular female sportscasters in the Philippines, from her stints as the main host for BTV under Solar Sports and as a courtside reporter for the Philippine Basketball Association.
Lia writes in a stylish magazine as columnist for Candy Magazine, a youth female magazine for young teenage girls published by Summit Media. She is an endorser of Adidas products in the Philippines.

Television

Lia is an AB Communication graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. She began her career, even before her cable channel gigs, as she clinched a courtside student-reporting stint in the 2005 and 2006 for Ateneo at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines collegiate basketball league on Studio 23. Lia's former TV projects include House of Hoops, Man and Machine Auto Extreme, U-Rock, and DJ on Heart 103.5.
In 2011, Lia joins as one of the newest hosts of 'Sapul Sa 5' which airs daily mornings on TV5, this was her return to Kapatid Network after 4 years since her last hosting of the "House Of Hoops" aired on ABC.
In 2017, along with fellow Sports5/ESPN5 presenters Aaron Atayde, Magoo Marjon and Amanda Fernandez, Lia was named as the main presenter of ESPN 5's flagship sports newscast, SportsCenter Philippines. It is the local version of SportsCenter following TV5's partnership with global sports network ESPN.

TV shows