Maritoni Fernandez Moynihan-Dayrit (born Antonita Maria Carmen Fernandez Moynihan; March 31, 1969[1]) is a Filipina character actress, model and entrepreneur.
Fernandez is the daughter of Antony Moynihan, 3rd Baron Moynihan,[2] who was English with some Irish roots, and a Filipina mother. She is niece to Colin Moynihan, the current Baron Moynihan and former head of the British Olympic Association.[3] She was reared by her grandmother in York, England, during her childhood years, later moving to the Philippines to accompany her father, who became a close friend of former President Ferdinand Marcos and a food critic and restaurant owner in Manila in the 1980s. She is the mother of actress Lexi Fernandez, who was a former GMA Network contract artist.[4][5] On September 10, 2016, her sister, Maria Aurora Moynihan, was killed in the Philippines.[6][7][8]
As an adult, Fernandez became a commercial model and actress in the Philippines, adopting the screen name Maritoni Fernandez.[9] She has had considerable success as a screen actress, figuring in many movies with the respected Filipino actor Fernando Poe, Jr. and appearing in the award-winning Hong Kong film Days of Being Wild by acclaimed director Wong Kar-wai.
In 1993, Fernandez was linked to the Brunei beauties affair.[10]
On her 30th birthday, Fernandez was diagnosed with breast cancer and has since undergone a lumpectomy in the United States.[11] In remission, she has been serving as a spokesperson for breast cancer patients and survivors in the Philippines and abroad.[12][13]
Fernandez is an owner of Herb-All Organic Trading Corporation, a food supplement company specializing in "young barley" powder and other natural health supplements. Simple Thoughts, her easy text floral service Bella Regalo, RSVP Event Planning and Design, and Just Desserts[14] in addition to her jobs as commercial model and actress in television soap operas for a major Philippine television network. She resides with her children in Makati.[15]