Aquino was born in the Philippines. She knew from a very young age that she was transgender, stating in a 2017 interview, "As soon as I was born, I was always a girl; I was just assigned differently at birth." In her mid-teens, she started hormone therapy. She was often bullied at school, but her parents were supportive of her transition.
As a teenager, Aquino moved to the United States to study at the Berklee College of Music, which she graduated from summa cum laude. She enrolled to study singing, thinking that there would be no acting roles for a transgender Filipina. But after having gender confirmation surgery, Aquino decided to pursue her childhood dream of being an actor.
In 2015, Aquino performed the role of Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet in New York City with The Drilling Company's Bryant Park Presents. Other stage roles she has played include Desdemona in Othello, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, and Isabella in Measure for Measure, all with The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on the Lower East Side of New York.

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