[2] He was born Ace York Caesar Asturias Aguilar in the Philippines on November 20, 1954, to parents Alicia Vergel and Cesar Ramirez.

He appeared in his first full-length movie at the age of five using his real name Ace York, where he played the friend of a giant bird in the 1959 film Anak ng Bulkan.

He staged his comeback in 1977 to do the film under Lino Brocka entitled "Inay" where his mother Alicia Vergel portrayed the title role.

In 1979, Vergel starred in the miniseries Malayo Pa ang Umaga, inspired by Stevan Javellana's novel "Without Seeing the Dawn," the first Filipino novel written in English.

Vergel portrayed the lead character, "Mario," an oppressed farmer, in a story set during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Portraying "Rigor," an anti-hero lacking traditional heroic qualities, he departed from his typical roles in previous films, making this character his most iconic to date.

[7] Vergel suffered a massive heart attack and slipped into coma at The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, located in Santa Cruz, Manila and died at 3:17 am on December 15, 2007, at the age of 53.