He was a cast member of That's Entertainment, a youth-oriented talent and variety show now defunct in the Philippines.
He starred as Filmmaker 2 in Bayaning 3rd World (1999), in which Villanueva was nominated for Gawad Urian Best Actor.
He played as the father of Jillian Ward in Mars Ravelo's TV series Trudis Liit showed in GMA Network.
In 2011, Cris Villanueva made a comeback in ABS-CBN as Rocco Amarillo in Mula sa Puso - Rocco Amarillo is the biological father of Gabriel (JM De Guzman) who saved the life of Magda (Dawn Zulueta) under the direction of Wenn V. Deramas.
He was included in the powerhouse cast of Kahit Puso'y Masugatan, TV series aired in ABS-CBN starring Iza Calzado, Gabby Concepcion, Andi Eigenmann and Jake Cuenca.