Carlene Aguilar was born on February 8, 1982, to parents Raul Aguilar and Catharin Ang. She has two brothers and a sister, all raised in the heart of Quezon City, Philippines. Aguilar studied at the Immaculate Conception Academy-Greenhills for her elementary and high school education. She majored in Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Aguilar won the title of Miss Philippines Earth 2001 and became the country’s representative to Miss Earth 2001, where she placed in Top 10 and won special award Best in Evening Gown. In 2004, she became Miss Chinatown Manila and subsequently became a 2nd runner-up at Miss Chinese International. In 2005, at the Binibining Pilipinas pageant, Aguilar was crowned as Binibining Pilipinas World. She was also named Miss Philippine Airlines and Miss Avon. Aguilar was also a semi-finalist at Miss World 2005 in Sanya, China.

She gave birth to a boy, Calix Andreas, on 22 September 2007. The father of her son is Dennis Trillo.

She became a contestant in the second Philippine edition of Celebrity Duets but was eliminated before the finals on October 25, 2008.

In early 2009, Aguilar played Clarisse Morales in Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang in which she worked with Angelu de Leon. She made a guest appearance in GMA Network’s talk show Cool Center. Currently, Aguilar plays Rodora in Rosalinda starring new stars Carla Abellana and Geoff Eigenmann / 2015 Marimar as Gilma “Gema”.