Lea Salonga, #1 Filipino International Multi-Awardee in Musical Theatre (Single Role)

Lea Salonga-Chien is a Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, and Theatre World award-winning Filipino singer and actress who is best known for her portrayal of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon. In the field of musical theater, no other Filipino has achieved the same international recognition as Salonga. She has been the first to win various international awards for a single role.

Lea Salonga was born to Feliciano Genuino Salonga and Ligaya Alcantara Imutan in Angeles City. She spent the first six years of her childhood there. She is a sister of composer Gerard Salonga and granddaughter of former Senate President Jovito Salonga. She is married to Robert Charles Chien, a Chinese-Japanese managing director of an entertainmentcompany in Los Angeles , California.

Career Beginnings in the Philippines

Salonga became a successful child star in the Philippines. At the age of seven, she made her professional debut performing in the musical The King and I by Repertory Philippines. She became the lead star of Annie and joined other productions, such as Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Fiddler On The Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Sound of Music, The Goodbye Girl, Paper Moon, and The Fantasticks.

She began her recording career at the age of ten with her first album, Small Voice, which received a gold certification. Her younger brother, Gerard Salonga, performed a duet with her on the song Happiness. Since then, he has collaborated with her many times as musical director or creative director.

International Career

Salonga's big breakthrough came when she was selected to play Kim in the megahit musical Miss Saigon in 1989. For her performance as Kim, Salonga won the Olivier for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for the 1989/1990 season. From its original London home, Miss Saigon moved to Broadway in April 1991. Salonga subsequently garnered the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and the Theatre World awards for the same role.

In 1993, Salonga played the role of street waif Eponine in the Broadway production of Les Miserables, then flew to Los Angeles to perform the song "A Whole New World" (of Disney's Alladin) with Brad Kane at the 65th Annual Academy Awards, where the song won an Oscar. Salonga is the singing voice of Princess Jasmine.

In 1995, Salonga performed as Geri Riordan, an 18-year-old adopted Vietnamese-American child in the movie Redwood Curtain, which starred John Lithgow and Jeff Daniels. In 2002 and 2003, Salonga recreated the role of Lien Hughes on the soap opera As The World Turns, which was originally played by Ming-Na Wen years before. She also made a guest appearance in the medical drama E.R.

In 1996, Salonga was invited by Sir Cameron Mackintosh to play the role of Eponine for the 10th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables In Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Salonga performed as part of a "dream cast" composed of Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball, Judy Kuhn, and Philip Quast.

In 2002, Salonga returned to Broadway to play the role of a Chinese immigrant in a reinterpretatomion of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song opposite Jose Llana. This was after the reinvented musical had a very successful run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2001. Salonga played the lead role and with the show winning multiple nominations (including Lead Actress in a Musical) and wins from the Theatre Los Angeles Ovation Awards. It was considered one of the 10 best plays on Broadway in 2002 by Time Magazine. It garnered Tony Award, nominations for Best Book, Best Costume Designer, and Best Choreographer, and earned nominations fr the Outer Critic Circle, the Drama League, the , Broadway.com's Audience Awards, and Broadwayworld.com's Fans' Choice Awards as well. The well-received Broadway revival cast album was also a top contender at the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Musical Show Album.

In February and March 2005, Salonga played her first US concert tour in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlantic City, and Chicago. Dates in Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, Virginia followed in July 2005. On November 7, 2005, Salonga performed with a 26-piece ensemble to a sold-out crowd of 2,804 at the Isaac Stern Hall in Carnegie Hall for the benefit of Diverse City Theater Company.

Salonga's Disney film credits include the singing voice of Princess Jasmine for Aladdin (1992), and Fa Mulan for Mulan (1998), as well as the voice of Mrs. Kusakabe (Satsuki and Mei's mother) in Disney's 2005 English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro.

Salonga has performed for three American Presidents - George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and forHer Majesty Queen Elizbeth II, and Princess Diana.

In the 15th Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar on December 15, 2006, the closing ceremony concluded with a song "Triumph of The One" sung by Salonga at the Khalifa Stadium before an audience of 50,000 people.

~ Excerpted from Wikipedia.

External links (click below)

• Official site




• Lea Salonga aInternet Broadway Database




• Lea Salonga Internet Movie Database

*Sony Entertainment Sr. VP Fritz Friedman and Philippine Consul General and Mrs. Edwin Bael co-chaired the very successful Premier Show of Flower Drum Song at Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The event was supported by the Asian American Friends of the Theatre Group.