“When the red curtain opens
A biography
Act 1. “Draw the Curtains!”
Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga or more famously known as simply “Lea Salonga” was born on the 22nd of February, 1971 in Ermita, Manila. She was born to her father, Feliciano Genuino Salonga and her mother Ligaya Alcantara Imutan and became a sister to her brother, Gerard Salonga. Mr. Feliciano was a naval rear admiral and a shipping company owner. For her first six years in life, she lived in Angeles City before moving to Manila. She was a kid who loved to sing with dreams bigger than the Earth itself.
Her childhood was already part of the opening act of her life’s play as at the early age of seven, she made her professional debut in the musical “The King and I” in 1978 with Repertory Philippines. A Filipino theater company. After “The King in I”, she managed to secure the title role in her next play “Annie” and acted in the play in 1980. By the age of 10, she was able to record her first album “Small voice” in 1981 and it was well received by the masses as it was certified gold here in the Philippines. She also made left and right appearances in various plays such as “The Fantasticks” and “Paper moon” from 1988 and 1983 respectively. Her early childhood was full of acting and theater as that’s what she loved doing. She was a performer at heart.
Throughout the 1980s, Lea Salonga was steadily gaining popularity as she was featured in many television projects from GMA radio television arts. She was a child actress at the time and following her first album’s success, she was given an opportunity to host her own television show and this was named “Love, Lea”. Lea also made appearances as a member of the cast for a teen variety show “That’s entertainment” hosted by the late German Moreno. Because of her amazing acting skills and innate talent for it, Lea received multiple awards from FAMAS (Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences) and Aliw awards. The latter awarded her three times for three consecutive years for being the “Best Child Performer” of 1980, 1981, and 1982. Talk about consistency!
By 1988, Lea released her second album simply entitled “Lea” and in that same year, she finished her High School Education) at O.B. Montessori Center located at Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila. Lea also attended an extension program by the University of the Philippines College of Music that trains musically talented children and teens in Music and stage acting.
Act 2. “The Opening Act”
At the age of 17 years old, Lea auditioned for the role of the main character in the play “Miss Saigon” named “Kim”. In her audition, Lea chose to sing “Boublil” and “On my Own” by Claude-Michel Schonberg from the play “Les Miserables”. Because of her amazing singing ability, she was asked by the audition panel to sing “Sun and Moon” which impressed them. At the age of 18 in 1989, Lea was picked to play the role of Kim in Miss Saigon’s debut production held in London.
Lea Salonga was able to win the “Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical” in 1990 because of her successful performance as Kim in Miss Saigon. This made her one of the world’s youngest winners of the award which was a feat on its own. Also in the same year, she performed a homecoming concert in Manila named “A Miss Called Lea. In the following year, Lea won multiple awards from Theater World, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk from playing the same role in Miss Saigon’s play on Broadway. In the 1992 Disney animated film “Aladdin”, Lea became the singing voice for our beloved Princess Jasmine. In 1993, she achieved yet another feat of becoming the first ever woman of Asian descent to be awarded a “Tony Award”.
Act 3. “To The Center Stage!”
“Les Miserables” has been one of the most well known plays worldwide and in 1993, for the broadway production of the play, Salonga played the role of “Eponine”, the daughter of the Thenardiers. When the 65th Annual Academy Awards happened in Los Angeles in the same year, Lea performed as Jasmine in the song “A Whole New World” along with Brad Kane. In the awards show, the song won a deserving, Golden Globe Award! With the help of Atlantic Records, Lea was able to release her self-titled international debut album. In 1994, she was able to partake in multiple musical theater plays in the countries Singapore and Philippines. She took the roles of the witch in “Into the Woods” and Sandy in “Grease” to mention.
By 1995, Lea Salonga went back to the US to bring to life the role of an 18-year-old Vietnamese American adopted child named “Geri Riordan” in the television film “Redwood Curtain”. She proved herself to be still a busy woman as at the same year, she went back to the Philippines to act in the film “Sana Maulit Muli” along with Ariel Aquino Mulach or more famously known as Aga Mulach. Through this film, she was able to get her second FAMAS nomination as “Best Actress”. 1995 was also the 10th anniversary of Les Miserables and so, Lea flew all the way back to London to play Eponine in “Les Miserables: The dream cast concert” held at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
1997 was the year when Lea Salonga started making recordings and she started that off with her album entitled “I’d like to teach the world sing”. This album was well received by the Filipino people as the album reached gold sales in the Philippines. This album was then followed by the 1998 album “Lea…In heart” and the 2000 album “By heart”. These two albums were able to reach Platinum sales multiple times in the Philippines.
In 1998, she again collaborated with Disney and became the voice of the Disney animated film character “Mulan” and the singing voice of the same character in the film sequel “Mulan II” in 2004. Lea moved to New York City, USA where she purchased her apartment at the age of 28 and owned it until 2013. In the same year, Lea participated and performed at a tribute concert held for Cameron Mackintosh entitled “Hey, Mr. Producer: The musical world of Cameron Mackintosh.” By the years 1999 and 2000, Lea played the role of “Sonia Walsk” in the “They’re playing our song” musical.
Throughout the years of 2000 to 2003, Lea Salonga continued on making multiple appearances in various kinds of platforms from TV shows, musical and nonmusical theaters, and films which led to her appearances in multiple awards shows as well. By the 10th of January, 2004, she married the love of her life Mr. Robert Charles Chien whom she met in “Flower Drum Song”. The same year, she also performed her all-Filipino concerts entitled ”Songs from Home” which made her win the “Entertainer of the year” award from Aliw awards.
Act 4. “The Climax”
2005 was the year when Lea Salonga reached international status as she started to tour the world. She conducted her first US concert tour and in the same year, she managed to perform to a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall. Because of her international ventures, Lea was awarded with a “Golden Artist” award from FAMAS. In 2006, she performed for the closing ceremony of the 15th Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar with the song “Triumph of the one” at the Khalifa Stadium.
Lea then proceeded to release her first studio album in 2007 entitled “Inspired” which gained popularity and got platinum sales in the Philippines. She was also awarded by the former president Gloria Arroyo with the “Order of Lakandula” for using her abilities to the benefit of the Philippines and its people. Lea made more appearances on the theater scene with the return of Les Miserables, Broadway on Broadway, Stars in the alley, and more.
By 2008, she became a columnist for the Philippine Daily inquirer. She wrote her column “Introducing: Lea Salonga, writer” and from then on, started writing more and more columns. Lea went on to do singing performances throughout 2009 with her appearance in the 95th anniversary special of Iglesia ni Cristo singing the song “Bayan ko” and the concerts “Lea Salonga…Your songs” for the 20 years of “Miss Saigon”.
Following her singing performances, Lea made an appearance as a celebrity judge for the show “Avon Voices”. Speaking of being a judge, she also became one of the judges to sit on the judges panel of the 60th Miss Universe 2011 held in Sao Paulo, Brazil which happened at the 20th of September, 2011
Lea Salonga continued on making more concert appearances as in 2013, she was part of the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Concert Series. She also played as a mother in the concert performance of “Ragtime”. In the same year, she started her concert tour in the Philippines “Lea Salonga: Playlist” which was done to celebrate her 35 years of hardwork and dedication in show business.
By 2014, she went back to making judge appearances to “The Voice” and “The Voice kids”. Throughout 2014, she continued touring around the world with multiple concerts. She made an American television appearance in 2016 with “Crazy-Ex Girlfriend” and another for the international premiere of “Fun Home” as Helen Bechdel in Manila.
Act 5. “The Curtain Call”
Lea Salonga’s career has been going smoothly even until the present. With her steady amount of appearances in the theater scene for the past 4 years, it proves that Lea has made her mark in the theater scene as a whole which she worked hard for since age seven. She’s currently living with her family and has a daughter named Nicole Chien. This year, Lea is planning to embark on another world tour on the 6th of April, 2022 entitled “Dream Again” which will start in North America.
To many theater kids, Lea Salonga is one of the many theater actors and actresses that these kids can look up to. She’s the perfect example of one who’s passionate about their dreams whatever it may be. Once a small town girl, now one of the big names of show business, Lea Salonga is a woman of passion, pure talent, and dedication to her craft. A true performer.
















