Lea Salonga

Lea is most well known for her portrayal of Kim in the West End and Broadway hit musical Miss Saigon, for which she received the Laurence Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle and Tony Awards. She began her career at the age of 7 in Repertory Philippines’ production of The King and I, and has since appeared as Annie in Annie, Brigitta in The Sound Of Music, Lucy in The Goodbye Girl, Addie in Paper Moon, Luisa in The Fantasticks, Eponine in Les Misérables (in New York, London and briefly with the Third National Tour during its visit to Honolulu), Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, The Witch in Into The Woods (with Singapore Repertory Theatre), and Sandy in Grease. She made her US television film debut when she played the role of Geri Riordan in Hallmark Hall of Fame’s Redwood Curtain with Jeff Daniels and John Lithgow.

She started her recording career as a child artist with her first album Small Voice, which received a gold record, and made a few more recordings before her teens. She also began hosting her own television show Love, Lea. While in Miss Saigon, she recorded the singing voice of Jasmine for the Walt Disney animated feature Aladdin, and soon after recorded the role of Tuptim in a new recording of The King and I with Julie Andrews, Ben Kingsley and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Other recordings include her self-titled international debut album with Atlantic Records (gold and platinum in parts of Southeast Asia), a special duet with Peabo Bryson for the People album, and the narrator for a new recording of The Nutcracker. Most recently, she recorded the singing voice of the title character, Fa Mulan for the recent Walt Disney animated feature, 'Mulan'. She also just released in the Philippines a compilation of her earliest hits titled I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing, and a new solo album called Lea...In Love.

Lea has performed in concert in the Philippines as well as at the Town Hall (New York), the Hollywood Bowl and the Universal Amphitheatre (Los Angeles), and San Francisco Civic Center and Nob Hill Masonic Center (San Francisco). She has opened for such artists as Stevie Wonder and the late Frank Sinatra during their concerts in Manila. She was also chosen to play the role of Eponine in the Les Misérables 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and recently returned to London to perform at a special benefit concert called 'Hey, Mr Producer!' at the Lyceum Theatre, along with such stars as Bernadette Peters, Jonathan Pryce and Colm Wilkinson. In 1999 Lea returned to the Broadway Theatre as Kim in Miss Saigon for a limited run.

Lea has performed for HRH Queen Elizabeth II, former US President and Mrs. George Bush, US President Bill Clinton and US First Lady Hillary Rodham-Clinton. And on Millenium night gave a massive concert in Manila

info from the Lea Salonga Website

You can find some sounds of Lea as Eponine in my Eponine Sound Gallery.

For more Lea, as well as the home page mentioned above, you can also visit The Lea Salonga Tribute or Lea Salonga - Heaven Tonight.

The Eponine pictures can be found in my Eponine Picture Gallery. To get an enlarged view of some of the others just click on them.

Back to Eponine Actresses page.

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