Lea Salonga-Chien (born via caesarian section on February 22, 1971 in Manila) is an actress and singer from the Philippines who achieved international recognition for her portrayal of Kim, the lead role in the musical Miss Saigon. She is of Tagalog descent.
She is currently married to Robert Chien, a Japanese-Chinese marketing executive at a computer company in Los Angeles, and expecting their first child. She was previously engaged twice before -- first to Richard Grau, a fellow Filipino who worked on Wall Street, and then to Michael Lee, a Korean-American fellow performer.
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Early years
Lea Salonga was born Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga to Feliciano Salonga and Ligaya Imutan, who were never legally married because her father already had a wife and children, with whom he still lives today. She spent the first six years of her childhood in Angeles City, Pampanga, before moving back to Manila.
Career
At the age of seven, she made her professional debut in the Philippines by starring in the play The King and I by Repertory Philippines. She has since appeared in other plays, such as: Annie, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Fiddler on the Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Sound Of Music, The Goodbye Girl, Paper Moon, The Fantasticks and Flower Drum Song.
She began her professional music career at the age of ten when she recorded her first album, Small Voice, which received a gold record in the Philippines. She has also hosted her own musical television show, Love, Lea, and opened for Stevie Wonder during his concert in Manila. At age 13, she won three Aliw Awards for Best Child Entertainer from 1981 to 1983. In 1983, her sophomore album, "Lea" was released.
Her biggest breakthrough came when she was selected to play the leading role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon in 1989.
Although not familiar with the composers of "Miss Saigon", Lea Salonga chose to sing Boublil and Schönberg's "On My Own" fro "Les Miserables". The members of the panel were "bawled over" by Lea's rendition of the song.
For her outstanding performance, Lea Salonga was given the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Entertainment for the 1989/1990 season. From its original London home, Miss Saigon moved to Broadway in 1991. Lea Salonga subsequently garnered the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the same role.
In 1993, Lea Salonga played the role of street waif Eponine in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, then flew to Los Angeles to perform the song "A Whole New World" (of Disney's Aladdin) at the 65th Annual Academy Awards, where the song won an Oscar. In the same year she released her self-titled international debut album with Atlantic Records, which has gone 4x Platinum in the Philippines, but sold poorly in the USA.
Lea was hand-picked by no less than "Sir Cameron Mackintosh" to play Eponine in the 10th Anniversary concert of "Les Miserables" at London's Royal Albert Hall. Lea performed alongside a "dream cast" composed of Colm Wilkinson, Michael Ball, Judy Kuhn, and Philip Quast.
Lea then played in various musical theater productions around the Philippines and Singapore notably as Sandy in "Grease", Sonia Walsk in "They're Playing Our Song" and as the witch in Into The Woods". In 1997, "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" was released to gold sales in the Philippines. It was followed up by "Lea... In Love" in 1998. "By Heart" followed two years later, both albums reaching multiple platinum status in the Philippines.
In 2001, Ms. Salonga had a grand homecoming via the Manila production of "Miss Saigon" staged at the cavernous Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Lea's Disney film credits include the singing voice of Jasmine for Aladdin (1992) and Fa Mulan for Mulan (1998).
In 2001 and again in 2003, Lea played the role of Lien Hughes on the soap opera As the World Turns, which was originally played by Ming-Na Wen many years before.
In February and March 2005, Lea played her first US concert tour in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlantic City, and Chicago. Dates in Washington, DC, and Norfolk, VA followed in July 2005. On November 7, 2005, she performed to an SRO crowd at NYC's Carnegie Hall for the benefit of Diverse City Theater Company. Lea is only the second Filipino to perform at the venue.
Lea is one of the most popular artists featured by Internet broadcaster PhilRadio International.
Albums
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Small Voice The Philippines #1 China #45 WWSales: .5 Million
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Lea The Philippines #2 WWSales: 1.1 Million
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Lea Salonga The Philippines #1(debut) 2 weeks) US #44 WW SALES: 4 Million
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By Heart The Philippines #1 (2 weeks) WWSales: 3 Million
see also Lea Salonga discography
In the Philippines,
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25,000 units sold is a Silver Record
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50,000 units sold is a Gold Record
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100,000 units sold is a Platinum Record
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1,000,000 units sold is a Diamond Platinum Record.
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