Award-winning theatre actor and singer Lea Salonga is a trailblazer: she originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon on London's West End in 1989. She became one of the youngest winners of the Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. When she brought the role to Broadway in 1991, she became the first Asian performer to win a Tony Award. These wins opened the door for more Asians on the international stage.

At seven, Salonga started performing professionally in 1978 in a local production of The King and I, followed by the titular role in Annie and as one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound of Music. In 1981, she recorded her first album, Small Voice, and worked steadily throughout the ’80s as a child actor and singer. She had her television show, Love, Lea, from 1983 to 1985, even as she started to appear in films.

She also became the first Asian woman to play both Eponine and Fantine in the Broadway production of Les Misérables; she reprised these roles in the 10th- and 25th-anniversary concerts in London. She was also the singing voice for the animated Disney princesses Jasmine and Fa Mulan in Aladdin and Mulan, respectively. Decades after the Tony and the Olivier, she has received other recognitions, including the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards.

A life-long model for children of colour, Salonga is living proof that anyone can make it to the big leagues—if you have the skill. Her return to The Royal Albert Hall in 2022 shook the world to its core as she held her first-ever solo concert, further cementing her name in musical history as an artist and Filipino. In 2023, she appeared in Here Lies Love, the Broadway disco musical about former first lady Imelda Marcos. Though she has since taken a step back from the role, her portrayal of Ninoy Aquino’s mother, Aurora Aquino, was one many enjoyed.

She performs on the West End in London for Sondheim’s Old Friends, sharing the stage with co-Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, till January 2024.