Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga is one of the Philippines’ most internationally recognised performers, with a 45-year career spanning musical theatre, film, television and music. She famously originated the role of Kim in Miss Saigon on London’s West End in 1989—winning a Laurence Olivier Award—before bringing the role to Broadway in 1991 to become the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She went on to make history as the first Asian woman to play both Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables on Broadway, while gaining worldwide fame as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and the titular heroine in Mulan.

Salonga’s enduring excellence has been recognized with the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League’s Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater awards. In recent years, she starred in the Filipino adaptation of Request sa Radyo, returned to Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim revue Old Friends, and headlined a Philippine staging of Into the Woods as The Witch alongside her child.

In September 2026, Salonga became the first Filipina to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, dedicated in front of the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. Continuing to tour internationally through concerts and recordings, her historic achievement places her among an elite group of artists whose work has redefined Asian representation on the global cultural landscape.