Lea Salonga, the Tony Award-winning Broadway star and “Disney legend”, will become the first Filipino to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
She will receive the Walk of Fame’s 2,855th star on Sept 4, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Walk of Fame, announced.
“Lea Salonga is a true trailblazer whose extraordinary talent and decades-long career have inspired audiences around the world,” Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez said in a statement.
“Her achievement is a milestone, not only for Lea, but (also) for the Filipino community and for generations of artistes who will follow in her footsteps,” Martinez added.
Salonga’s career spans more than four decades.
She performed in theatres and appeared in a string of B-movies in the Philippines in the 1980s, before beating out more than 1,500 others for the role of Kim in Miss Saigon in 1988 at the age of 17.
The musical, inspired by Puccini’s Madama Butterfly set during the final years of the Vietnam War, catapulted her to international stardom.
Her powerful, dramatic performance – which gave the musical’s sweeping spectacle an intimate human centre – earned her the Olivier Award in 1990 and the Tony Award a year later.
Salonga later became the first Asian performer to play the lovelorn street waif Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway in 1993. She returned to the musical as the tragic figure of Fantine in its 2006 revival.
In 2026, she played Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables: The World Tour Spectacular, which ran in Singapore from March to May.
Her other Broadway credits include Once On This Island, Here Lies Love, Allegiance, Flower Drum Song and, more recently, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends with American actress Bernadette Peters.
Salonga is also known to generations of Disney fans as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan and Mulan II. The Walt Disney Company named her a “Disney legend” for her work.
Her screen credits include Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Yellow Rose, with voicework for Netflix hit KPop Demon Hunters, Centaurworld and Little Demon.
She also voices the lead villain in DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming fantasy film Forgotten Island.
Salonga has performed in concerts around the world, including at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Sydney Opera House, Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Her other honours include a Time100 Impact Award and the Gold House Gold Legend Award.