Key Points
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Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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“There are singers who reach notes. Lea reaches hearts and souls,” Brandy said at the ceremony.
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Ming-Na Wen, the voice of Mulan, and Glee actor Darren Criss also honored Salonga.
Filipina superstar Lea Salonga has earned her rightful place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Salonga, who provided the singing voices of Aladdin‘s Princess Jasmine and Mulan‘s Mulan, was honored on Friday with the 2,855th star, located on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Pantages Theatre.
Guest speakers at the ceremony included Cinderella actress Brandy, Mulan star Ming-Na Wen, and Darren Criss, who once performed a Disney medley with Salonga to honor composer Alan Menken.
Lea Salonga and Brandy on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Credit: VALERIE MACON / AFP via Getty
“Lea Salonga’s voice has never been only a voice. It has been a doorway, a mirror, a home,” praised Brandy, who recently sang “A Whole New World” with the Tony winner for Disney Princess: The Ultimate Concert Celebration. “There are singers who reach notes. Lea reaches hearts and souls. Through Jasmine and Mulan, she did more than give princesses their songs. She gave children who had been waiting outside the fairy tale a way inside.”
Salonga, who was born in the Philippines, became the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award in 1991 with Miss Saigon.
“Her history is filled with firsts, but first is not the deepest word in her story. The deepest word is after,” said Brandy. “Who could dream after her? Who could enter after her? Who could walk through because she left the doorway open.”
Wen, star of 1998’s animated classic Mulan, described Salonga as “someone fierce, beautiful inside and out, and determined. With a voice that soars into people’s hearts, you sing with such honesty and give every song your whole soul.”
Criss, who is half- Filipino, began his speech by telling the crowd that Disney films shaped his childhood. He then added that it was a dream come true to form a friendship with Salonga as a young adult in his 20s.
Princess Jasmine from ‘Aladdin’ (1992); Mulan in ‘Mulan’ (1998)
Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock;disney
“I am bragging when I say that I have had the distinct pleasure of spending a few late nights out with her at piano bars in New York City,” he said, “belting out ‘Les Mis’ and, yes, of course, ‘A Whole New World.'”
Salonga, the first Filipina to have a star on the Walk of Fame, described the honor as “surreal” and recalled her own fairytale journey to Hollywood.
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“I started working when I was very young, and I certainly didn’t have some grand plan for how any of this was supposed to unfold,” she said. “I just knew that I loved doing it. This career has taken me to places I never imagined I would go, introduced me to some extraordinary people, and allowed me to keep doing what I love.”
Salonga continued, “I hope that someday a young Filipino kid comes to Hollywood, sees my name and thinks, `Oh, maybe I can get here too.'”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly