Lea Salonga

Background

Maria Lea Salonga was born on February 22, 1971 in Manila, Philippines. Lea’s father, Feliciano Genuino Salonga was the owner of a shipping company and her mother was Maria Ligaya Alcantara. Lea spent her childhood in Angeles City before moving back to the major Filipino city of Manila. She grew up with one brother named Gerard Salonga.

In 1988, she attended the O.B. Montessori Center in Greenhills, San Juan where she finished her secondary education. She also took part in most of her school's stage productions. During her auditions for the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, she was studying Biology at the University of Ateneo de Manila. She also went to the University of the Philippines where they had a program to teach musically talented children about stage movements and music.

Marriage, Husband, and Children

Lea Salonga married Robert Charles Chien in 2004. Her husband is a Chinese-Japanese managing director of an entertainment company in California. She met him when she was performing in Flower Drum Song. They have a son together, Nic Chien, who was born in 2006. Nic made his stage debut in the musical Matilda in 2017.

Her husband, Robert is the cousin of one of Lea’s former castmates. Robert and Lea did not hit it off initially when they met. When she met Robert, she had recently been separated from her former boyfriend a few days before and was not looking for a new relationship. The next time she saw him, she invited him for dinner. After many dates, they started their committed relationship. Two years after dating, they announced their wedding. When she told her mom that she got engaged, her mom said that she knew Rob was serious and the right man for her daughter

Lea loves to tell the world that Robert is very supportive and has been a major force in raising their son. Whenever she is traveling for work, Robert takes care of their son. In January 2026, Lea confirmed that she and Robert had been separated for a while, and that they remain amicable co-parents to Nic.

Her first notable relationship before Robert was with Richie Grau. After they broke up, she started dating Michael Lee in the year 2000. She met Robert soon after she got separated from Lee and found the love of her life. She said that Robert is a combination of everything she wanted in all of her previous boyfriends. According to Lea, he is caring, affectionate, family-oriented, comfortable, great looking and has a great sense of humor.