Lea Salonga Set to Share the Stage With Angelina Jolie at the 2026 ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit
Broadway icon Lea Salonga is taking her voice to a different kind of stage this week. GMA Entertainment reported on Sunday, November 8, that the Tony Award winner is among the featured speakers at the 2026 ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit, which will be held in Manila on Wednesday, November 11.
The one-day gathering brings together leaders from government, business, civil society and other sectors to talk about economic development and inclusive growth across Southeast Asia. Lea will be joined on the speaker list by Hollywood actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie, beauty queen and entrepreneur Kylie Verzosa, fashion designer Rajo Laurel and Trade Secretary Cristina Roque, among others.
Based on the official summit agenda, Lea’s segment is an interview titled “In unison: Amplifying every voice in ASEAN,” with ANC “Beyond the Exchange” anchor Rico Hizon as interviewer. The session will look back on her career from Manila to Broadway and, through conversation and song, discuss how the region’s creativity and culture can become a source of livelihood for more artists, not just a source of pride.
Angelina, meanwhile, will appear in a talk titled “From memory to possibility: Cambodia, courage and the power of staying” alongside Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh, who survived the Khmer Rouge years. Rappler noted that the two worked together on the 2017 film First They Killed My Father, which Jolie directed.
Lea’s spot at the summit caps another big year for the singer-actress. She rose to international fame as Kim in Miss Saigon, the role that earned her the 1991 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and later appeared in Les Misérables, Allegiance and Once on This Island. Disney fans also know her as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and of Mulan.
Earlier this year, she became the first Filipino to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the 2,855th star on the landmark under the Live Performance category. She has also been vocal in pushing for Filipino artists and for better representation in the global entertainment industry.
The summit is organized by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and centers on turning economic uncertainty into opportunity across the region.
For a performer who once carried Filipino talent to the world’s biggest stages, this week’s appearance is a chance to speak up for the next generation of Southeast Asian artists right at home.
