She was an award-winning Broadway star - but still struggled to land roles

She was an award-winning Broadway star - but still struggled to land roles49 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleYvette TanSingaporeGetty ImagesSalonga is seen as a national treasure in her native PhilippinesThe year was 1991 and Lea Salonga already had won a Tony for her performance as the lead character in Miss Saigon - but she was still struggling to find another role."My agent would be submitting me for auditions, [but people were still] like 'No, we won't see her because she's Asian. They were unable to imagine someone like me playing [those] roles," Salonga told the BBC.But today it's that scenario that feels unimaginable, in an era when acts like BTS and Blackpink are dominating Billboard charts, shows like Shogun and Squid Games are sweeping the Emmys, and even Asian-led musicals are finding success on Broadway.Salonga herself has since become a global Broadway icon. Revered as a national treasure in her native Philippines, she is also immortalised as the singing voices for not one but two Disney princesses, Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and the lead in Mulan. But as her early struggles show, her path to fame was far from easy. The role that propelled her to fame - Eponine in Les Misérables - was only possible because she was able to skip the audition process entirely. "Because the producers of Miss Saigon also produced Les Mis, [I received] an invitation to join… so I do appreciate that I had advocates in the office… people who were like 'we gotta get her in'," said Salonga.Even then, Salonga, who was the first Asian actress to land a principal part in the acclaimed musical, says her role was very much an "experiment". "When I was cast in it, the show had already been running for five years. When they cast me, it was in January, which is usually a slow time. [So] I think the producers felt [there was] minimal risk," she said. "I think I was the only person of colour in that e...