Do you know who is Kathleen de Leon?

If your answer is No! Well, I was too, until I saw her wear the Philippine Flag in one of the episodes in Hi-5 (an Australian children’s musical group formed in 1998 which is associated with the children’s television series of the same name). Hi-5 has won five ARIA awards for “Best Children’s Album” (in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004)[1], won three consecutive Australian Logie Awards (the Australian awards for television performance and production recognition) for “Most Outstanding Children’s Preschool Program” in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

My son loves to watch Hi-5 right now, and who will not love them? I suggest you to watch one episode of Hi-5 to judge for yourself. Back to Kathleen, when I first saw her I didn’t knew that she was a Filipina, I thought that she was just another Asian. She has the prettiest face among the other members of the group and the camera loves to focus at her all the time.

This is her profile from Wikipedia

She was born September 1, 1977 in Manila, Philippines. She moved to Australia with her family in 1978. Kathleen started singing and dancing at an early age. She taught herself to play the guitar, prompting her parents to enroll her in The McDonald College, an exclusive performing arts school in Sydney, Australia. She was awarded both the Roberta Armstrong and Kelloggs Scholarships to study at the school and she studied dance, drama, and voice there for a number of years while playing the audition circuit in her spare time.

De Leon also trained with the Australian College of Entertainment in Castle Hill, New South Wales.[6] She also competed in the Australian television talent show New Faces – where she came third in the grand final – and appeared on various Australian television shows, including Heartbreak High, Ridgey Didge, Swap Shop, and the At Home Show with John Mangos.


It was while she was performing at a fundraiser for The McDonald College that de Leon was discovered by one of the directors for the Cameron Macintosh company. De Leon appeared in two musicals in Australia mounted by the Macintosh company – Miss Saigon and Rent – and stayed with the cast of Rent (where she was an understudy for the role of Mimi) until Hi-5 came along.


She was married to Daniel Jones who was was a member of the famous Australian pop band Savage Garden.  In July, 2007, it was announced that Kathleen was leaving Hi-5 permanently to focus on raising her child. She also announced that she would still be interested in working on television if an opportunity existed in Sydney so she could remain close to her family. Kathleen is the first of all the original members to permanently leave Hi-5, the others being Tim Harding, Charli Delaney, Nathan Foley and Kellie Crawford.

I am so proud of her.  I found out that Charice Pempengco is not the first person to be included in a TV series abroad.  Bravo to all Filipino talent abroad. 

what ever happens in life we should always remember to live life to the fullest