Photo Flash: Lea Salonga Is New UN Ambassador In Action Against Hunger

Being named new UN goodwill ambassador in action against hunger may probably be Tony winner Lea Salonga's biggest role so far in her more than 30 year illustrious career in theatre, film and recording. 

Ms. Salonga, alongside Italian actor Raoul Bova, Canadian singer Céline Dion and American actress Susan Sarandon, was named new UN-FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) goodwill ambassador by Director-General Jacques Diouf on the occasion of the World Food Day last Friday, October 15, 2010 at the UN-FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. 

"I sang 'Imagine,' after Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program, spoke about having a dream of succeeding in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. It was an appropriate pairing, one that I hadn't anticipated... I performed the song in the context of dreaming and imagining a world without hunger. Given that there are almost one billion people suffering from chronic hunger and malnutrition all over the world (many of whom are from the Philippines), singing it took a whole different meaning for me," Ms. Salonga told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

"There is work to be done in the effort to alleviate world hunger. I'd like to focus on our country (The Philippines) to see what solutions we can come up with," she added.

Ms. Salonga will fly next to New York City to star in a couple of staged readings of "American Idiot" associate producers Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione's Broadway Bound musical "Allegiance" on Monday, October 25, 2010 at the Julia Miles Theatre.  "Allegiance" tells the story of one family's struggles and triumphs during a dark chapter in U.S. history -- the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

"Allegiance" top bills Ms. Salonga, George Takei, Telly Leung, Allie Trimm, Paolo Montalban among others. The show is expected to open on Broadway in 2012.

AP Photos