Professional Career
See also: Hi-5 (Australian TV series)de Leon 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, where she studied dance, drama, and voice for a number of years while making professional auditions in her spare time.
de Leon also trained with the Australian College of Entertainment in Castle Hill, New South Wales. 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. She appeared in two musicals in Australia mounted by the Macintosh company, Miss Saigon and Rent. She stayed with the cast of Rent (where she was an understudy for the role of Mimi) until being cast in Hi-5.
Read more about this topic: Kathleen De Leon Jones
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