Former Hong Kong Disney princess ready to sing again at a sold-out concert of show tunes from Miss Saigon, Les Misérables and more
- In 2010, Crisel Consunji left her Hong Kong Disneyland job and embraced a life and career off the stage, until friends convinced her to answer a casting call
- Her role as a Filipino domestic helper in film Still Human reignited her passion for performing – on June 12, she will headline a sold-out show tunes concert
For three years, Crisel Consunji was a Dreams Come True-singing princess, entertaining tens of thousands of visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland every day.
In 2010, heeding her parents’ advice, the Philippine-born performer left the theme park to become an early childhood educator. With a fulfilling career, and having co-founded a holistic education centre with her husband in 2015, she was content to stay out of the limelight.
For a while, anyway.
“I started acting on stage from the age of 10, when I joined [theatre company] Repertory Philippines in Manila,” the now 37-year-old says in a foam-tiled playroom and coffee lounge in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island that is teeming with toddlers. “Then, answering an audition for Disney, I had the chance to work outside the Philippines for the first time and I loved it.
“But I never believed that it was really viable for me to pursue a long-term career in the arts. I told myself I would have to sacrifice too much just to wait for a chance to perform.”