Kathleen de Leon Jones: Difference between revisions
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|name=Kathleen de Leon Jones | |name=Kathleen de Leon Jones | ||
|DOB=1 September 1977 (age 48) | |DOB=1 September 1977 (age 48) | ||
|Birthplace = Manila, Philippines | |||
|Nationality=Filipino-Australian | |Nationality=Filipino-Australian | ||
|Gender=Female | |Gender=Female | ||
|Member= [[Hi-5 (Australia)]] | |Member= [[Hi-5 (Australia)]] | ||
|Segment= [[Puzzles and Patterns]] | |Segment= [[Puzzles and Patterns]] | ||
|timeActive = 1998- | |timeActive = 1998-2006 | ||
|First = [[Fantasy]] | |First = [[Fantasy]] | ||
|Latest = [[Feasts and Festivals]] | |Latest = [[Feasts and Festivals]] | ||
Latest revision as of 05:56, 26 February 2026
Kathleen de Leon Jones (née de Leon; born 1 September 1977) is a Filipino-Australian actress, dancer, and singer. She was an original member of the ARIA Award-winning Australian children's musical group Hi-5 from 1998 to 2007 and left nine years with the group. She had her last stage show in April 2006, and would remain doing promotional appearances until the end of 2006 before officially retiring in July 2007.
Biography
Early life and career
Kathleen de Leon was born in Manila on 1 September 1977 and moved to Australia less than a year later with her parents. She is the oldest of three daughters; her two younger sisters, Jennifer and Melanie were born in Australia. The family spent the majority of de Leon's childhood in Sydney.
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 the inner western suburbs of North Strathfield. 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, such as 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 Christine Anu's understudy for the role of Mimi) and was dance captain for the musical.
Hi-5 (1998-2007)
In 1998, de Leon auditioned for a children's pop musical group that would eventually become Hi-5. She featured with a puppet named Jup-Jup, voiced originally by co-cast member Tim Harding. de Leon and Jup-Jup's segment of the show, Puzzles and Patterns, promoted and educated children on problem-solving and mathematics.
In July 2007, after taking a year long indefinite hiatus, de Leon left Hi-5 permanently to focus on raising her daughter. de Leon stated that she was still interested in working on television, but only if an opportunity existed in her then-home of Sydney so she could remain close to her family. de Leon became the first of all the original members to permanently leave Hi-5. She was eventually replaced by Sun Park.
After Hi-5
In March of 2008, de Leon gave out interviews for Bindi Irwin for Irwin's now defunct Myer fashion line "Bindi Wear International".
In 2009, de Leon became a contestant for the first series of the Australian Celebrity Masterchef, where she would be placed 15th alongside Peter FitzSimons.
Personal Life
On 30 April 2000 while at the 42nd Annual TV Week Logie Awards, she met her future husband Daniel Jones. At the time, Jones was a member and instrumentalist of the Australian pop band Savage Garden.
In July 2003, after more than three years of dating, Kathleen organised a '70s themed party for Daniel's 30th birthday at the GPO Bar in Brisbane. However, it was Kathleen who got the biggest surprise when a teary-eyed Jones professed his love for de Leon and proposed in front of more than a hundred people, including his shocked parents.
On 9 October 2005, de Leon and Jones got married at Avica Weddings and Resort on the Gold Coast in Queensland. De Leon's wedding gown was designed by Bora of Bora Couture, while de Leon's friend designed a set of pearls for the back of the gown and diamonds for the front. Jones composed a song for his bride called "Love Is Enough."
On 25 February 2006, de Leon confirmed that she was four months pregnant. The couple's firstborn daughter, Mikayla, was born on 26 July 2006 in Sydney, and the second daughter, Kiera, was born on 30 October 2010 in Los Angeles.
In late 2009, de Leon, Jones and their daughter moved to the United States, first moving to Los Angeles, California before settling in to Henderson, Nevada. By October 2016, she ended up becoming an American citizen. In November 2016, while in the process of selling some properties in Surfers Paradise, she stated that they would one day look to move back to the Gold Coast. They returned home to live on the Gold Coast in 2023.