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19 Facts About Jacintha Abisheganaden

1.

Jacintha Abisheganaden is a founding member of the performance company TheatreWorks.

2.

Jacintha Abisheganaden was a big fan of Brazilian bandleader Sergio Mendes during her upbringing and she has been quoted as saying that she was "obsessed" with Barbra Streisand.

3.

Jacintha Abisheganaden was educated at Marymount Convent School, Raffles Institution and the National University of Singapore, where she graduated with an honours degree in English.

4.

Jacintha Abisheganaden then went to America where she studied creative writing at Harvard University.

5.

Jacintha Abisheganaden first came to prominence in 1976 when she won a local television talent contest, Talentime, singing jazz.

6.

Jacintha Abisheganaden continued this winning streak in 1981, when she nabbed the Best Female Performer award for her role as Nurse Angamuthu in General Hospital at the Drama Festival.

7.

Jacintha Abisheganaden acted in the Experimental Theatre Club's Terry Rex for the 1982 Singapore Drama Festival.

8.

In 1985, Jacintha Abisheganaden returned from the States temporarily to act in TheatreWorks' Love and Belacan, three playlets co-starring Lim Kay Tong.

9.

In 1986, Jacintha Abisheganaden returned from the States permanently to record her second album, and played a series of live jazz shows at The Saxophone.

10.

In 1987, Jacintha Abisheganaden was voted Best Performer at the fourth ASEAN Song Festival and released her second album Tropicana.

11.

Jacintha Abisheganaden performed "Come Back to Me Tonight", which Lee composed for the event.

12.

Jacintha Abisheganaden performed with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta.

13.

In 1990, Jacintha Abisheganaden acted as Sheila Rani in TheatreWorks' revival of Lim Chor Pee's play, Mimi Fan.

14.

In 1991, Jacintha Abisheganaden acted in Eric Khoo's short film August as an adulterous wife and released her third album Dramamama on Japan's Wave Records.

15.

In 1993, Jacintha Abisheganaden sang the lead role of Grizabella in Cats when the hit musical opened in Singapore.

16.

The retrospective collection "Best of Jacintha Abisheganaden" was released in 2008.

17.

In 2004, Jacintha Abisheganaden performed her own cabaret jazz show, The Angina Monologues at the Old Parliament House, Singapore.

18.

In 2006, Jacintha Abisheganaden served as a judge on the second season of Singapore Idol.

19.

In May 1998, Jacintha Abisheganaden married former The Straits Times journalist Koh Boon Pin in Bali.