Lauren Bacall in "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996). Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in The Bronx, New York, the only child of Natalie ("née" Weinstein; 1901–1977), a secretary who later legally changed her surname to Bacal, and William Perske (1889–1982), who worked in sales. Both her parents were Jewish. According to Bacall, her mother emigrated from Iași, the Kingdom of Romania, through Ellis Island, and her father was born in New Jersey to parents who were born in Valozhyn, a significant center of Jewish life, in present-day Belarus, then in the Russian Empire. Soon after her
Joan Almedilla Joan Almedilla Joan Richelle C. Almedilla (born September 19, 1973) is a film and theater actress, composer, and singer who has starred as Kim in the Broadway musical "Miss Saigon". Almedilla was born to Agapito and Rosario, whose roots are from Bohol and Cebu in the Philippines. According to an interview by "AsianWeek" on June 1, 2000, Almedilla, who wanted to sing, did not want to be an actress. As a child, she enjoyed competing in vocal talent contests in the Philippines. Almedilla moved to the United States in 1993 to pursue a college education and studied voice. Her first