Manting was born in
New York City,
New York, and raised on
Long Island. Her father is
Chinese-Indonesian and her mother, from
Fuzhou,
Fujian, China. As a young child, Manting had her sights on what she wanted to become. It was either to be the first Asian-woman President of the United States or a singer. The event that changed her life was when
Disney released
Aladdin. It was the renowned song "
A Whole New World" that made her choose the latter. She would sing the song and watch the movie every day for the entire school year. Manting entered the
Metropolitan Opera Children's Choir at the age of 10 and was chosen by then music director, Elena Doria, to be one of the children singing in Puccini's
La Boheme and later
Khovanshchina, a Russian opera. It was then, Manting realized that she belonged to the stage. == Career beginnings ==