Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo was born on July 25, 1988, in Santa Cruz, Manila, the Philippines to Delfin Geronimo, a retired PLDT employee, and Divina Tua, who ran a beauty salon in their house. She is the third of four children. She started singing publicly at age two. At the age of four, she was accompanied by her mother to join auditions for different television programs. Geronimo became part of the shows "Penpen De Sarapen" (4–6 years old), "Ang TV" (7–8 years old) and "NEXT" (8–9 years old). She has also played as an extra in the movie "Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa" (1995). In between auditions, Geronimo would perform at shopping malls and hotel lounges. Geronimo, then age 7, was one of the performers during the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II. Geronimo at an early age joined different singing contests the first of which was Tuklas Talino sponsored by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).