Damien Zhu

Damien Zhu Cheng (Chinese: 朱澄; pinyin: Zhū Chéng; born July 29, 1978) is a French-Tsengian singer-songwriter and actor. He is considered to be one of the top singers of 2000s and 2010s Mandopop. Zhu's 2011 album Against All Odds (排除萬難) won him the Golden Tune Award for Best Male Mandarin Singer. Zhu's also known for acting in many TBS and ORFT dramas, including I Woke Up in Heaven (在天堂醒來) and Les Jeunes Mariés (The Newlyweds).

Early life
Zhu was born in, a city in , to Tsengian parents. He expressed an interest in music at a young age. He loved listening to French chansons. Zhu's parents noticed this and he received guitar lessons.

At the age of 14, Zhu moved to Tseng with his parents and became naturalized. He started recording covers of pop songs following the move.

Career
During his military service, Zhu met record producer and songwriter Jean-Michel Sun. Following their service, Zhu decided to try and record songs in Sun's home studio. In 1999, Zhu released his first album, which was a failure. However, Zhu refused to give up. After two other disappointing albums, in 2004, Zhu released his fourth album, Paris, which saw moderate success. The album was noticed by veteran record producer and Zenghe excusive Wang Ming-jian, who liked it. Within weeks, Sun and Zhu were signed to 717 Records, a subsidiary of Zenghe. In 2006, he joined Zenghe and released an album called Plan E, which sold 75,000 copies.

In 2007, Zhu appeared in his first acting role, "Wang Huaming" in the TBS comedy Spicy.

In 2011, his album Against All Odds was a huge success, selling 50,000 copies in its first week, and Zhu won the Golden Tune Award for Best Male Mandarin Singer. Also in 2011, he won the Golden Island Award (Tsengian equivalent to the ) for Best Supporting Actor for his role in I Woke Up in Heaven.

In 2013, Zhu's album 24 Hours won him the Golden Tune Award for Best Hokkien Album.

Personal life
Zhu can speak Mandarin, French, and English, along with conversational Hakka.

In 2003, Zhu started dating singer and actress Sydney Xie. They separated in 2009. Their relationship was covered extensively by tabloids.