Birthday 1975-12-25
Real Name Zhang Yu Hua
Main Occupation Singer/actress/model
Biography
Celest Chong is a Singaporean actress, singer, and former cover model.
Biography
Early life
Chong is the youngest child of four other daughters. Her mother was from an orchid flower family and her dad was a blacksmith. She started working at the age of twelve at a bookstore, packing boxes.
Chong won her first singing competition at the age of eight at her school, singing Nobody's Child [disambiguation needed]. Ever since she fell in love with singing, becoming a wedding singer with a pianist.
She wrote her first song at age eleven about a Chow Yun-fat film that had touched her deeply. Chong started stage acting when she was thirteen and was president of her school's drama club, which she had founded. She acted, wrote and directed some of the plays she did at school.
Before post-secondary school, Chong volunteered to help and tutor disabled children through an organization called Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore. She studied in Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Yishun Junior College before moving on to the National University of Singapore where she majored in English and economics.
Career
Chong was spotted by a talent scout at the age of fourteen and began her career as a model. Later she joined Malcolm McLaren's now defunct girl-band, Jungk.
Chong began her acting as a secretary in Eric Khoo's Stories about Love performing a Turkish inspired belly-dance. She also sang the show's theme song, Sorry, My Love. Later she moved on to Channel 5's sitcom, Making Love, where she played a sultry receptionist named Pamela.
Chong also started acting when she played the character of a child social worker in the Channel 8 television drama, You Light Up My Life. She sang the theme songs for the new show, which ended up on Singapore's top music charts for four weeks.
Chong then sign with Universal Music to record her debut solo album in 2001, Belong to Myself. Chong found the show meaningful and chose to continue with it rather than going back to New York to sign with an indie music label. After three months on Channel 8, Chong was voted No. 3 for Most Ideal Female Artiste on Mediaworks TV Station.
In December 2002, her self-titled second album was released in Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
In 2005, Chong left MediaCorp and Singapore for Taiwan for a stint in the Taiwanese entertainment industry where she released her third album, Snowflakes. While in Taiwan, she also acted as a reporter in C'est La Vie starring Taiwanese actor Lin Youwei. After staying for one and a half year in Taiwan, she moved to Guiyang, China to film Acalea Blossoms in 2009. While in China she recorded her fourth album, Little Happiness in 2007. After two years in China, Chong moved back to Singapore due to a family emergency.
Chong has appeared on dozens of magazine covers including Her World, Vogue, Elle, Citta Bella, FHM etc. She has modeled around the world for many different print advertisements. Chong was voted as one of the Top 100 most beautiful women in the world by FHM and The Sexiest Woman in Singapore by International Media with her 5 S's-Sunshine Sweet, Smile, Sexy & Song… She was also voted No. 1 for the Singapore Most Sexy Women's Survey on Citta Bella.
Chong's former singing career includes being the lead singer in an all-girl band ‘Jungk’ produced by Malcom McLaren. She also sang "Voice of an Angel" for McLaren. On National Day she sang "Stand Up for Singapore". She was also the lead singer for a song called "Earth Song" regarding environmental awareness. For the film Stories About Love she sang the title track "Sorry My Love". For the drama series You Light Up My Life she sang the theme song "Distance" and landed it as the No. 1 hit song on Yes 933 Pop Charts. Chong was voted No. 1 for Most Captivating Voice on Singapore Press Holdings, Asiaone.com.
Feb 20, 2009
'I was insulted in Taiwan'
'It was inevitable that I was bullied. Everyone became territorial - they think that a foreigner is vying for a piece of their livelihood,' said Celest Chong. -- PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER
REMEMBER Celest Chong?
Modelling, acting, singing, radio DJ - the 36-year-old has done it all.
Leggy Singaporean Celest was a regular fixture on the local entertainment scene until she left Mediacorp in 2005.
After her departure, she dipped her feet into the Taiwanese entertainment industry - and got a real shock.
In an interview with The New Paper, the naturally-tanned actress recounted the venomous remarks she had to put up with when she moved to Taiwan.
'All sorts of verbal abuse were hurled at me. I've been told things like 'you're so dark!' and 'you can't even speak Mandarin well'. It was a real culture shock.
'But you learn how to deal with them. You have to retort with sarcastic remarks like 'I'm ugly but not as poor as you.' Then you suddenly find yourself a best friend in the person who yelled at you first.
'It was inevitable that I was bullied. Everyone became territorial - they think that a foreigner is vying for a piece of their livelihood.'
Despite the negativity, she managed some limited success.
There, she released her third album, Snowflakes (2005), and played a reporter in C'est La Vie (2006) which also starred Taiwanese actor Lin Youwei.
After 1 1/2 years, Celest packed her bags for China, where she spent two years involved in several projects.
She moved back to Singapore last January due to a family emergency.
Viewers can soon see her on television again as she stars in Channel 5's new English drama serial, Red Thread, which starts on April 7.
The single actress also revealed that she has been reading Hollywood scripts, but does not want to 'you know, say two lines and die', and fade into oblivion'.
She also said she has been offered a hosting gig on an online Canadian variety show, but wants to deliberate on it.
Celest is in no hurry to accept more projects, and she just wants to 'take it easy'.
Rumored rumors with NoNo Singapore actress burst into marriage
2014-08-15
Singaporean female singer Zhang Yuhua came to Taiwan to release an album in 2001. After that, she released four albums such as "Myself" and "Little Happiness", but they did not cause widespread response. What is impressive is that she has worked with The comedian NoNo has a scandal, but neither party has confirmed it positively. It was reported today (15) that Zhang Yuhua, who had faded out of the screen in recent years, had secretly married a Canadian husband in 2012, and the two are now living in Toronto.
According to the "Apple Daily" website, Zhang Yuhua's "A Dou Zai" husband is not small and has a 1/4 Chinese descent. He has also worked for Time magazine and CNN, and now he has founded a digital media company. And Zhang Yuhua, 38 years old this year, briefly became popular with the song "So So What?", and also filmed idol dramas "Fall in Love with Little Man" and "Flying High", but she has no new works in recent years. Concentrate on staying with her husband as a good wife in Canada.
