David Chiem

David Phu An Chiem, better known as David Chiem, is a Vietnamese-born Australian actor, author and businessman.He is the first Asian to have a major role in a mainstream Australian television drama series, Butterfly Island. He has written a number of books, one of them, Only the Heart, has been used as a set text in Australian schools.

Born in Rach Gia, Vietnam, David and his family fled Vietnam and arrived in Australia as refugees in 1978.

He graduated from University of Technology, Sydney where he received a BA in communications, and earned a master's degree in film-making from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

When he was 14 years old, he was selected to play a starring role on "Butterfly Island" and became the first Asian to be given a starring role on mainstream Australian television drama series.

David Chiem began his career in the film and television industry in Australia at the age of 14 as an actor and played roles in more than 10 film and television shows, 5 Australian theatre productions, and 3 radio plays.

He was the lead actor in Butterfly Island (1983) and Silk Dreams, a 1988 AFTRS production. He also acted in Sons and Daughters (1985).

He founded a company, MindChamps, that focuses on early-childhood education in Singapore.

David is also a published author, and has written two novels with Brian Caswell, Only the Heart and The Full Story. The books have been nominated or shortlisted for a number of Australian literary awards, including New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.Only the Heart has been used as a set text for many years in Australian schools.

Other books by Chiem include the parenting and educational book Deeper than the Ocean, and its follow-up The Art of Communicating With Your Child as well as Pre-school Parenting Secrets – Talking with the Sky. He also co-authored The 3-Mind Revolution an educational psychology book with Caswell.

David is the winner of the Entrepreneur Award 2019, given by the Australian Chamber of Commerce Singapore (AustCham) to a person/company who has successfully established their own business in Singapore. AustCham is an organisation which fosters, and provides a forum for, business links between Australia and Singapore. Essentially, AustCham is the Australian business community in Singapore.