Desmond Chiam is an Australian actor best known for his role as Wyatt Cole on '' Reef Break,'' General Riga on ''

The Shannara Chronicles ''The Shannara Chronicles'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. It is an adaptation of ''The Sword of Shannara'' trilogy of fantasy novels by Terry Brooks. It follows three heroes as they pro ...

'' and Dovich on ''

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' is an American television miniseries created by Malcolm Spellman for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Sam Wilson / Falcon and Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier. ...

.''

Early life and education

Chiam was born to parents of

Chinese Singaporean Chinese Singaporeans () are Singaporeans of Chinese descent. Chinese Singaporeans constitute 75.9% of the Singaporean citizen population according to the official census, making them the largest ethnic group among them. As early as the 10th ...

descent. As a child he spent a third of the year in Singapore as his father often worked there. He holds a law degree from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

and also a master's degree in screenwriting from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Career

Chiam first pursued a career as a lawyer after he graduated from the University of Melbourne. Unsatisfied with a law career after three months, he decided to pursue more creative fields in

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

and acting. He first started in short films in Australia before eventually appearing in Australian television in series such as ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' and ''Better Man''. He eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Chiam has had roles in multiple American television series including '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' and ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

'', and was also in ''

Con Man A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

'', a webseries by

Alan Tudyk Alan Wray Tudyk ( ;; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' with Sandra Bullock (2000), ''A Knight's Tale'' with Heath Ledger (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' with Vince Vaughn (2004) ...

. In February 2017, he joined the main cast of Spike TV's ''

'' (the series was formerly on MTV) in the show's second season where he played the villain, General Riga. Following the Shannara Chronicles, he was cast as Jethro, boyfriend to Carly played by

Kelli Berglund Kelli Berglund (born February 9, 1996) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Bree Davenport in the Disney XD series ''Lab Rats'', and its spinoff '' Lab Rats: Elite Force''. In 2014 she starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie ...

, in the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

series ''

Now Apocalypse ''Now Apocalypse'' is an American comedy television series that aired for one season of ten episodes from March 10 to May 12, 2019, on Starz. The series was written by Gregg Araki and Karley Sciortino. Araki also was director and executive produc ...

'' starring

Avan Jogia Avan Tudor Jogia (; born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor. He first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film '' A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story'' (2006). After moving to the United States in his late te ...

Gregg Araki Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film ''Kaboom (film), Kaboom'' (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm. Ear ...

. Following the series, he joined the cast of the Manila-set film ''Empty by Design'' working alongside friends

Chris Pang Christopher Pang (born 29 December 1984) is an Australian actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Colin Khoo in ''Crazy Rich Asians'' (2018) and Lee Takkam in '' Tomorrow, When the War Began'' (2010). Early life Pang was born in ...

Osric Chau Osric Chau (; born July 20, 1986) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Kevin Tran in the CW series ''Supernatural'', Vogel in the BBC America series ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', and Ryan Choi in the TV shows set in t ...

Yoshi Sudarso Yoshua "Yoshi" Sudarso (born April 12, 1989) is an Indonesian-American actor. Biography Sudarso was born in Surabaya, Indonesia to Indonesian parents of Chinese and Japanese descent. His family moved to Cerritos, California, when he was nine ...

, and Andrea Walter. In December 2018, he was cast as the male lead Wyatt Cole in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and M6's 2019 summer crime series '' Reef Break'' opposite

Poppy Montgomery Poppy Montgomery (born Poppy Petal Emma Elizabeth Deveraux Donahue; June 19,1972) is an Australian-born actress. She played FBI agent Samantha Spade on the CBS mystery drama ''Without a Trace'' from 2002 to 2009 and played Detective Carrie Well ...

. Following Reef Break's cancellation, Chiam joined the cast of the

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

series ''

'' as Dovich. Following The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Chiam was cast as Nick Zhao in ''With Love,''

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

’s one-hour romantic comedy series from

Gloria Calderón Kellett Gloria Calderón Kellett is an award-winning writer, producer, director and actress. She is best known as the executive producer, co-creator, co-showrunner, director, and actress on the critically acclaimed sitcom '' One Day at a Time''. Her ...

and her GloNation Studios and Amazon Studios. Chiam has also made a foray into the world of voice acting and can be heard as the English voice of Werewolf Cookie in popular game Cookie Run Kingdom. Desmond will be seen alongside

Alexander Hodge Alexander Hodge is an Australian actor. He is best known for portraying Andrew on the HBO series '' Insecure''. Hodge has acted on ''Black Lightning'', '' Resort to Love'', and '' Joy Ride''. Early life and education Hodge was born and raised in ...

, Sherry Austria,

Stephanie Hsu Stephanie Ann Hsu (born November 25, 1990) is an American actress. She originated the theatrical roles of Christine Canigula in ''Be More Chill'' and Karen the Computer in ''The SpongeBob Musical'', performing in the Broadway runs of both. On sc ...

Ashley Park Ashley Park is a private residential neighbourhood at Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Its central feature was a grandiose English country house, at times enjoying associated medieval manorial rights, which stood on the site, with alterations, betw ...

and

Sabrina Wu Sabrina Wu (born ) is an American writer, comedian, and actor. Wu's stand-up comedy has been recognized by Just for Laughs, Vulture, and ''Variety''. They gained wider prominence as a lead actor in the Adele Lim film ''Joy Ride''. Life and car ...

Adele Lim Adele Lim is a Malaysian American film and television producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a screenwriter for the 2018 movie ''Crazy Rich Asians (film), Crazy Rich Asians''. She has given support to young writers as mentor and speaker f ...

's upcoming directorial debut. He is also slated to be seen in Netflix's adaptation of Partner Track featuring

Arden Cho Arden Lim Cho (born August 16, 1985) is an American actress, singer and model known for portraying Kira Yukimura in the 2011 MTV television series ''Teen Wolf'' and Ingrid Yun in the 2022 Netflix television series ''Partner Track''. Early life ...

Personal life

Chiam was

CLEO Cleo may refer to: Entertainment * ''Cleo'' (magazine), an Australian magazine established in 1972, now active in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand * Cleo (group), a South Korean girl group formed in 1999 * ''Cleo'' (play), by Lawrenc ...

Singapore's Bachelor of the Year in 2011. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Desmond Chiam
on Instagram {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiam, Desmond Male actors from Melbourne Australian people of Singaporean descent Australian male television actors Australian people of Chinese descent Australian male film actors 21st-century Australian male actors Living people Male actors of Chinese descent Year of birth missing (living people)