Michele Lean

Lean is of Malaysian Chinese descent with Tahitiian lineage from the maternal side of her family.[5] She is also of Iban heritage and grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Borneo, Hong Kong and Melbourne.[6] She is the eldest of three children.[7]

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne, before moving to China in 2007.[8]

She trained in acting at the New York Film Academy in New York.

While in university, she was the editor-in-chief of the (now defunct) Melbourne-based lifestyle publication Veeza magazine, a subsidiary of Out4Fame Publications.[9]

She has previously interned at the CNN International Asia Pacific office, the Herald Sun online department and The Sun (Malaysia) newspaper in Malaysia.[10]

In Australia, she is represented by China Arts Management[11] in Melbourne.

In July 2007, Lean was recruited by China Central Television's international-language channel CCTV-9, to host their flagship travel program, Travelogue and later hosted CCTV-9's music variety show Center Stage.[12] She also briefly hosted CCTV-9's daily current affairs program Culture Express.

Her debut broadcast for China Central Television's Travelogue was filmed in Xinjiang. She appeared on 3-episodes of the award-winning ethnic minority series, 'Ethnic Odyssey',[13] the first of Travelogue's programs to be released on DVD in China.

During the Beijing Olympics, she hosted Episode 1 (Central Beijing) and Episode 4 (East Beijing) on Travelogue's Being Beijing series[14] and mini-series, two special programs highlighting the sights, nightlife and culinary delights of Beijing city for Olympic visitors.[15] The series aired throughout the duration of the Beijing Olympics and is also available on DVD throughout China.

In 2011, Lean hosted a special two-episode series in Beijing for CCTV-10's 'Outlook English' program,[16] in Mandarin and English. She was later invited by 'Outlook English' to sit on the guest judging panel of CCTV-10's 'Star of Outlook 2011' competition, an annual nationwide English-speaking contest.

She was selected to host 'Carnival China Style 2011', a major annual Chinese New Year gala, in a month-long tour of the United States with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Association.[17] The tour was received in 8 different cities including, Las Vegas, Reno, Modesto, San Francisco and Los Angeles. She continues to co-operate with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Association in hopes of linking the cultures of her home countries (Malaysia and Australia) and China's.

• Alive Not Dead profile
• CCTV Blog
• Michele Lean on Twitter