Zenn Kyi

Zenn Kyi was born on 25 August 1980 in Mandalay, Burma (now Myanmar), but grew up and studied in New York City, United States, and returned to Myanmar in 2009. He graduated with a degree in music at City College of New York and Film Scoring at Institute of Audio Research.

Zenn released his first solo album The Lost World in 2009. He made his acting debut with leading role in the 2018 film Mudras Calling alongside actress Hla Yin Kyae, directed by his wife Christina Kyi, and which premiered in Myanmar cinemas on 16 March 2018 which was a huge commercial success, topping film ratings and becoming the most hit film at that time.{{cite web|url=https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/we-want-real-tiredness-and-real-sweat|title=We want real tiredness and real sweat|author=Sithu Soe|publisher=Frontier Myanmar|date=7 June 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/analysis-audiences-embrace-new-filmmakers-cinema-industry-slow-follow-suit.html/amp|title=Analysis: Audiences Embrace New Filmmakers, Cinema Industry Slow to Follow Suit|date=30 March 2018|publisher=The Irrawaddy}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mmtimes.com/news/golden-lotus-versus-mudras-calling.html|title=Golden lotus Versus Mudras Calling|work=The Myanmar Times|date=23 March 2018|author=Nandar Aung}}

In 2017, he starred in his second film Deception (Oo Pel Dan Myin) alongside Thet Mon Myint and Kaew Korravee. The film is directed by the same director of Mudras Calling, Christina Kyi, premiered in Myanmar cinemas on 19 January 2018 stayed in local theaters for a record seven weeks and was also screened in Singapore.

The two films was both a domestic hit, and led to increased recognition for Zenn Kyi.{{cite web|url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/hollywood-calling-new-burmese-film.html|title=Hollywood Calling for New Burmese Film|publisher=The Irrawaddy|date=17 March 2014|author=Simon Roughneen}}{{cite web|url=http://www.7daydaily.com/story/120702|title='မုဒြာရဲ့ခေါ်သံ'ဟာ မြန်မာပရိသတ်တွေ ဂုဏ်ယူရမယ့် ဇာတ်ကားလို့ဆိုတဲ့ ဇဏ်ခီ|date=19 February 2018|publisher=7Day News|author=Khin Swe Thet|language=my}} He was nominated for the 2018 Myanmar Academy Award for Best Actor.

Now & Ever (2019) earned 3.5 billion kyat at the box office in Myanmar, becoming one of the most successful domestic films of the decade.{{cite magazine |last=Aung Myint |first=Sithu |date=December 26, 2019|title=Lights, camera, lots of action as movie industry enjoys a revival|url=https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/lights-camera-lots-of-action-as-movie-industry-enjoys-a-revival |magazine=Frontier Myanmar|access-date=March 1, 2020}}

In 2006, Zenn married Christina Kyi, a film director. The couple have two sons; the firstborn son died young and the second son is named Noah.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8fSU6IfUw8 သားေလး ရဲ့ ယံုၾကည္မွဳကို လိုခ်င္ပါတယ္ လုိ႔ေျပာလာတဲ့ ဇဏ္ခီ]

Since he was a teenager, Zenn Kyi has been a strong supporter of the NLD (National League for Democracy) party led by the Noble Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently being incarcerated at Nay Pyi Daw prison for obscene charges accused by the Myanmar regime.{{cite web|url= https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/12/19/massacre-river/burmese-army-crimes-against-humanity-tula-toli|title=Burmese Army Crimes Against Humanity |author=Human Rights Watch|date=19 December 2017}}

On 17 April 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Zenn Kyi and his wife Christina Kyi were detained at Yangon International Airport right before depart to Bangkok with MAI airline.They were put under house arrest along with their underage son and their assistant for nearly two months before being released.{{cite news |title=Myanmar releases prisoners for New Year, though likely not dissidents |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/myanmar-releases-prisoners-for-new-year--though-likely-not-dissidents/46542278 |work=SWI swissinfo.ch |date=17 April 2021 |language=en}}

• The Lost World (2009s)

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• {{IMDb name|7186335|Zenn Kyi}}
• {{Facebook|zennkyiartist}}

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Category:1984 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Burmese male actors

Category:People from Mandalay

Category:City FM Award winners

Category:21st-century Burmese male singers