Joseph Cheng, is a Taiwanese model, actor and singer. Although he started his career as a model, Cheng is well known for his role as Jiang Zhishu in Taiwanese drama serial version of Japanese manga Itazura Na Kiss, It Started with a Kiss. Cheng has gained much recognition as an actor in most parts of Asia, particularly Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines and Japan. Cheng released his debut EP, Sing a Song, in October 2009. The title of the EP as well as its title track is a play on the third word in his name, Chang (暢) as a homophone of the word "Sing" (唱) in Chinese.
Joe Cheng in 2009
Itazura na Kiss is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Kaoru Tada. Itazura na Kiss was first serialized and published in 1990 by Shueisha through Bessatsu Margaret magazine. It became successful very quickly and became the manga series that Tada became known for in Japan. The manga became so popular that three live TV series have been made so far in 1996, 2005, and 2010, with a sequel of the 2005 drama in late 2007. In 2013, a remake of the Japanese live TV series, called Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo, was made. Despite its success, the manga was never completed due to the unexpected death of the author in a house accident while she was moving to another house with her husband and son. However, the manga series continues to be published with the permission of the artist's widower. The manga has sold 35 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.
Cover of the first tankōbon volume, featuring Kotoko Aihara (left) and Naoki Irie (right)