Chhit Socheata was born in Chork Village, Doun Keo District, Ta Keo province. She has three other sisters and 2 brothers. She is the third child in the family. She studied at Ta Keo Elementary school and then promoted to Ta Keo Middle School. Chhit Socheata left school in 1999 and studied computer while she was working for a NGO as an Administrative Assistant. No one else in the family worked in the entertainment industry except her and her sister who is taking Robam (Khmer traditional dancing) classes at the moment. Chhit Socheata is the only child who has been now successful is in acting, fashion shows and TV hosting. I first saw her in her 3rd movie showed via CTN - Chom Nong Bram Broka and was impressed by her acting ability.

Chhit Socheata left her home town – Ta Keo to live with her relative in Phnom Penh and to look for a job so she could continue her education. Most jobs she applied at first required a BS degree so she ended up with a marketing job with a company that also had broadcasting programs. Coincidentally, one of the hostesses for one of the TV programs where she worked was leaving to get married. Her boss who recognized her pubic speaking ability then selected her and developed her as a hostess to replace the person who was leaving. She was sent to hosting classes for about 6 months and then she became a hostess for her company while studying tourism at B.B.U.

With help and encouragement from a friend, Chhit Socheata then applied for an acting position for a movie directed by Sok Sothom and a French director. She got auditioned and selected as a guest star in the movie called Sneha Doung Chan (Moon Love) for an antagonist role. When asked by Yuk Chinda, the CTN Channel 21 Star Program hostess, whether she liked to play a protagonist or antagonist role, she said she liked to play a protagonist role as she was good at crying as a Dara Tuk Pnek. However, she would play great in any other roles the director wanted. She told Yuk Chinda though there were a lot of rooms for improvement for that movie she thought she did great, considering it was her first time.

Chhit Socheata then was invited to act for a few Karaoke production companies such as Reaksmey Neak Meas and Chlangden Production. She was tested and after acting for two songs, she was then promoted to play a main character role. Her first song was Mith Chet Prean (Betraying Friend). Chhit Socheata was then invited to play her second movie written by Pon Poung Bopha – the CTN’s famous movie writer. The movie was Kleng Dach Kse (Kite with Broken String) with Eng Rithy as the male character. Then, she played a sad character role in Chom Nong Bram Broka and then Chumras Bonchi Chas. All these movies were aired locally and overseas via CTN movie programs. That helped her to get known to Khmer people inside and outside Cambodia though she had only played for a very few movies so far compared to other actors or actresses. She was telling Yuk Chinda that she was going to act in another movie written by Pon Poung Bopha called Bon Nhe Korek as a sad female character soon.

Though Chhit Socheata is not as famous as other stars at the moment, she is more visible and seen in many Karaoke DVDs, commercials, fashion shows and TV programs. In addition to her acting and doing commercials, she is currently also a hostess for two TV stations in Cambodia – TV5 and Apsara TV. To conclude her interview with Yuk Chinda, she said, “people need to be flexible and confident in order to be successful. Look around and trust in yourself – if other people can do it, you can do it as well.” This is a great philosophy for a Khmer girl and Angkorthom.US would urge other Khmer girls to follow her lead and apply her principle to explore any career and to succeed in life.

Her ability to sing is limited though Chhit Socheata has a nice voice she needs to have someone to coach on her singing skills. To be famous and well off in Cambodian society as a star, a person has to be able to act, sing, and host a TV program including possessing other skills such as networking and business oriented and above all beauty. One of the great characteristics about Chhit Socheata is, unlike many other Khmer girls, she is very confident and believing in her abilities and talents. That is rare in Khmer society where girls are raised to be inferior, humble and shy or seen as over elegant, over confident or even anti society though they are capable.

Angkorthom.US gives Chhit Socheata credits for her confidence and believing in herself as in many modern countries such as the USA, being inferior, humble and shy is seen as being unintelligent and incapable. She articulates her ideas very well with great public speaking skills and presentation. Though she may not be famous for her singing, I believe if she has someone coaching her and develop her singing skills more, she will get more exposures to her audience and that will help her to be better known to Khmer communities around the world. Take Soeur Sotheara as an example, she could not sing at all at first and she is still not a good singer now. However, because she was coached and trained and she continues to sing for TV stations and other events here and there, she is now very popular. Regardless of her singing ability, Angkorthom.US sees her future with great potentials and we wish her the best of luck for her career advancement.