Carly Shu

'**Carlina Shuman**, publicly known as **Carly Shu**, (born December 16, 1996) is a hit YouTube artist. Shu first made her debut on YouTube after posting a video of her covering John Mayer's "Slow Dancing In a Burning Room" on her YouTube channel, "CarlyShuForYou." The video got more than 500,00 views in less than a week. It eventually doubled and doubled again. The video currently hold 4,000,000+ views. Shu then continued and posted more covers, becoming a YouTube sensation.

She portrays Cleo Santos-Thomas on In Due Time.

## Early Life

Carlina Shuman was born in New York on December 16, 1996 to Denna Shuman and Jack Shuman. Shu grew up around very studious parents and education was very important to her parents. Her mother was a Broadway stage manager and her father was a public speaker. When Carly was 12, her family moved to Virginia after he mother left stage managing.

## Career

### **2002-2005: Early acting**

When Shu was 5, she loved watching the shows her mother was a stage manager of. She began aspiring to be an actress. Her father took her to different auditions and her charming, energetic personality is what got her various acting gigs. She played Abby in the blockbuster movie, "Cheaper By the Dozen," and a recurring role on Disney's "Even Stevens." But, when Shu turned 9, she decided she no longer wanted to do acting.

### **2006-2010: A passion begins**

When Carly Shu was 10 years old, she began singing. She loved listening to different artists including Janet Jackson, Hilary Duff, and Whitney Houston. At first, Shu would try and mock their voices to help her voice get better. Later on, she started researching the voice and seeing how it worked for a school science project. She was very intrigued by what she learned and using the knowledge she retained, she exercised her voice to make it better. By, 13 years of age, Shu was singing like a pro, surprising her parents.

Her parents encouraged her to take voice lessons, but, over the years, Shu had become a very shy girl. Being the shy girl she was, Shu did not want to take lessons. Her parents even signed her up for one but she refused to go. Shu was a very shy and self-conscious and did not like to put herself out to the public anymore.

### **2011-2014: *CarlyShuForYou*, the YouTube sensation**

Carly soon realized that her shyness was taking over her life. It was holding her back and if she wanted to get her voice out there, she would have to take some chances. Unbeknowest to her parents, Carly made a YouTube channel titled "CarlyShuForYou." She posted a cover of her singing Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," only 14 years old. She was so scared and frightened about what people would think. In an interview with TeenScope magazine in 2012, Carly said, "I was so scared! It took me a whole day to actually come to post it after I made it and I almost took the video down once it was up." The video only recieved about 150 views after a week. Carly became a bit more confident and posted a few more covers.

Soon, her parents discovered CarlyShuForYou. Shu expected her parents to be angry but they were actually very happy and her mother even cried. Her parents then got her elite equipment to make another cover, including an HD video camera and a microphone. Using the equipment, Carly covered John Mayer's "Slow Dancing In a Burning Room." And that was the cover that rose CarlyShuForYou to fame. The video got more than 500,000 views in less than a week. It eventually doubled and doubled again, getting 2,000,000+ views in just two and a half weeks. Shu became an internet music sensation!

Shu then posted even more covers including "Love You Like a Love Song," "Pumped Up Kicks," and "Dancing in the Moonlight." As time went on, Shu began collaborating with other YouTube artists including Sam Tsui, Elle Winter, and Nick Pitera.

### **2014-present: Wiki Channel future**

In 2014, Wiki Records contacted Carly Shu. They told her they were looking for artists to help build their record label and channel popularity. They wanted to sign Carly. Carly gladly accepted! In 2014, music videos from Carly Shu will be airing on Wiki Channel. In an interview with Radio Day, Shu said, "I'm so excited to work with Wiki! Not only will I be doing music with them but they also want to look into some acting for me to get back into which would be absolutely fantastic!"

Carly starred in the Wiki Channel Original Movie, *ZAYN*. In which she portrayed a fiesty monster hunter named Erin.