David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. At ten years old he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances.[5] When he was twelve years old, Archuleta became the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2.[5] In 2007, at sixteen years old, he became one of the youngest contestants on the seventh season of American Idol.[6] In May 2008 he finished as the runner-up, receiving 44 percent of over 97 million votes.
In August 2008 Archuleta released "Crush," the first single from his self-titled debut album.[5][7][8][9] The album, released three months later, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart; it has sold over 750,000 copies in the U.S., and over 900,000 worldwide.[10][11][12] In October 2010 he released a third album, The Other Side of Down featuring lead single "Something 'Bout Love". On March 28, 2012, Archuleta left on a 2 year hiatus to be a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile.[13][14] As of February 2012, Archuleta has sold 1,108,000 albums and 3,327,000 tracks in the United States.[15]
In addition, Archuleta first gained his acting career in 2009 by appearing on iCarly and Hannah Montana. He later played Josh Bradley in the Philippines' Nandito Ako.
In March 2012, Archuleta released his fourth album, Forevermore, exclusively in the Philippines only. This was his first Original Pilipino Music album, composed of several covers of Filipino songs. Both "Forevermore" and "Nandito Ako" were released as official singles and downloadable on March 15, 2012. Furthermore, "I'll Never Go" was announced as the album's third single in late June. The album was certified gold in the Philippines (10,000 units) as of June 2012 [16].
Archuleta released his fifth album, Begin, on August 7, 2012 in the United States.