Chris Cheng (born December 14, 1979, in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

) is an American

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

and

The History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the General Entertainment Content division of The Wa ...

's ''

Top Shot ''Top Shot'' is an American reality television show that debuted on the History (U.S. TV channel), History Channel on June 6, 2010. In the show, 16 contestants, split into two teams of eight, compete in various types of shooting sports, shooting ...

'' Season 4 Champion. In 2012, along with the title of "Top Shot", Cheng won a $100,000 cash prize and a professional marksman contract with the show's sponsor,

Bass Pro Shops BPS Direct, LLC, trade name, doing business as Bass Pro Shops, is an American privately held sporting goods retailer that offers hunting, fishing, camping, and other related outdoor recreation equipment, marine manufacturing and sales, and outd ...

Background

Cheng was born to Maggie and Benjamin Cheng. His mother is Japanese Cuban and his father is

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

. He has a younger sister, Allison. He attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

from 1998 to 2003 where he majored in Political Science, with a focus on American government and political media. He holds a master's degree in International Policy Studies from the

Monterey Institute of International Studies Established in 1955, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies, located in Monterey, California, is a graduate institute and satellite campus of Middlebury C ...

where he specialized in conflict resolution and international negotiations and was President of his class. He is fluent in Spanish. Cheng also holds an Advanced Project Management certification from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Cheng is a member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...

fraternity and was a re-founding father of his chapter at UCLA where he served in numerous leadership roles. He was the Grand Sweepstakes winner in UCLA's 2001 Spring Sing talent show competition. In 2003, Cheng served as co-chair of the 26-hour UCLA Dance Marathon where 2,000 students, faculty, and staff raised $54,000 for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which was noted as "one of the largest college fundraising events on the West Coast." Upon graduating in 2003, he was conferred with the "UCLA Chancellor's Service Award."

Career

Cheng worked for Google Inc. from 2007 to 2012 in many capacities, primarily in technical support for

Google Apps Google Workspace (formerly G Suite, formerly Google Apps) is a collection of cloud computing, Productivity software, productivity and Collaborative software, collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It con ...

, as well as a product lead in

Google.org Google.org, founded in October 2005, is the charitable arm of Google, a multinational technology company. The organization has committed roughly US$100 million in investments and grants to nonprofits annually. The organization is noted for severa ...

's Google for Nonprofits Program. Chris served on the GoogleEDU leadership faculty where he trained teams and individuals on interpersonal communication and the fundamentals of leadership. He left Google in June 2012 to pursue his professional marksman contract full-time. Cheng is an NRA News Commentator where he provides his opinions and commentary on a variety of issues. He also tours Bass Pro Shops across the country interacting with customers; shooting in Multi-Gun, USPSA,

IDPA The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA), founded in 1996, is an organization based in Bogata, Texas that governs a practical shooting sport which is based on defensive pistol tactics, everyday carry equipment, and full-charge servic ...

, and IPSC competitions, and working with the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

and

National Shooting Sports Foundation The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is an American national trade association for the firearms industry that is based in Newtown, Connecticut. Formed in 1961, the organization has more than 8,000 members: The NSSF helps write safety a ...

on promoting the shooting sport. Cheng is a Lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and is an NRA Certified Pistol, Rifle, and Shotgun Instructor. Cheng's book
Shoot to Win
reveals how he trained to win ''Top Shot'', as well as how he empowers himself to succeed in life. Cheng is a Staff Writer fo
The Firearm Blog
where he writes about firearms and gear in his post-''Top Shot'' experiences. Cheng was featured in the Second Amendment documentary ''Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire'' (2013) alongside

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the le ...

and

Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

. He was on 13 episodes of ''Top Shot'' Season 4, and was a special guest on the premiere and season finale of ''Top Shot'' Season 5: All-Stars. Cheng is an inspirational public speaker, represented by The Harry Walker Agency. Cheng's website and blog is a
TopShotChris.com
His future career plans include running for public office. Cheng produces a web series called ''Top Shot Chris Cheng'' that airs on CarbonTV. Cheng joined the Board of Directors of the LGBTQ gun rights organization, Pink Pistols in January 2020. In a statement released to the public Cheng said of the decision to join Pink Pistols, "I am excited to bring my technology and business background to Operation Blazing Sword. The next chapter of queer rights has begun with more of our community realizing that the Second Amendment is a way for marginalized communities to protect ourselves from harm..." "Operation Blazing Sword" (another LGBTQ gun rights organization), merged with Pink Pistols in 2018.

Other interests

Cheng is on the board of directors for the

San Francisco Opera The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 wh ...

BRAVO! Club. He is also a volunteer baritone singer for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. He played double bass from ages 13–22 in both orchestras and jazz bands. He is a co-founder o
Home for a Home
a nonprofit organization which collects donations from real estate brokers to build homes for those in need. In December 2013 Cheng publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as gay on his official blog. He did so in the hopes of breaking down stereotypes both about gay people and gun enthusiasts.

References

External links

*
Chris Cheng
on

Chris Cheng on CarbonTV

Home for a Home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Chris LGBTQ sport shooters 21st-century American LGBTQ people American male sport shooters Asian-American–Hispanic and Latino American relations Sportspeople from Mission Viejo, California 1979 births Living people IPSC shooters University of California, Los Angeles alumni Middlebury College alumni Stanford University alumni American sportspeople of Chinese descent American sportspeople of Japanese descent American sportspeople of Cuban descent LGBTQ people from California American gay sportsmen Google employees American motivational speakers LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people American LGBTQ people of Asian descent