David Archuleta

Archuleta lives in Murray, Utah and is a student at Murray High School. If his bid to become the next American Idol fails he plans to continue school and keep singing.The only regular job he has had was over the summer of 2007 as a sound "techie" at a park amphitheater. He once suffered partial vocal paralysis but refrained from risky surgery and feels he has fully recovered.

Archuleta started singing when he was six because he was inspired by a Les Misérables 10th-anniversary video he was watching, "That musical is what started all of this."He started performing as an entertainer at ten years old when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation, and won the kid division. This led to Archuleta competing on Star Search, appearances on The Jenny Jones Show and CBS' The Early Show as well as meeting the finalists from American Idol's first season for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.