Rhea was born and raised in
Alexandria,
Louisiana, where he was first singled out to sing solos in his
Catholic church choir and learned piano and violin in local music programs. He was enrolled in the
Boy Scouts of America from grade one and earned the rank of
Eagle Scout at age 13. He graduated from the
Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in
Natchitoches, Louisiana, before attending the
University of Oklahoma as a
National Merit Scholar, He attended the
Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in
Nanjing, China, where he studied, wrote and defended a 100-page thesis in Mandarin Rhea often sings
North Shaanxi folk songs, which he first heard and fell in love with on his first visit to China. His connection to Xi'an and Shaanxi Province is often discussed in his TV appearances, including his love of Shaanxi's distinctive
cuisine, including
roujiamo ("Chinese hamburger"),
liangpi (cold noodles),
yangrou paomo (lamb stew with bits of crumbled flatbread), fried persimmon cakes, and, most prominently,
biangbiang noodles (Shaanxi's famous 'thick-as-a-belt' handmade noodles). and Rhea made front-page news in Shaanxi province's Chinese Business View when he first wrote the character on CCTV. Show hosts and guests often "test" Rhea's ability to write it, and as a result, Rhea has since been associated with the character in Chinese media. For instance, CCTV host
Zhu Jun demonstrated to him how Shaanxi people crouch down to eat the noodles (a folk custom in Shaanxi); == Discography==