Pictures of Italian heir Lapo Elkann kissing a Chinese woman during a Serie A championship match last Saturday has sparked a flurry of searches on the Internet for her identity.

Elkann is one of the heirs to the Agnelli family empire which owns automobile giant Fiat and Italian football club Juventus.

The pair were at the Serie A championship match between Juventus and Atlanta when they were snapped by the media.

As the photos went viral, curious Chinese netizens launched a search for the mystery woman's background, Chinese media reports said.

The woman, identified as Zhu Zhu, is a former MTV VJ and aspiring actress and singer.

She is said to have a flair for English and studied electronics and information engineering at Beijing Technology and Business University.

She was subsequently admitted to Parsons School of Design in New York, but chose to return to China to work for MTV.

Those who know Zhu say she is an intelligent, hardworking and versatile career woman.

Her career achievements include releasing her debut album in 2009, and starring in the 2011 China remake of the Hollywood movie, "What women want".

She also hosted MTV's English-language programmes and chaperoned Paris Hilton when the socialite was in Shanghai.

However, she remained relatively unknown in China, until her relationship with 34-year-old Elkann was exposed. They reportedly met at an exhibition in Beijing last month.

Nicknamed "Lapo of Luxury", Elkann has dated a string of women and was named one of the top 25 "sexiest men in the world" by American GQ magazine in 2010.

The manager of brand promotion at Fiat was also listed by Vanity Fair in its Best Dressed Hall of Fame in 2009.

The couple were spotted strolling down the red carpet recently at the Cannes Film Festival, wearing matching outfits.

Zhu captured the media's attention, appearing in a sexy black top which left almost nothing to the imagination.

The starlet has reportedly signed with a Hollywood agency and plans to take her career global.

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