Lin Chi-ling is a supermodel and actress in Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. “Famed for her gentle demeanor and physical beauty, Lin replaced Stephanie Siao to be ‘The First Face of Taiwan’ by members of the Taiwanese media in 2003. Lin’s meteoric rise to fame caused Taiwanese commentators and scholars to coin the phrase ‘The Lin Chi-Ling Phenomenon.'” Her performance of magic tricks on CCTV New Year’s gala was welcomed by many audiences. She earns most of her income from commercial advertisements and endorsements. Her income reached 56.55 million yuan (US$8.74 million) in the assessment period.
- Born: Nov. 29, 1974, in Taipei, Taiwan
- Foreign name：Lin Chi-ling
- ethnic：汉族
- Nationality：China
- Graduate School：University of Toronto(多伦多大学)
- height：175 cm
Films: “Red Cliff,” “The Magic Aster,” “The Treasure Hunter,” “Moon Lovers,” “Welcome to Sha Ma Town,” “Love on Credit”
Early life
Lin Chi-ling was born on November 29, 1974 in a merchant family in Taipei, Taiwan. Lin Chi-ling’s family is well-off. Her father, Lin Fannan, is a successful businessman engaged in aluminum products and technology. He once founded “Aierfa Industrial Co., Ltd.” and “Shengxin Trading Company”. Her mother, Wu Cimei, also has her own business, and her brother, Lin Zhihong, later ran a cosmetics business.
Lin Chi-ling completed her primary education at Dongmen National Primary School in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, and then entered Zhongzheng Junior High School for secondary education. Afterwards, under the planning of her family, she went to Toronto, Canada, and successfully entered the University of Toronto, and finally obtained a double degree in Western art history and economics. In 2000, Lin Chi-ling returned to Taiwan after completing her studies. The original plan was to seek a position at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, but she failed to be admitted to the position. In desperation, she had to transfer to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Acting career
Model debut
During the summer vacation of 1998, Lin Chi-ling, who was still a sophomore, returned to Taiwan and began her modeling career. At the same time, she also appeared in the MV of Leslie Cheung’s song “Everybody”. In 2000, Lin Chi-ling went to Japan to study and shot many print advertisements. Then she signed a contract with the famous Taiwan Kaiwo Model Agency and debuted as a professional model. Two years before her debut, she had already obtained a wealth of business resources, including shooting TV commercials for Hong Kong Tong Anqi Beauty Group, which earned her wide popularity in Hong Kong. In addition, from 2001 to 2003, Lin Chi-ling not only achieved success in the modeling field, but also worked part-time as a dance teacher at Huagang Art School, and starred in Harlem Yu’s “Spring Mud” MV in 2002. Since then, she has been called the goddess of otakus and won the crown of the first beauty.
Rapidly became popular
In 2003, Lin Chiling’s popularity increased significantly. With her outstanding appearance and tall figure, she replaced Xiao Qiang and was elected “Taiwan’s most beautiful woman”. Later, he hosted popular variety shows such as “Popular Tracking” and “Japan Rediscovery”, and became the host of the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards Avenue of Stars. Subsequently, she continued to expand her hosting field and hosted the 41st Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards Ceremony, the 16th Golden Melody Awards Ceremony and the 40th Taiwan Television Golden Bell Awards Ceremony.
By 2004, Lin Chi-ling’s advertising value had skyrocketed 10 times. Later, her photo was printed on the stamps of the Chunghwa Post, making her the first supermodel in Taiwan to issue her own stamps. Lin Chi-ling donated all the 500,000 yuan raised from the charity sale of stamps to support the post-disaster reconstruction work of the “July 2 Flood”.
Injury recovery
On April 13, 2005, Lin Chi-ling announced in Tokyo, Japan that she would join Oscar, Japan’s largest model and actor agency, and enter the film and television industry. On July 8 of the same year, Lin Chi-ling encountered an accident while filming an advertisement for a cleaning company in Bangchuidao, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. She unfortunately fell off a horse and was trampled by a horse’s hoof. The accident caused her to have difficulty breathing, and she was subsequently rushed to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University for treatment. After diagnosis, she was confirmed to have chest rib cartilage contusion, 6 rib lacerations, and pleural effusion. After nearly four months of recuperation and recovery, Lin Chi-ling held a press conference on November 1 of the same year and announced her official comeback.
Steady development
In 2006, Lin Chi-ling temporarily slowed down her career in film and television and turned her attention to hosting. She hosted many large-scale award ceremonies and evening parties, including the opening ceremony of the Shanghai TV Festival and the Shanghai Film and Television Festival Gala, as well as the 51st Asia Pacific Film Festival Awards. In addition, she also co-hosted the variety show “Zhiyong Zhiyong Electric Power School” with Kevin Tsai. With Kevin Tsai’s encouragement, her hosting skills improved day by day, and she was nominated for the Best Host Award in the Information Variety Category at the 41st Taiwan Television Golden Bell Awards.
In 2007, Lin Chi-ling took an important step in the film industry. She starred in the film “Red Cliff” directed by John Woo. In this film, she worked with actors such as Tony Leung, Chang Chen, and Takeshi Kaneshiro to play the role of Xiao Qiao, the most beautiful woman in the Eastern Wu Dynasty. This was also her first time to appear on the big screen.
On July 10, 2008, the film “Red Cliff” was released. The box office exceeded 260 million in 18 days, becoming the fastest-grossing film in the history of Chinese films. Lin Chi-ling was also nominated for the Best New Actor at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2009 for her outstanding performance in the film.
From 2009 to 2011, Lin Chi-ling shifted her work focus to the mainland and overseas, and focused on filming TV series. She starred in the movie “刺陵”, the action film “決战沙马镇”, and participated in the filming of the Japanese love TV series “月之恋人” and the urban comedy “幸福额度”.
In February 2011, Lin Chi-ling also appeared on the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala. She not only sang the song “Lanting Preface” with Jay Chou, but also performed a wonderful magic show “Crossing” with magician Ding Jianzhong.
Since 2012, Lin Chi-ling has continued to show her talent in the film and television industry, starring in many movies, including “101 Marriage Proposals”, “The Secret of Fuchun Mountain”, “Sweetheart Chocolate”, “Who is the Undercover Ace” and “Beijing New York”. Among them, “101 Marriage Proposals” set a single-day box office record of 43.5 million on Valentine’s Day in 2013, successfully breaking the box office record of Valentine’s Day romantic movies. Lin Chi-ling’s crying scene in the film moved many audiences, and many people praised her acting skills for improvement.
In addition to movies, Lin Chi-ling’s performance in reality shows has also attracted much attention. In 2015, she participated in two seasons of “Sisters Over Flowers” as a permanent guest. Later, she participated in many different types of variety shows, such as “Goddess’ New Clothes”, “Running Man” and “Variety of Journey”.
Career Ends
In 2018, Lin Chi-ling’s activity in the entertainment industry declined, with only two films released throughout the year. The two works were the comedy “Ancestors 19 Generations” and the fantasy action film “Journey to the West: The Kingdom of Women”. In 2019, Lin Chi-ling’s presence at variety shows became more frequent. At the beginning of the year, she participated in the Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala and performed the sketch “Knowing the Numbers” with Song Xiaobao. On February 4 of the same year, she was invited to participate in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and brought a wonderful program “Blooming”. In this performance, she was dressed in a ballet skirt and her elegant posture of jumping from the air into the water left a deep impression on many viewers. Later, she also participated in the recording of CCTV’s “Chinese Dream · Labor Beauty-May Day “Heart to Heart” Special Program” and CCTV’s Qixi Special Program “Lovers in the World”.
In June 2023, Lin Chi-ling announced a decision on the show that she would no longer return to the entertainment industry. This news sparked heated discussions among netizens.
Personal life
Love life
On April 26, 2017, Lin Chi-ling openly admitted to three relationships while appearing on Huang Zijiao’s live show “Jiao Xin Canteen”. As for her first love, Lin Chi-ling said that she dated an outsider in Canada when she was 19 years old. The two dated secretly for seven years and even thought they would get married after graduation. However, although they did not walk down the aisle in the end, Lin Chi-ling still described it as a beautiful memory. Then she dated Su Dianzhong for more than four years in 2000. When they were in love, they took wedding photos for a wedding dress company together. However, after four years of dating, Su and Lin ended their relationship without a result. In 2013, an insider in Lin Chi-ling’s circle of friends revealed that due to complicated reasons, Lin Chi-ling and Qiu Shikai had officially broken up peacefully.
Family Life
On June 6, 2019, Lin Chi-ling announced that she had registered her marriage with Japanese actor Kurosawa Ryohei (AKIRA). Subsequently, Kurosawa Ryohei published a long article about how the two met and fell in love. The two met in 2011 when they collaborated on the stage play “Red Cliff ~ Love ~” and have maintained a friendly friendship since then. They started dating at the end of 2018, and their feelings gradually deepened, and they finally determined that the other party was a partner who could spend their lives together. On November 17, 2019, Lin Chi-ling and Kurosawa Ryohei held a wedding ceremony at the Wu Clan Ancestral Hall in Tainan. On January 31, 2022, Lin Chi-ling officially announced the birth of her son.
