Kelly Chen Wai-lam (born Vivian Chen Wai-man on 13 September 1972) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. She has been referred to as a "Diva of Asia" (). Chen has great success in the East Asian entertainment industry with nearly 20 million record sales of 38 albums.

According to Oriental Daily News, Chen was the highest earning female Hong Kong celebrity of 2014, earning 83 million HKD (US$10.7 million).

Early life

Chen was born Vivian Chen Wai-man on 13 September 1972 in Hong Kong. Her father was a jewelry merchant and her mother was a housewife. Chen's first major screen role since An Empress and the Warriors (2008) was as an entertainment TV anchor in Horseplay (2014).

thumb|Chen in 2022

In 2023, Chen surprised her fans with a series of new songs, including "Eye of the Storm" (風眼), "Unconditional Love" (我的親人), "Price of Romance" (談情的價值) and "Knowledge of Love" (愛情常識).

Personal life

Chen married long-term boyfriend, Chen gave birth to her first son, Chace Lau, in July 2009. Chen had a miscarriage in 2011.

Chen speaks fluent Cantonese, and in various degrees of fluency, Mandarin, Japanese and English. She has an elder sister and a younger brother, singer Victor Chen Si-hon.

Tours

  • Wind, Flower, Snow Concert (1997–1998)
  • Starry Dream of Love World Tour (1997–1998)
  • Deep Impact Taiwan Tour (1998–1999)
  • Paisley Galaxy World Tour (2000–2001)
  • Dynacarnival World Tour (2002–2003)
  • Lost in paradise World Tour (2004–2006)
  • LOVE Fighters Concert (2008)
  • Kelly Let's Celebrate! World Tour (2015–2016)
  • Kelly Season Two World Tour (2023-2026)

Philanthropy

Since 1998, Chen has been involved in charitable activities and has served as an ambassador for causes including environmental protection, education, and children. She was appointed a Hong Kong Goodwill Ambassador in 1998.

Environment

Chen was appointed Hong Kong Ambassador of Environment in 1998.

With Greenpeace, she has made commercials to promote awareness of environmental protection in 2006.

Education

In April 2002, she was appointed by the "Standing Committee on Language Education and Research" (SCOLAR) as the "Ambassador of The Workplace English Campaign" to encourage the working people to keep studying the English language as Chen herself had done.

After years of serving other funds, Chen started her own to help children: the Kelly Chen Children Education Fund raises money to help needy children. Besides performing her Dynacarnival concert in Hong Kong, Chen travelled to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia to perform. Chen was soon appointed by the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department as the "Ambassador of The Rehabilitation".

She was awarded two honours. First, she was chosen as one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons 2002. That same year, she was invited to represent Hong Kong to attend the ABU Prizes – Presentation & Special Concert in the NHK Hall in Tokyo. She received the 13th Annual Best Dressed Award in Japan, becoming the first foreigner to receive the award. She was later invited by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data and HKSAR Government Health Department to film the publicity campaigns for promoting the respect of personal privacy and organ donation throughout China and Hong Kong.

Children's causes

She was appointed by UNICEF as the Honorable China Children's Health Ambassador. Chen was later appointed by the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association as "Girl Guides Millennium Goodwill Ambassador", which led her to visit Inner Mongolia to investigate the way young children were living and the health and food services they were receiving. In 2001, Chen added another title to her growing list as the Volunteer Ambassador 2001 as appointed by the Social Welfare Department. She was later appointed by UNICEF a second time as the Ambassador of The Hong Kong Committee For UNICEF.

Other charitable work

As an ambassador of the Hong Kong Red Cross, Chen promoted the donation of blood banks. She was an ambassador for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

March 2003 brought more titles Chen's way: she was appointed The Philatelic Ambassador by the Hong Kong Post, as well as "The Love And Peace Ambassador" by City Junior Chamber. Chen soon took her "Dynacarnival" to North America by performing in Atlantic City, Toronto and San Francisco. She began to release DSD versions of her earlier albums, including Dedicated Lover. She was later appointed as Star of "Hong Kong Outstanding Students Award" by Lion & Globe Educational Trust, furthering her push for better education. In June 2003, Chen's wax figure for the Madam Tussaud Wax Museum was ready and was put on display. She was later invited to be the "Love Ambassador" of "World Children's Day at McDonald's 2003" by McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong. She was appointed as the "Pass-it-On" Ambassador by the Hong Kong Red Cross and attend its Christmas campaign to visit the John. F. Kennedy Center.

Chen's charitable work continued into 2004 as she was appointed as the star representative to attend the "5th HK Outstanding Teenagers" election press conference held by Hong Kong Playground Association and RTHK. In February, Chen was appointed as both "Road Safety Vision Ambassador" by the Road Safety Council to promote road safety, and as the "Reading Ambassador" by The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong. May 2004 brought the title of "Hospital Play Ambassador" to Chen, as well as the title of "Japanese Promotional Ambassador" by The Japan Society of HK, Consulate General of Japan and RTHK to encourage Hong Kong citizens to learn Japanese. Chen received another award when she was named "The Outstanding Young Persons of the World" in 2004 by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first Hong Kong female celebrity to be honoured with the award.

In 2007, Chen was appointed as Hong Kong "Innovative Entrepreneur Ambassador" (創意創業大使) and had sung the theme song "Innovation" (創) for the "Innovative Entrepreneur of The Year 2007" (創意創業大賞2007) organised by City Junior Chamber 城市青年商會, Hong Kong. Chen's responsibility is to promote the awareness of entrepreneurship to youngsters and to attend the various promotion events organised. She also continued the support of Innovation Entrepreneur in 2008.

After completing her movie, An Empress and the Warriors with Leon Lai, Chen headed a concert, called "Love Fighters", at the HK Coliseum in June 2008. This was her biggest concert headline to date, which featured many sets and exotic choreography.

Chen donated $600,000 for the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Media and public relations

In a survey conducted in 2002 by the City University of Hong Kong, Chen was voted "The Most Popular Idol" by local youth groups.

In 1997, Shiseido hired Chen to appear in their commercials; she was "depicted as [a] modern Asian [beauty], not quite identical yet not totally different from Japanese women."

Discography

Studio albums

Hong Kong Cantonese

  • Intoxicated Lover 醉迷情人 (Dec. 1995)
  • Wind, Flower, Snow 風花雪 (Oct. 1996)
  • Starry Dreams of Love 星夢情真 (June 1997)
  • A Movie 一齣戲 (Dec. 1997)
  • Da De Dum (I Am Falling Out of Love) Da De Dum (我失戀)(July 1998)
  • True Feeling 真感覺 (Feb. 1999)
  • Don't Stop Loving Me 繼續愛我 (Aug. 1999)
  • Paisley Galaxy 花花宇宙 (May 2000)
  • The Big Day 大日子 (Nov. 2000)
  • In The Party (July 2001)
  • ASK (19 December 2001)
  • ASK KELLY (1 February 2002)
  • Dynacarnival 飛天舞會 (12 July 2002)
  • Baby Cat (13 December 2002)
  • Love 愛 (22 August 2003)
  • Stylish Index (23 July 2004)
  • GRACE AND CHARM (22 December 2004)
  • Happy Girl (25 August 2006)
  • Kellylicious (16 May 2008)
  • Reflection (7 February 2013)
  • And Then (15 January 2016)
  • Watch Me (20 July 2018)

Taiwanese Mandarin

  • I Don't Think So 我不以為 (May 1996)
  • Insight 體會 (Aug. 1997)
  • You're Not The Same 你不一樣 (Mar. 1998)
  • Love Me Or Not 愛我不愛 (Dec 1998)
  • Love You So Much 愛你愛的 (Apr 2000)
  • Flying 飛吧 (Aug. 2001)
  • Love Appeared 愛情來了 (10 May 2002)
  • You Don't Mean It 心口不一 (1 August 2003)
  • Eternal Sunshine 我是陽光的 (16 September 2005)
  • Chasing Dreams 微光 (16 March 2010)

Japanese

  • GRACE (29 January 2002)

Filmography

  • Whatever Will Be, Will Be (仙樂飄飄, 1995)
  • The Age of Miracles (1995)
  • Lost and Found (天涯海角, 1996)
  • A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997)
  • Anna Magdalena (安娜瑪德蓮娜, 1998)
  • Hot War (幻影特攻, 1998)
  • Metade Fumaca (半支煙, 1999)—Cameo
  • Tokyo Raiders (東京攻略, 2000)
  • And I Hate You So (小親親, 2000)
  • Lavender (薰衣草, 2000)
  • Calmi Cuori Appassionati (冷靜與熱情之間, 2001)
  • Merry Go Round (初戀拿喳麵, 2001) – Cameo
  • Infernal Affairs (無間道, 2002)
  • Infernal Affairs III (無間道 III, 2003)
  • Breaking News (大事件, 2004)
  • Super Model (我要做Model, 2004) – Cameo
  • McDull, the Alumni (春田花花同學會, 2006) – OL
  • It's a Wonderful Life (心想事成, 2007)
  • An Empress and the Warriors (江山美人, 2008)
  • 72 Tenants of Prosperity (72家租客, 2010)
  • All's Well, Ends Well 2012 (八星抱喜, 2012)
  • Tales from the Dark 1 (迷離夜之“放手”, 2013)
  • The Monkey King (西遊記之大鬧天宮, 2014)
  • Horseplay (盜馬記, 2014)
  • An Inspector Calls (浮華宴, 2015)
  • The Monkey King 2 (西遊記之孫悟空三打白骨精, 2016)

References

Further reading

  • Kelly Chen's official site