Kelly Chen
Kelly Chen |
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Kelly Chen (simplified Chinese: 陈慧琳; traditional Chinese: 陳慧琳; pinyin: Chén Hùilín; Cantonese: Chan4 Wai6 Lam4), born Vivian Chen Wai Man 陳慧汶 on September 13, 1972 in Hong Kong, is a Hong Kong based singer and actress. She is also credited as Chen Huilin, Wai-Lam Chan, Kelly Chan and Wai Lun Chen.
Career
Entertainment
After graduation from Parsons, she returned to her homeland in Hong Kong to be with her family. Kelly's talent caught the attention of an agent and soon got her first big break in the film Whatever Will Be, Will Be (仙樂飄飄) in 1995, and was featured as a singer for the soundtrack of the film. Later that year, Kelly released her first Cantonese album, "Dedicated Lover" (醉迷情人). The album was a success in Hong Kong and furthered her acting and musical career. In September 1995, she performed the song "Mou Tian" composed by world renowned composer Steve Barakatt.
In May of 1996, Kelly released her first Mandarin language album, "I Don't Think So" (我不以為), in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Following the album's success, she produced another Cantonese CD in October of 1996, "Wind, Flower, Snow" (風花雪).
She starred in two feature films in 1996 with budding actors Takeshi Kaneshiro and Michael Wong. 1996 also saw Kelly's first stint as a Japanese singer when she released two Japanese singles.
In 1997, Kelly performed her first ever concert, "Starry Dream of Love" (星夢情真) and released the partner CD in June. In July, she released "Morning", another Japanese single and her first Japan-based hit. Kelly also provided the voice of Madame Trunk in the animated movie "A Chinese Ghost Story". In the course of five months Kelly would release four albums. With the releases of her 2nd Mandarin album, "Insight" (體會), the compilation "Kelly's Best Collection 97", the live CD "Starring Dream of Love Live in Concert", and her next Cantonese CD "A Movie" (一齣戲), Kelly had established herself as a popular singer and actor.
In 1998, Kelly embarked on a World Tour, starting in Australia. Besides the world tour, Kelly also performed 10 concerts for school children in Taiwan. In September of 1998, Kelly filmed her first music video for the song "Love Me Or Not" in Taiwan which soon aired on televisions around the world.
Starring in the television drama "Don't be a Cry Baby" with Japanese star Kyoko Fukada and performing two concerts in Fukuoka, Japan in 1999, Kelly increased her Japanese fanbase.
After the release of her remix album "Kelly BPM Collection" in March of 2001, Kelly embarked on yet another world tour, the "Paisley Galaxy World Tour", which started out in Singapore. In May, Kelly came to North America where she performed concerts in Chicago, Atlantic City, Los Angeles and Toronto all as a part of her world tour. She later returns to China for her tour where she performed in Guangzhou, Huizhou and Zhongshan.
In 2005, her song "Hope" from the Korean TV series Dae Jang Geum earned Kelly boosted her status in the Cantopop industry as it was a popular song in both Hong Kong and mainland China. This song also improved her earnings as well as the company promoting her at the time. At the TVB 8 Awards Presentation Kelly took home 3 awards for the song "Hope" including the Song Award, World's Most Popular Cantonese Song, and Most Well-Liked Female Singer in mainland China. "Hope" was also the top song of charts for 20 radio stations in China and had even set a high record for ringtone downloads. A month after the initial launch, there were a total of over 3 million downloads and to date, the accumulated figure is over 6 million. As such, her record company had earned $5 million after deductions. Universal Music Group's managing director had called Kelly to inform her of the good news. Kelly had promised that if the number of downloads were to go over 10 million, she will distribute the earnings to the staff.
Kelly has also wrapped up her tour, "Lost in Paradise" in 2005 in Asia and 2006 in the United States. "Lost in Paradise" lasted three hours and contained 35 songs from Kelly's lengthy 10-year music career. Such popular hits included "Phone Kill Order", "Shake Shake", and "Care About You Too Much". Vanness Wu was a guest to her concert in Las Vegas.
Representative
Besides her singing and acting career, Kelly have also played a part in representing Hong Kong on a number of occasions. In 1998, Kelly was appointed as not only a Hong Kong Goodwill Ambassador, but as the Hong Kong Ambassador of Environment to promote environmental protection. As an ambassador of the Hong Kong Red Cross, she promoted the donation of blood banks and an ambassador for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)[1].
She was appointed by UNICEF as the Honorable China Children's Health Ambassador. Kelly 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, Kelly added yet 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.
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 Kelly herself had done. After years of serving other funds, Kelly finally started her own fund to help children called the "Kelly Chen Children Education Fund" to raise money to help needy children. Besides performing her Dynacarnival concert in Hong Kong, Kelly traveled to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia to perform her concert there. Kelly was soon appointed by the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department as the "Ambassador of The Rehabilitation". Kelly was also awarded with two honors: first, she was chosen as one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons 2002[2]. 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 also received the 13th Annual Best Dressed Award in Japan, becoming the first foreigner to ever 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.
March 2003 brought even more titles Kelly'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. Kelly soon took her "Dynacarnival" to North America by performing in Atlantic City, Toronto and San Francisco. She also 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 of 2003, Kelly'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 also 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.
Kelly'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, Kelly 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 Kelly, 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. Kelly received another award when she was named "The Outstanding Young Persons of the World"[3] in 2004 by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first Hong Kong celebrity to be honored with the award.
In 2007, Kelly was appointed as Hong Kong "Innovative entrepreneur Ambassdor" (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 [4] . Kelly's responsibility is to promote the awareness of entrepreneurship to youngsters and to attend the various promotion events organised.
Fan base
In a survey conducted in early 2002 by the City University of Hong Kong, Kelly was named the "The Most Popular Idol" among youth groups [5].
Filmography
Her film debut was in 1995, in Whatever Will Be, Will Be (仙樂飄飄, Xian Yue Piao Piao, literally Heavenly Music Floating in the Air). Kelly Chan has since starred and made cameos in quite a number of films. Her filmography includes:
- Whatever Will Be, Will Be (仙樂飄飄, 1995)
- Lost and Found (天涯海角, 1996)
- 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 Couri 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)